Students who have completed their Intermediate / 12th Class successfully in Commerce stream have ample choices to make a bright career (See Graph below). The high profile career path for a commerce student would be by pursuing high profile professional courses such as Chartered Accountancy, Cost Accountancy, Company Secretary or Financial Analyst. In these professional courses, one can either choose to practice independently or join a large corporation with attractive pay package. There is shortage for these professionals and hence lucrative employment is certain.

The other attractive option is go for a degree program. One of the most obvious choices available to a student is to pursue B.Com. Degree and thereafter work as accountants. But those who pursue B.Com (Honors) or B.Com (Computers) stand a better chance compared to vanilla B.Com. program. Students with this qualification can aspire to earn better and reach senior level positions faster.

Following graph can give a better understanding of career choices after 12th Commerce:

There are many obvious choices for commerce students. The popular choice being pursuing B.Com. Program. However the most attractive options are Chartered and Cost Accouontancy, Company Secretaryship and Financial Analyst. Those who want to reach top positions and would like to get involved in high level decision making should pursue these programs. Market oriented programs are B.Com (Hons), BBA, Intergrated BBA-LLB Programs. MBA degree after these programs would put you into a different league. For those who want to make a living too should be able to secure a job in one of the top companies and lead a happy life.

For the hardworking and intelligent student moving away from Engineering and Medicine and pursuing commerce courses is like exploring an unexplored path. But the opportunities are promising and success is within the reach. This road less travelled and encash the golden opportunities enroute.

The commerce students have excellent career opportunities with professional qualifications such as CA, ICWA, CS and CFA. However, these are difficult educational programs and take time to qualify in them. These programs are not full time campus based courses and hence the student has to be highly responsible to complete these courses. The success rate in programs such as CA is as low as 2 per cent, while in ICWA it would be around 10 per cent. Completion of these professional courses is open ended and may take considerably long time for some students. The indicated success rates vary from University to University and from Institute to Institute. While these programs are high value by design, many a students drop out in the middle and find themselves at crossroads.

Diploma Courses: At the other end of the spectrum we have diploma courses which are accessible to students at a relatively low price, but with definiteness on getting employed. Such courses are available in the fields of Travel & Tourism, Hotel Management, Airlines, etc. These courses do not provide the path for pursuing higher degree courses and hence a student should be clear about his long term plans while selecting these courses. For those students who have some family responsibilities and who would like to be an earning member as soon as possible this is a good opportunity. However students should be careful about the credibility of the institute, placement support provided by them, past performance, etc. After the first degree students have multiple options at higher degree to create an attractive career for themselves. They can pursue post graduate programs, vocational courses, appear for competitive examinations. These opportunities are as follows:

Higher Degree Programs: Students who have pursued B.Com. can go for M.Com. However the opportunities for this course are not very lucrative. Instead, programs such as MBA, MCA, MA in Economics/Econometrics, Master of Investments and Financial Analysis (MIFA), and other Master’s programs in Financial Management, Financial Control, Financial Administration, etc. would offer better career choices.

For those who would like to go for research studies, the opportunities are very many and attractive too. There is acute shortage for doctorates in accounts and finance domains. A doctorate in these areas would help successful career in teaching profession. Teaching profession now a days is well paying, besides being a noble profession.

Certificate Courses: Certificate courses offered by NCFM would be an attractive proposition for seeking employment opportunities. Other certificate programs include financial analysis, foreign trade, banking, insurance, financial reporting, etc.

Competitive Examinations: Various competitive examinations such as UPSC, Banking Services, Combined Defense Services, State Public Service Commission, etc. are all within the reach of commerce graduates.