How do I decide on a career?

How will you choose a job out of the hundreds of possibilities if you don't know what you want to do? If you don't have any clear goals in mind for how you want to spend your time, the work at hand may seem impossible. Thankfully, this is not the case. If you follow a structured procedure, your chances of arriving at a sound choice will be much improved.

Consider Your Own Position

Discovering who you are is the first step in making the appropriate job decision. Your personality type, together with your beliefs, interests, soft skills, and aptitudes, will determine which careers are a good match for you and which are not, and this will determine which careers are a good fit for you.

Make use of tools for self-evaluation as well as career exams in order to compile information about your characteristics and, as a result, a list of careers that are a good match for you based on those characteristics. Some individuals decide it would be beneficial to work with career counselors or other specialists in the field of career development who are able to assist them in navigating this process.

Create a list of potential careers to investigate.

At this point, you most likely have more than one list of vocations in front of you, one created by each of the self-assessment tools that you have been using. You should integrate all of these lists into a single master list so that you can stay organized.

First, you will need to search for occupations that are included on more than one list and then copy those occupations into a new page. Give it the title "Occupations to Investigate." Your own self-evaluations have revealed that they are a good match for you based on numerous of your attributes; thus, it is highly recommended that you investigate them further.

The next step is to go over your listings and identify any jobs that pique your interest. It's possible that these are fields of work that you have some familiarity with and would want to learn more about. You should also add occupations that you know very little about. You can discover something that was completely unexpected.

Investigate the Professions That Are on Your List.

You should feel ecstatic that you were able to reduce the number of choices on your list to between 10 and 20 at this stage. You should now be able to get some fundamental knowledge on each of the careers on your list.

Look through public sources for job descriptions as well as requirements about education, training, and licensure. Learn about advancement possibilities. Utilize the information on the labor market that was created by the government to get statistics about pay and the prognosis for jobs.

Make a "Short List" of candidates.

Now that you have access to more information, you can begin to refine your list even further. Start crossing out the occupations from your list based on what you've discovered from your study up to this point that you don't want to continue pursuing. Your "short list" should ultimately consist of two to five professions at the very most.

If there is no way around the reasons you find a certain line of work unsuitable, you should cross that option off your list. Take away anything that comes with responsibilities that you have no interest in doing. Get rid of jobs that aren't expected to grow in the future. You should not pursue any line of work if you are unable or unwilling to meet the educational or other criteria, or if you do not possess some of the soft skills that are essential for success in that line of work.

Interviews for the Purpose of Gathering Information

When you are down to a select few professions on your list, it is time to begin doing more in-depth study. Make plans to speak with individuals who are currently employed in the fields that you are considering entering. They are able to supply first-hand experience about the professions that are on your short list. Make use of your existing connections, particularly those on LinkedIn, in order to identify someone to do these informative interviews with.

Make a Decision About Your Profession.

After conducting all of your research, you are probably at the point now where you are ready to make a decision. Choose the line of work that, after considering what you've learned, you believe will provide you the highest sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. Be conscious of the fact that you are permitted to start again at any time in your life if you find that you have changed your mind about the decision you made. There are a lot of individuals that switch jobs at least a few times throughout their lives.

Determine Your Objectives

Once you've settled on a choice, the next step is to determine your long-term and short-term objectives. This helps to plot a route toward ultimately obtaining employment in the field that you have selected. On average, it takes between three and five years to accomplish a long-term objective, but a short-term goal may be accomplished anywhere from one to three years after it has been set.

Take as your guide the findings of the study you completed about the needed level of education and training. If you don't have all the information, you should do some further investigation. After you have gathered all of the necessary information, the next step is to formulate your objectives. Getting all of your degrees and certifications would be an excellent illustration of a long-term ambition. Applications to colleges, apprenticeships, and many other training programs and internships are included in the list of short-term ambitions.

Create a plan of action for your career.

Create a career action plan, which is a written document that outlines all of the tasks that need to be taken in order for you to achieve your objectives. Imagine that it is a map that will lead you from point A to point B, then on to points C and D. Put all of your objectives, both short-term and long-term, as well as the measures you need to take to achieve each one, down on paper. Include in your plan any potential obstacles that may prevent you from attaining your objectives, as well as the solutions that will allow you to do so.

This can seem to be a lot of effort, and in fact, it is. When you have a clear idea of the kind of work you want to do, though, it is much simpler to plot out a course for your career. If you start taking these measures sooner rather than later, you will save a lot of hardship and confusion later on.