As an individual, the hardest question to answer about life is how to choose a lifelong career. This is well amongst other critical questions pertaining to life.
Choosing a career path can take weeks, months, or even years as you realize what you want and need in a task. You might change your path during your daily life, making the ability to choose a different job a critical essential skill.
Now, the question is; how do you choose a career that’s right for you? The table of contents below will reveal how.
What is the Importance of Choosing a Career?
The pain of following the wrong career path is more than spending more time thinking of what you to make out of your life. This is because it will be boring and impede your professional growth.
It is, therefore, important to be smart about deciding your career.
Basically, you can outline a plethora of jobs and analyze whether they will be suitable for you as time progresses or not. Although this process will consume much of your time, it is a must-do.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of choosing a career as your success depends on the decision you make today.
Why Choose a Career?
These days, the narrative is taking a drastic turn as many are pursuing careers they are passionate about unlike in previous generations where the reverse was the case. It would be really nice to have a pool of options to choose from but you must have a sense of direction else, you end up losing the job.
As a result, deciding on a career path is critical. Some factors that should be examined prior to getting a job include:
- Occupation fulfillment
- Compensation
- Extent of development
- Monetary security
- Professional stability
- Freedom to resign whenever
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Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing a Career
While choosing a career, mistakes are bound to happen but they are avoidable. So, to make things easy for you, we have outlined some mistakes you can avoid while choosing a lifelong pick.
- Paying attention to people who tell you what you should do or should not.
- Emulating someone else’s example
- Not doing your homework
- Not talking to those aware of everything
- Going for the money
- Disregarding who you are
How to Choose a Career | Step-by-Step Guide
#1. Make a Self-Evaluation
It’s a good idea to take some time for self-reflection before making any major decisions. It’s no different in choosing a career. You’ll think about what kind of work environment you want to be in, what kind of work you enjoy, who you want to work with, and more in this phase.
Jot down your thoughts as you reflect. These can be useful references when analyzing job descriptions in the future.
To get you started, here are a few questions. Instead of dwelling on the questions, write the first ideas that occur to the mind. If you’re unsure about some answers, ask trusted friends or family for help.
#2. Make a List of Your Must-Haves
Take some time to think about what you need in a job. These can include things like income and travel and benefits and location. While recording what you can’t be flexible with in your profession, it’s a good idea to go back to the question-and-answer activity.
- Do I need to make a certain amount of money?
- Do I need certain benefits, such as specialized healthcare coverage or a specified amount of vacation time?
- Can I accept a job that requires me to travel?
- Is it necessary for me to work at a specific location?
- Do I need any kind of flexibility in order to work from home?
- Do I have to stick to a particular job title or level?
- Are there any tasks that I must or do not wish to complete?
#3. Make a List of Occupations you want to Learn More About
At this point, you’re probably looking at many lists of vocations, one for each of the self-assessment tools you used. You should integrate them into one master list to keep yourself organized.
To begin, look for jobs that feature on several lists and copy them onto a blank sheet of paper. ‘Occupations to Learn About’ is the title. They’re definitely worth investigating based on your self-assessments, which showed that they’re a good fit for you based on several of your attributes.
Next, look through your listings for any job that you are interested in. They could be professions you’ve heard of but want to learn more about. Include any occupations about which you are unfamiliar. It’s possible that you’ll learn something unexpected.
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#4. Examine the Professions on your Wish List
You’ll be pleased that you could reduce your list to merely 10 to 20 alternatives at this point. You can now learn the basics about each of the vocations on your list.
Find job descriptions with educational training and licensing requirements. Find out more about career progression opportunities. To get information about incomes and job prospects, consult government-produced labor market data.
#5. Make a Short List of Things you want to do
Now that you have additional information, you may narrow your list even more. Begin eliminating the occupations you don’t want to pursue any further based on what you’ve learned so far from your research.
Your shortlist should comprise two to five occupations. Remove it from your list if your reasons for finding a job unacceptable are non-negotiable.
Remove any responsibilities that you don’t enjoy and careers with bleak prospects. Also, eliminate any occupation from your list if you’re unable to meet the educational requirements if you lack some soft skills required for success.
#6. Conduct Informational Interviews
Start performing more in-depth study when you just have a few occupations left on your list. Make plans to meet with people who work in the fields that interest you.
They may share firsthand information about the jobs on your list. To identify persons with whom to do these informational interviews, look via your network, including LinkedIn.
#7. Choose a career
After all of your research, you’re probably ready to make your decision. Based on the facts you’ve gained, choose the occupation that you believe will provide you with the most satisfaction.
Recognize that you have the option to change your mind about a decision at any point in your life. Many people change jobs at least a few times in their lives.
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#8. Identify your Objectives
Determine your long- and short-term objectives once you’ve made your option. This will assist you in charting a path to finding work in your chosen field.
Long-term goals normally take three to five years to achieve, whereas short-term goals may usually be accomplished in six months to three years.
Allow your investigation into required education and training to serve as your guide. Do some extra study if you don’t have all the details.
Set your goals once you have all the information you require. Completing your education and training is an example of a long-term aim.
Applying to college, apprenticeships, other training programs, and internships are all short-term aspirations.
#9. Make a Plan for your Future Career
Create a career action plan, which is a written document that outlines all the measures you’ll need to follow to achieve your objectives. Consider it a road map that will lead you from point A to point B, then to points C and D.
Make a list of all your short- and long-term goals, as well as the steps you’ll need to take to achieve them. Include any potential roadblocks to reaching your objectives, as well as strategies for overcoming them.
It may appear that this is a lot of work, and it is. When you know what you want, however, it’s much easier to carve out a career path. In the long term, taking these steps early will spare you a lot of pain and confusion.
#10 Get Some Training and Freshen Up your Resume.
After you’ve reduced your options down to one or two professional pathways, you’ll need to determine whether you require extra training or credentials.
While some businesses are eager to provide on-the-job training, others prefer to hire people who already have the skills they need. Examine the job posting carefully for further information about a specific position.
Pay special attention to the “Requirements” and “Education and Experience” areas. Update your CV to reflect your relevant qualities and skills once you’ve concluded that you’re qualified for this career path.
Exploring job ads might help you learn what employers in your industry and position are searching for in terms of qualifications.
Conclusion
Many people don’t put enough thought into their career choices, or they choose them for the wrong reasons.
Perhaps they chose occupations that appear to be safe and pay well. They get dissatisfied as a result.
Making a well-considered decision is the greatest approach to ensure that this does not happen to you.
