Choosing a career is a really big decision. It can affect your life for years once you factor in getting the qualifications you need and putting in the experience necessary to become successful. Those first few years are considered vital to your career choice. That’s when you’ll find out for yourself if a career is right for you. Here are a few tips for making a wise career decision.
What are the opportunities and limitations of the career field you’re interested in? Will it tie you to one place, or can you transfer your skills elsewhere? How much power will you have relative to how much responsibility you’ll have? Those in jobs with very limited power but big responsibility (such as a department secretary) often report higher than normal levels of job stress.
Write and look at a list of skills that are required in a given field of work, and compare it to your skills. Do you qualify? Is it a long process to get to where you qualify? Know whether the career you want requires a college degree, or even further education. Many scientific research jobs require a PhD as a minimum.
Read up on your career. Pore over internet articles, check out library books, and learn as much as you can about it. If you can’t be bothered to do this, then maybe you’re more in love with the idea of this job than with the job itself. If you can talk to someone in your desired career field, that’s a very beneficial source of information. If you can attend seminars and conferences you can learn more and possibly pursue more job opportunities.
Try for an internship. This is a great way to “try on” a career and get to know what the real day-to-day work is like. Though you might not get paid, you will have experience to put on your resume and may meet people who can help you in your career later.
There are two basic phases of the career search. The first phase is to look at yourself: your abilities, your weaknesses, your educational qualification, and areas in which you need improvement. Know what your career goals are, both immediately, one year away, and five years away.
Write down your broad goals, and then write down the objectives it will take to get to those goals. If, for example, you wanted to be a newspaper journalist, you might have as your goal to be a section editor in five years. Learn the steps it will take to get there, starting with a cub reporter position, assistant editor duties, and so on. If you have a plan, you’re more likely to get there than if you simply take whatever comes along.
