Have No Idea What To Do? This is How You Make a Career Choice (Guest blog)

When the time comes after the clearance of college exams, you are brought to a plethora of career options to choose from. The case become even more difficult into choosing one when you have specifically no idea where to start from, or simply too many options look tempting. Seem like an impossible feat? Well, the reality is otherwise! Agreeably the thought will require some serious effort into choosing the right career, but it’s worth investing for in the end.

So let’s examine how we can choose the career choice fitting exactly our profile and personality. This is especially beneficial for blank students waiting around the corner for this content to run live.

1. Assess yourself

Before making the career decision, the foremost step is to recognize or become aware of yourself. Our personality traits, introvert/extrovert nature, specific behavior, public exposure, soft skills, values, etc. are the most important factors that combine to provide you a self-assessment. A thorough assessment will determine the type of jobs best suitable for you and those which aren’t.

You can use several online self-assessment tools, also known as personality or career tests that will help you in recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, and create a list of professions based on the compatibility level with yours. You can also consult a career development professional in order to guide you through the self-assessment process easily.

2. Enlist a number of professions to study

At this point, you may have an adequate number of professions listed in front you, all determined by the self-assessment tools used to gauge yourself. To keep yourself from getting lost again, it’s best to compile all the lists into one.

First, spot those careers that have appeared most commonly in all the lists. Write them down on a separate paper under the heading ‘professions to explore’. Several of your personality traits and preferences reacted positively to these options, so they are worth considering in detail.

Next, locate other options that appeal you in some way or other but were left out. There may be professions you know little about, but still drives your curiosity towards them for in-depth exploration. Also add those names which you know nothing about, you never know which interest of yours lies unexpectedly hidden in those names you may not want to miss.

3. Examine the names on the list

Now start with names on the list by acquiring information for each individually. The list will come as a relief as you have shortlisted the names to only 10 to 15 or 20 at most. You don’t have to stress further on the names on the original list, as it is now safe to leave them out.

For the final list, go online to inquire the educational requirements, state laws, and training programs mandated for each profession. Delve deep into the career path, growth outlook, and chances of diverse-natured opportunities in each occupation. Use government authenticated and labor market resources to see if the employment and earning potential is worth enough to opt a profession.

4. Develop a “Short List”

At this instance, you must work to further narrow down the list of professions. Based on your study and what you have decided until now, you can start to eliminate the professions you are genuinely not interested in giving a second thought. The short list should come down to no more than 2 to 5 names.

The professions you removed may contain job responsibilities and aspects you don’t like, or a profession may be quite exciting but displays a poor job outlook and growth. Other reasons may be you not possessing the required skill set or educational level, or the soft skills so important for any job in a particular profession. In short, if a profession is inappropriate for you due to the above or some other reasons, then better pass rather than wasting time over them.

5. Run informational interviews

Now with a countable names left on your list, start performing a more intense research on each. The best and most guaranteeing way to do this is by conducting short interviews of people who are practically employed or have ample experience pertaining to the fields left on your list. Try to hunt such professionals via social networking platforms designed strictly for such individuals like LinkedIn.

6. Cement your career choice

Eventually, after investing all the time and effort in research and hands-on interviews from related professionals, the wait should be enough for you to pick the final career choice. The profession should be the one which genuinely satisfies your decisions and heart based on all the information you have garnered. It is very vital the field you choose should have potential backup routes or alternate choices, just in case you decide to switch your career at any stage in future. Unsurprisingly, today we see a considerable number of people giving up on their current jobs and switching to an altogether new field, even after spending years in the present occupation.

7. Identify your goals

After you are done with ticking the one career choice, now identify your both short- and long-term goals. Skipping this part is not an option, however, doing so will prove to be a difficult aftermath as working in the field of your choice will itself become a nightmare for you over the course of time.

All the research pertaining the educational and training requirements you conducted should serve as a benchmark for your guidance. Still if you feel there’s something more left to dig, go for it till you are completely satisfied. Once you have all the needed information at your disposal, it’s all now for devising and finalizing the goals. For instance, a short-term goal would be to apply in a particular institute to start your education, or acquiring a 2-month diploma in Graphic Designing. While a long-term goal would be the timeframe of completing your postgraduate degree program.

8. Write a career action plan

A career action plan is a sort of to-do list or a document that enlists all the steps required for you to achieve your primary objective of working in your desired profession. For instance, the steps can be directed from A to B, then C to D, and so on. The plan will state all your short- and long-term goals and the steps you will executive for their accomplishment. Also as a contingency, detail all the pitfalls you can most probably encounter over the course of your career, and how best will you be able to counter them.

Final word

Regardless of the industry or location around the globe, these steps are the same for all when it comes to choosing a well-thought career path as per your needs, wants and research conducted. So better take a sufficient time without rushing into a decision. It’s not every day we decide to diverge from our careers and jobs just for the sake of mental peace and better earnings or any other reasons!

Author’s bio

David Jeffrey is a passionate writer and speaker pertaining career consultancies and growth. He has pursued his MBA from Life Experience University Degree and is continuously striving for the betterment of upcoming global workforce with the help of his informative articles.