Need Help Choosing a Career?

Whether you’re destined for University and will soon be choosing a career, or you’ve “been there done that” and are looking for a new career, there are now so many options available, narrowing it down can be difficult. There are of course a variety of psychology based tests you can take that will offer suggestions, but there are also some basic factors you can consider before rushing out to pay a professional for help.

1. Are you a people person? If you’re an introvert you probably aren’t going to enjoy a position that forces you to deal with strangers all day every day. Conversely, if you detest being left on your own and love a chat, you won’t want to go for any career that will have you spending long hours working alone or in a remote location. That said, most of us are a mixture of both and enjoy some interaction with others during our working week.
2. Can you work well under pressure, or do you like to be left alone to do things in your own time? This is an important factor – if you don’t like to be rushed and deadlines make you anxious, choosing any career where there are constant deadlines could be a mistake. The other side of this is that some people need deadlines to keep them motivated and if left alone find it difficult to get things done.
3. How important is it for you to be recognised for what you do? Some occupations are relatively anonymous while others give you the opportunity to become a talked about expert in your field. For some, recognition brings a great deal of satisfaction – to others, recognition or being in the limelight is an utter nightmare.
4. Do you like to call the shots? Yes, most of us do. Unfortunately, unless you’re an expert in your field, it’s likely you’ll have someone telling you what to do and what not to do, at least to some extent. However, if you’re a leader and people naturally tend to do what you suggest, look for career options that have good prospects for promotion.
5. Want to travel? If you love travelling why not consider choosing a career that would allow you to travel the world while being paid for it – or at least get you some great discounts. That doesn’t necessarily require you to work as airline steward. Think outside the square. There are numerous careers paths connected to travel and airlines and cruise ships need a range of administrative and technical employees and generally offer discount travel to employees. Perhaps you could consider choosing a career within the Department of State – perhaps as a Foreign Service Officer. The Department ranked as one of the top five places to kick off your career in the Business Week September 2009 edition.
6. Do you get satisfaction from helping others? If you do there are numerous careers that offer you the opportunity to be of service to others. Again, think outside the square. Helping others often comes down to personal choice rather than career choice – a multi-millionaire property developer is just as capable of assisting people in the community as a doctor, nurse or aged care worker.
7. Are you prone to depression or anxiety or to taking other people’s grief upon yourself? If you are, you might want to steer away from careers or job choices that expose you to unpleasant social conditions. If it saddens you to see elderly people losing their independence or suffering financially, aged care is not for you. If seeing children being placed in harm’s way makes you frustrated and angry, think twice before choosing a career in social services because it may traumatize and frustrate you a great deal even if you desperately want to help.

Of course, the biggest question of all to ask yourself is – what do you want to do? No matter how impossible it seems, don’t be tempted to put it off until later in life – you owe it to yourself to investigate the possibilities when choosing a career.