Often parents whose children show little or no inclination towards studies, despair. This despair is worsened if the parents are not very wealthy or if they do not have a flourishing business to hand over to their child. Menaka, mother of 19-year-old Rahul, often gets sleepless nights worrying about her son's future. He lags behind the rest of the class in studies, and although he is an intelligent person, he shows absolutely no academic inclination. "I don't know what is going to become of him," Menaka wails. "If he doesn't secure admission in a good college, what kind of a future will he have? He is not interested in doing an MBA, he did not score high enough marks for medicine or engineering. Charted Accountancy involves too much study. We are not business people!"

Naturally every parent wants the best for their child, and they want to see their children settled in good careers, earning a lot of money. But apart from standard careers that involve educational qualifications, there are various other career options available for your non-academically inclined child, many of which parents have never thought of or considered, or even realised exist as a real and lucrative option. In this article we will consider commercial deep-sea diving:

Opportunities

The opportunities available in this career are tremendous. As long as there is water, there will be jobs for deep-sea divers. In fact, there is often a shortage of people who go in for underwater construction or repair work, and a person needs to be of a certain level of physical fitness to do so, so the pay is good and jobs are always available. Promotions and pay rises are regular, and the pay is fairly high. Often your child will earn in dollars, and during work your child's living expenses will be taken care off. As a result everything your child earns is his to spend. If he comes back and spends it in India, it will be converted into a handsome sum. Salaries start at around USD 30,000 a year, and rise soon to USD 100,000 a year. Your child can step into this career even later on if he is disheartened with his present career. Previous experience is not required.

Adventure

There is plenty of adventure involved in this career. Your child will travel all over the world and will live and interact with people from various countries, nationalities and cultures. Travel itself is an education, and your child's personality will certainly get enriched as a result of his experiences.

What do divers do?

Deep sea diving essentially involves dealing with manmade underwater equipment, be it ships, oil pipes, rigs, dams, bridges, search for underwater wreckage, recovery projects and so on. Every dive can be different, as it involves different projects in different location. However, if your child is looking for a cushy job, deep sea diving is definitely not for him. Although diving involves a lot of adventure, it is also very demanding, both physically and mentally. Being underwater for long hours at a time is not easy, although it can be exciting if one loves water. Your child will work only eight or nine months in a year, sometimes even less, and will then be able to spend time with his family, go for extended vacations or just relax. In addition, the rigourous demands for perfect physical health will ensure that your child exercises regularly and eats a healthy diet.