Making decisions about your career doesn’t always have to be
complicated. If you have spent time getting to know yourself and researching
different opportunities, you should be able to make a sound decision. If you
plan well, be rest assured that finding a good career, isn't an insurmountable
task – even if you're starting from scratch. The steps below can help anyone
make a good career choice.
1. Get to Know Yourself
It is virtually impossible to make a sound career choice if
you have not done your self-assessment. You need to first know who you are and
what you are expecting yourself to be. A self-assessment test needs to
addresses your values, interests, skills and personality traits. This will help
you to rule out some careers which do not suit your personality and get your
career path more clearly and with appropriate career options.
2. Make a Potential Careers List
Once you know your personality through a career assessment
you now have a preliminary list of jobs that match your values, interests and
skill set. The task now is to narrow this long list of occupations to not more
than ten. Work with the theory of elimination and delete those careers from the
list that you are not interested in. For example if your career test indicates
that you need to become a civil engineer but you have no interest in buildings
and structures then strike out the civil engineering. Years ago I met a girl
named Sharon who wanted to be a doctor but when we discussed further, I found out
that her biggest fear was looking at blood. Most people can narrow their list
down to five to ten potential careers simply by eliminating those occupations
they know they're not interested in. Secondly put together the positives and
negatives of each career and eliminate those which have the largest number of negatives
and least number of positives.
3. Know More About Each Career on Your List
Now you need to explore each career in depth. For each
career, you should review a job description, educational and training
requirements, average earnings, job outlook, and advancement opportunities.
Once you do that you might realize that there are some careers that no longer
appeal to you. Becoming a journalist seemed like fun but now it seems they
don’t make enough money to support the lifestyle you want. After considering
becoming a CA you may decide that earning a bachelor's and master's degree in
accounting just isn't meant for you. At the end of it, you should have a list
of no more than three careers.
4. Meet Professionals in the Field
One of the best ways to figure out which of the careers left
on your list is right for you is to meet the professionals working within each
occupation. Talking to them will allow you to collect in-depth information that
you can't get from any other source. Information you will receive from these
sources will be first hand, current and reliable. Before meeting such people you
need to have an exhaustive list of questions to ask them. This will ensure that
all your doubts are clear and you have all the information you need. It also
would show your seriousness about a career and help build a professional
network over the years.
5. Narrow Your List to Just One Occupation
Follow this process and bring your career list down to one
possible career option. List down the positives and negatives like Sharon did. She
was scared of blood but loved kids and dogs. She wanted to be a Paediatrician
or a Veterinarian. What she now realised was that it would not fit her style
and she was not ready to work for long years. In her assessment it was also
clear that she would do very well in designing and working with structures. Sharon
recently passed out from the architectural college. So it is after thoroughly
reviewing the pros and cons of each career, and carefully considering the
information obtained that you should be able to decide on one occupation to
pursue.
6. Set Career Goals
Now that you have decided on an occupation, you need to put
a plan in place for your Career Goals. Realistic, achievable goals are
essential for the career planning process. While goals must be realistic, they
should also be flexible enough to accommodate change – which inevitably will
occur.
7. Career Development Plan
This helps you get from where you're currently at to reach
your Goals in phases. It is a career Path or a roadmap from choosing your first
Job to the peak point in your career. The career development plan works well if
you know the mantra of Plan-Sequence -Timing and Outcome. There needs to be a
serious thought process involved into building your career path while
continuously improving upon your transferable skills.
8. Train Yourself
The More you learn the more you earn. It’s true for long
term career success. Most of the careers require a formal education, or skilled
training at minimum. Over a lifetime most successful professionals will
continue to gain more education and training as they advance in their careers.
The decisions you make now affect you later and can have a
profound effect on your entire future and quality of life. Making good choices regarding your career
affects whether or not you will enjoy your work and be successful at your
job. It can affect how your life may
turn out overall. Therefore, be sure to
make your sound career decisions based on the right choices.