To many a science stream is the best preferred stream to continue higher studies after plus two. They believe that Science streams along with engineering and medicine are the courses with the best career opportunities. But the question is that “Are these the only areas possible?”

The answer is no. Many students often completely forget the existence of the commerce stream. The reason is obviously because they are not aware of the numerous bright prospects that a commerce stream offers to them.

Famous Alumni of Commerce

Many of you are unaware that corporate tycoons like Lakshmi Mittal (Owner of Arcelor Mittal Steel Corporation), PepsiCo Chairperson Indira Nooyi and several other prominent faces in the Indian business scenario are all graduates in Commerce stream. You must be really be feeling excited right. Well this is just a sample of the real thing.

What the course offers?

Commerce is a well defined and highly diversified career stream that has immense future prospects and also offers exciting job opportunities for all students who pass out in various streams of commerce.

Commerce is a course having multiple disciplines. Each student who is enrolling for a Commerce stream should be well aware of the particular option he or she has chosen.

A good understanding of financial principals and business management tactics is essential for the success of any corporate firm and a Commerce stream provides just that. The above mentioned top Bras did not find a successful company because they studied commerce, but they managed to efficiently apply the conventions and principles of sound business techniques that was imparted to them due to their association with the commerce stream.

Which to choose?

The best choice for a career in commerce stream is going for a B.Com course after your 12th. It is the foundation programme for a successful career in a commerce related field. The curriculum of the course covers the fundamentals and basic principles of all commerce related activities and environments. The course has the same degree credibility as that of other streams such as Science, Arts, Engineering and Medicine.

What you need?

The basic eligibility criterion that a student has to meet for him to enroll for a B.Com course is that he should have completed Plus Two with commerce as his main subject.

There are basically two options for a B.Com aspirant. He can either choose a Bachelor Of Commerce (B.Com) or pursue a Bachelor Of Commerce ( Hons) course. Both of these courses have a full time curriculum and have duration of 3 years.

Basically any commerce stream would include multiple and diverse areas of study that includes finance, statistics, accountancy and e-Commerce.

The syllabus might be different for respective Universities to which institutions offering B.Com courses are affiliated to. But almost every commerce syllabus today incorporates industry requiring concepts and fundamentals in their curriculum. This is the reason seen by many for the increase in placements for B.Com students recently as they are well versed in all requirements their prospective job demands.

Benefits

A successful course in Commerce exposes the student to different business administration strategies and accounting principles. He will be envisaged to make full use of that expertise gained to build up a strong entrepreneurship and successfully fit into a company’s financial backbone.

Many industry experts believe that a good Commerce graduate will be well versed in all the horizontal and vertical aspects of company management and he is the key to a successful business along with the co-operation of his subordinates who should also belike him obviously.

What you can do alongside?

Many students who aspire to become a successful Commerce graduate also undertake supplementary course like CA, MBA in Finance, CWA, etc alongside their graduation course.

After pursuing a graduation course and completing it successfully the student or more precisely graduate can go in for higher programmes like a reputed University endorsed M.Com programme.

Upon completion of your graduation commerce students can also join the India Economic Service or IES by virtue of an entrance exam conducted for the same by the Union Public Service Commission.

Both undergraduate and post graduate programmes in Commerce stream are available as a distant education venture offered by reputed universities like School of Open Learning in New Delhi.

Doing diploma and certification courses in Commerce are a good choice for commerce graduates as they will get more specialized and get exposed to more job prospects than with the graduation tag alone.

Many institutes across the length and breadth of India offer such certification programmes. For example a Commodity Certification Course titled NCDEX is offered by the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange Ltd. There is also a 300 hour certification programme offered in Financial Engineering and Risk Management by National Institute of Securities Markets that will cost a student around Rs 1.5 Lakhs. There are numerous other options also.

Your Window to a successful future

The job prospects of commerce graduates are many. They have the ability to serve in walks of the society when taking into account the role played by Finance and accounts in day to day life of every person and company. Successful business often depends on strong employee skills and specialized staff who can help the management to run things effectively by analyzing problems and recommending solutions.

The various areas of job possibilities for a commerce graduate are

• Banking Institutions
• Financial companies and offices
• Firms providing financial outsourcing
• Companies engaged in the Insurance sector
• Private and public Audit firms
• Industrial Accountancy firms
• Offices in multi purpose companies
• Various Government undertakings
• Planning and Budget departments
• Ministerial affairs offices
• Schools and Colleges
• Hospitals (Accounting Staff)
• Hotels (Accounting Staff)
• Factories (Accounting Staff)
• Financial Teaching institutes

In fact students of commerce stream have job roles in any sector where finance plays a part which in today’s world covers almost everything.

Salary will never be a constraint for the right candidate provided he or she has chosen a credible company or work provider. Getting into an Audit firm and then slowly becoming an established Auditor is perhaps the best option for many. The job demands a high degree of skill initially but after experience the task can be a joy.

Final Verdict

So those of you who want to pursue an alternate career other than Engineering and Medicine, a commerce stream is a very promising career option.