Making career decisions is a challenging endeavor, whether you’re attending high school, college, or returning to the market place. No matter where you are in life, here are some tips you can follow to take the stress out of choosing a career path.
1. Know Your Personality as You Consider Career Decisions
To know what your talents, skills and interests are, you need to understand yourself. What kinds of activities do you enjoy? What kinds of tasks do you do well? Has anyone commented to you that you are good at something? Is this a skill that you want to continue using? What kinds of tasks do you find stressful? Those you will want to avoid. Consider the following list of job attributes to determine the importance of each in making a career decision.
• HAPPINESS. What kind of work environment would make you happy and what kind of work would keep you inspired to attend work regularly and be productive at all times. • FINANCIAL REWARDS. Different professions provide different financial opportunities. The financial aspect of your career should be an important consideration. How important is earning money, based on the kind of lifestyle you want? How much compensation will you need to live the life you want? • PROMOTION. Your career decision choice will have different types of promotions available. Will you be able to stay with the same company to climb the ladder of success, or will you need to move to other locations and other companies to get the type of promotion you need? It is normal to look for advancements in a profession. • TRAVEL CONSIDERATION. There are jobs that require a lot of travel from one location to another to complete the business transactions. How important is this for you and your career? Do you mind traveling? Determining the level of travel frequency involved with a job is an important consideration. • JOB TRANSPORTABLILITY. It pertains to availability of this kind of job in other places in case you move. Careers such as nursing, teaching and other service industries exist in considerable numbers in most locations. • REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS. Your career should be a platform for you to use your best skills, knowledge and abilities.
2. Explore Different Professions
Many of the current occupations may be unfamiliar to you. Take time to work with your Guidance Counselor to learn more about what is out there that you might like. Also, there is plenty of information on the internet and in the libraries. Check them out and try to find a variety of different career opportunities that you can compare. Include hands-on experience as part of your comparison. Take a class that focuses on vocational skills, volunteer at a work site, or participate in some job shadowing opportunities. In this way, you can see what types of job skills you enjoy performing.
3. Learn Universal Knowledge and Skills
What skills do you possess? Communication skills, computer savvy and financial understanding are valuable assets in today's job market. Create a list of the skills that you think are your best assets and consider what you like to do. Listed below are some examples of what might be on your list.
• Planning special events • Assess and evaluate my own or other's work • Time management and goal setting • Computer repair • Written record keeping • Coordinate fundraising activities • Historical research projects • Woodworking • Financial planning and management • Speak a second language • Computer programming • Teaching
On your list you will have those skills that you are highly competent and those that are less competent. Remember that you should also consider those skills you enjoy best. Use this list in making your career choices.
Choosing a career takes time and should not be a hasty decision. Choose a careen in which you know you can utilize your skill set, enjoy learning new information and feel that you will be able to grow as the industry changes and you mature. Don't choose a career based on other's expectations of you but rather what you really want.
