What Career Is Right For Me?
An epic decision to make with long lasting consequences. If you are stuck and thinking ‘what career is right for me?’ Help is at hand. Here we will present you with ideas and inspiration for potential future careers whether you are just starting out or looking into changing careers. So grab a pen and some paper and lets get started..
What subjects did you enjoy in school/university?
Think back to your schooling/university and ask yourself the following questions:
- What classes did you look forward to attending?
- When you had the chance to select subjects to study (for example, what did you choose to major in at university), what did you choose?
- What subject was the homework you always did first?
- What subjects did your favourite teachers teach?
This will give you a shortlist of subjects that you can use as a basis to explore potential careers. Once you have the list, visit the Subject Matcher and follow these simple steps. Next simply tick the subject boxes that apply and click ‘get job ideas.’ You will then be taken to a screen with suggested careers. These link to a page with more information and although the information is not targeted at Americans, there is further information in the ‘about the job’ section that will tell you more about the profession.
What qualifications or achievements do you have?
What qualifications do you have? Create a list of your educational, professional and leisure achievements/qualifications. Be sure to:
- List your educational achievements from high school until the present day.
- Note awards for school, college, work or leisure clubs or societies.
- Review your resume and see if there are any qualifications on there, that you may have missed off your list so far.
Careers service
If you are in school or college you should have access to a career service that will likely have a career expert on-hand. Career services are also sometimes available for recent graduates and young people through various organisations and government programs. They can help you choose the right career for you by exploring your interests, qualifications, personality as well as your strengths and weaknesses. This will usually be done using a mixture of interviews, books and interactive quizzes and applications.
Career coach
If you don’t have access to a career service and advisor, consider hiring one. They can guide you through the process of choosing a career by taking stock of your current skills, qualifications and desires and then matching them with a relevant career. They will likely have years of experience and can therefore cut the amount of time you will need to spend completing the process, as well as giving you insights and directions to resources you may not uncover if you try to complete the process on your own. Be sure to check what is included in any fees, as well as what experience and qualifications the potential coach has.
Interests
What are your interests and hobbies? Explore the following areas of your life for inspiration about what you enjoy:
- Vacations – where did you go, see and do.
- Work clubs – what work clubs did you previously or currently or participate in? They could be directly related to work, sport or game related or none of the above.
- Societies – are a member of a club or society outside of work either in the past or now.
- Volunteer work – maybe you have done volunteer work for a charity or helped a friend or family member with a job they needed to do for work or leisure.
Which Environment Suits You Best?
To help you determine which environment would help you thrive you can do the Myers-Briggs test. It will tell you whether you are an introvert or extrovert, as this can have a huge impact on which jobs would suit each.
For example extroverts are more likely to thrive in busy situations such as sales, PR and customer service whilst introverts may be better to suited to virtual positions or roles with less human interaction.
Though Myers-Briggs is not definitive, use it as another potential tool in discovering careers that might be suitable for you.
Strengths and weaknesses
What are your strengths and weaknesses? Speak to personal and professional connections who you think are honest and intelligent and that you have known a while. Ask them to assess your strengths and weaknesses, making sure to tell them to be brutally honest.
Use the feedback you receive to clarify your own thoughts on your strengths and weaknesses. It is also worth noting any positive or negative feedback you receive about yourself during personal and professional interactions. Use these strengths and weaknesses to explore related careers.
Freelancing
Sick of having a boss? Many careers have a virtual equivalent, so why not consider freelancing? Some of the most commonly found areas in freelancing are:
- Writing for newspapers, magazines, brochures, websites and blogs
- Graphic design, video creation and editing
- Web and software development covers a large variety of possible projects from creating a website to developing a software or an Apple or Andriod app for phones or tablets.
- Research tasks – could be online or offline
- Data entry – usually involves entering or transferring data from one place to another
- Translating documents from one language to another
- Transcribing audio to written form
Alternatively if have an idea about a business you would like to start, you can pursue this. Alternatively if you want to start a business but freelancing doesn’t appeal to you and you don’t have a business idea, consider starting or investing in a franchise business.
Conclusion
Now if you have read through the article but not taken any notes, go back to the beginning and start taking notes about your qualifications, experience, interests and hobbies and go through them one by one. Take action, explore the areas that interest and suit you. Create a shortlist and then explore each of the careers in more detail taking into consideration the requirements, demand, salary and your own wants and desires.
Take action and you will have a career picked out in no time.
