Choose the Right Career for You

How to choose the right career for you

The sad thing is that this situation could have been avoided with the right guidance and asking the right questions before having left university. How do you make sure that you end up doing work that you love?

If you are not one of the lucky few who ‘just knows’, then read on:

What all are you good at?
Make a list of all that you are good at. For example, you might be great with numbers, detail, coming up with new ideas or getting on with people. Write it all down. Ask friends and family what they think you’re good at, too. This is important as we often take our strengths so much for granted that we don’t even notice them.

What do you love doing?
Make a list of not what you ‘quite like’ doing, but things that inspire you. For example, if you love meeting and finding out about new people, if that gives you a buzz, write it down. If you love following your football team every Saturday, write it down. Don’t just think about work; non-work activities often have elements in them that you can find in a job. And if you have to think about whether you love doing something for too long, leave it off the list – it’s obviously not that important to you.

What is it that is important to you?
Think as well about what’s important to you. Is it to have friends at work, to be constantly learning new things, to feel like you can make a difference, to be free to work without rules, to work in an optimistic environment? Write down everything that is important to you.

How to use your answers to help your career choice:

Answering these three questions won’t magically give you the answer to what career is right for you, but it will help you find out what is not right for you. For example, if working without rules is important to you it is unlikely that you will be happy in a law firm; if autonomy is important then the armed forces won’t be the right choice for you.

It will also give you an idea of the sorts of things you need to ask potential employers. For example, if you know you love working on new ideas, but are less good at follow-up, a career in journalism is unlikely to be good for you unless you love writing so much that you are motivated enough to overcome this.

When you talk to potential employers ask them:

Will I have a chance to use my strengths in xxxx in this job / company?
I have a passion for xxxx; what opportunities will I have to follow that passion?

Most people are just doing ‘a job’ because they happen to have fallen into a particular line of work, a path they have chosen that has led them to where they are today. There is noting haphazard about that form of career progression and the individual who manages to get to the top of their profession would have had a very good idea when starting University exactly where he or she wanted to end up. Always remember that just because we want to achieve something it doesn’t mean we will. We need to put in great efforts to achieve what we want and one of the first steps to success is to discover and understand what we are best suited for and make the right career choice.

To learn more about what goes into planning your career well and to look up hundreds of job openings, visit EmploymentCrossing.