While we were in primary school, we all had big dreams of what we wanted to do or be in future. Back then, our anticipated aspirations in life were influenced by our parents and what we thought was “cool”. Choosing the right career can be a very daunting task, but having a well defined career path will go a long way in helping you engage in the right activities or jobs. Once you have an idea of the career path you want, you’ll certain go after the right jobs, which will reduce frustrations or lack of fulfillment that comes with getting busy with random jobs. Random jobs are those types of jobs that take you nowhere, in terms of building yourself and your career.
Choosing the right career involves some hard work, planning, and major self-reflection. If you are able to effectively do all these, you can be sure of a productive and fulfilling career path that will secure the financial wellbeing of you and your family in future. Here are some effective strategies you can employ in choosing the right career.
When choosing the right career, you need to figure out your dream career. You need to think about what you love doing, things you do easily and don’t feel like work. Also imagine you were given a huge sum of money, the first business idea that comes to your mind may not be the best idea in terms of choosing the right career, but it gives you a peek into where you want to be. For example, If you want to be a Newscaster, its best to go into activities related to media and broadcasting. Also try getting a degree in communications and growing in any relevant television studio.
Hobbies are sometimes referred to as random activities, but your hobbies could lead you to the right career path. It is very common to see people who have turned their hobbies into a career, as most hobbies relate to real needs and unsatisfied wants in the world. The main thing here is to figure out what you love doing and how to turn it into a career. Pay close attention to yourself and everything you do, if you are extremely good at a certain skill, like writing, speaking, making things etc., this can give you a great future career. Schooling is important but not a do or die affair, for starters; get a skill as skilled labour is now in demand and this makes it easy for you to get a job.
Choosing the right career involves enquiring on the type of education you’ll need while building your chosen career. It’s necessary to consider the education you already have or need to acquire, if finances stops you from getting the level of education you need, you may have to make what you already have work for you. However if there are any limitations, find out other options that are available to you.
Know your strengths, personality, skills and values; this will assist you in choosing the right career. During your spare time, take an online career test to discover more about yourself and making the right career decisions. Also you can attend career fairs, training program and read books on making career choices. You can also speak to anyone you know that has a successful career, for guidance and counseling.
Everyone has a preferred work style, so it’s best to know the one that works for you in any given environment. Sometimes your work style can conflict with your career choices. For example, if you’re someone who loves flexibility, getting an office job will be a problematic career move as you may get frustrated. This may blind you from foreseeing the future gains of that career.
As the saying goes “money answereths all”, you need to ask yourself what your expectations are in terms of money. You may be single now, but when you start your own family the expenses go up. In order not to compromise your comfortable lifestyle, you need to choose a career path that will pay the bills and leave you with excess funds for other expenses. This should be one of the things in your mind when choosing the right career.
In general choosing the right career can sometimes be pressurizing, but you can take the right career path by making the right decisions and having it at the back of your mind that you can change it in future. In the corporate world today, choosing the right career doesn’t entail that you stick to one particular work path all your life. The idea here is to make the right decision and plan in terms of re-evaluating this decision based on your long term objectives.
photo credit; townetworks.com