Who to Be?
The question "who to be?" belongs to those often impossible to answer. How to choose a profession and not be disappointed in it?
The choice of a career is often a one-of-a-lifetime responsible step. Your future well-being depends on it at the very least. Thus, before making a decision you need to decide where you would like to work. Let's try to figure out how to choose the right profession so that it brings not only material but also moral satisfaction.
Get to Know Your Abilities and Interests
Find out your abilities and remember to attribute personal qualities to them: character, temperament, psychological type, etc. The better you get to know yourself, the easier it will be for you to decide on a career. You can explore yourself in the following ways:
1. Take Personality and Psychometric Tests
Personality and psychometric tests are a very useful tool to help you choose your future profession. They help the student to determine their hidden capabilities and facets of their character. For example, if you are sociable, professions associated with numerous contacts are more suitable for you, and if you are emotionally restless, you might find it troublesome to perform routine activities.
A huge number of such tests are available on the Internet. Examples may include MBTI, DiSC, Birkman personality tests. But it is still better to do this during a consultation with a counselor. The better you know yourself, the better the choice will be.
2. Analyze Your Academic Performance
Think about what areas of work you did well in school. What subjects were easy for you? Skill-based career choices will help you succeed and enjoy the results you achieve.
If you are not sure what you are good at, ask your parents, other family members, friends, and teachers. Perhaps their answers will surprise you.
Try to analyze the disciplines you enjoyed. A favorite subject in high school can serve as the basis for a future profession. For example, if you are into chemistry, you may become a laboratory assistant or pharmacist in the future.
3. Decide On Your Must-Haves
Take time to understand what work environment you expect from your future career and what aspects of it are crucial to you. The decisive factors may be:
- Performing routine tasks or completing creative projects;
- Sedentary or active work;
- The type of workplaces – indoors or outdoors, office or factory, and noisy or quiet;
- Work in a permanent place or business trips and traveling;
- Constant contact with people, working alone or with a permanent team;
- Complying with someone else's instructions or working for yourself;
- Strict schedule (such as 9-to-5 jobs) or flexibility.
It is critical to know what you need from your future job in advance. For example, higher salary and other benefits might be valuable enough to you to accept all the stress of a certain job. Or if you need to get a stable salary, you can refuse to work as a freelancer.
4. Consult a Career Counselor
Most colleges and universities have a career services office that can help you choose a career. Whether you have no idea about what you want to do or are leaning toward a particular occupation, career counselors will help decide what career is suitable for you.
A career counselor studies a person's capabilities, interests, and, based on the results, helps to choose suitable professions, apply for necessary courses and educational programs. Many colleges also provide the service of workshops that teach and practice job skills such as interviewing, resume writing, and networking.
Make a List of Potential Occupations and Research Them
We have discovered the abilities and interests, so it’s time to select up to 10 professions in accordance with your intellectual and personal strengths. Take into account test results and counseling recommendations.
Study each option closely and consider the specific requirements. Each profession has both advantages and disadvantages. Every job has its own characteristics concerning the conditions, requirements for professional and personal qualities, medical contraindications, required training, approximate earnings, the nature of the activity, as well as promotion opportunities.
You can get enough information on a career of interest if you follow these tips:
- Read books, feature articles, and job sites available on the Internet;
- Attend conferences, follow opinion leaders;
- Chat with a professional representative. Such a person will be able to talk about the pros and cons of work, schedule, salaries, possible prospects, etc.;
- Family and friends can help you find people working in your chosen industry;
- Try the profession as an intern or volunteer.
The next step is narrowing your list to 1 or 2 options. Take a look at the requirements you are not satisfied with. Low salary, stressful conditions, or education requirements may not meet your demands. Having reviewed all the occupations in the list, cross out the ones that do not fit.
Student Resources to Help Decide On a Career
Besides the obvious steps in choosing a career, there are minor but relevant points to keep an eye on. Study the student resources below to dig deeper into the appealing occupation and be ready to take the first career steps.
- Statistics and Employment Trends
To exclude the possibility of a wrong choice, study trends, analyze the current and future trends, and demand for the profession you want to pursue. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will provide you the most recent data on employment, benefits, salary, training requirements and will let you take a glance at the 10-year job outlook.
- Sources of Information About the Company
Researching employers is a secret weapon that will give you a huge advantage during your interview. Print, media, online sources, interviews, and business contacts are the main sources to collect exact information about the company.
GlassDoor is a great tool to know about the hidden details of a company through employee reviews. It provides basic company information, as well as reviews on salary, interviews, benefits, etc.
Google News is another good source to gather the latest news about the company. You will most likely find the media mentions, financial statements, and the executives’ contact details.
- Resume and Cover Letter Recommendations
Don’t neglect your resume and cover letter that can make you stand out at the interview. This resource offers a comprehensive guide to make a top-notch resume. You may use resume creating templates to save your time and make an appealing resume.
Follow these tips and techniques to make sure your cover letter is in amazing shape. An outstanding cover letter can also help you secure a job interview.
- Consult Public Services
To land your job interview, you may always consult resume experts such as Let’s Eat, Grandma team. The professionals will rework your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, and more to help you redefine your professional image.
- Network Online Resources
Take advantage of the Internet to present the best of yours. Search for a job using websites (Indeed, GlassDoor, LinkedIn, FlexJobs, etc.), learn techniques to overcome job challenges, to get along with colleagues and the boss.
- Pay Attention to Your Online Reputation
Social media can help you win an interview or even a job, but it can also spoil your chances of getting hired. Every day, recruiters turn to the internet to find their next great worker. These tips on boosting your social media profile will help you increase the potential career opportunities coming your way.
- Resources for Job Interviews
Job interviews never seem easy. Set aside time and read the job interview tips to be more confident in success. When preparing for an interview, it is a common problem to experience stress. Here, it is crucial to know how to manage stress. Learn to control your pre-interview nerves and be ready to land the interview.
- Resources for Professional Self-Development
It is vital to keep developing not only personally but also professionally. You can take advantage of courses (such as Skillshare, Coursera, EdX) or MindTool complete toolkit of materials. These self-development career resources will help you improve on existing or learn new skill sets, develop talents, and be a more knowledgeable person.
Take the First Step Now
So you've made your decision. When you have a destination in mind, you can begin to plot out the milestones that will get you there, just like a roadmap. Now it is important to determine:
- educational institution where you can get a professional education;
- how to develop professionally important qualities;
- how you can get practical experience in this specialty;
- how to increase your competitiveness in the labor market.
Set Deadlines for Your Goals
Set a deadline on each short and long-term career goal. Your time for accomplishing the goal should be achievable but don’t give yourself too much freedom either. Time management helps to prevent everyday tasks from taking priority over your longer-term goals.
Create your list of achievable goals – and you’ve taken a big step to not only choosing a career but setting your dream in motion. The goals you want to achieve serve as the cornerstone of the career action plan.
Remember to identify any obstacles that you might face on your development path. For example, if you want to teach at the university, think over whether you can study for 4-6 years.
Brainstorm to come up with possible solutions to the challenges. If you can't find viable solutions, you may need to reformulate your goals.
Consult Professionals
Choosing a career in the industry is highly time-consuming and requires commitment. That’s why students should have access to top-notch professional career guidance. Consultation with professionals will help work out the individual job search plan based on personal information and aptitude tests results.
Professionals assist in choosing a career, writing resumes and cover letters, preparing for job interviews. They can help you engage in networking events where you will have an opportunity to connect with professionals working in the career of interest.
Work On Yourself
We need to continuously develop our knowledge and qualities to support our career goals. The internet has opened up a world of possibilities for us to learn and grow in ways we never could have imagined.
Many of the activities you do to develop personally help you develop on a professional level and vice versa. For example, taking a course on interpersonal communication skills will help you both in your personal and professional life. That’s why ongoing development is vital to help you reach core career and life goals.
Final Tips for How to Choose the Dream Job
Choosing a profession is not a minute matter. It can be the choice in your life. So all the resources, guides, and tips above will be a treasure chest for high school students, high school, or college graduates.
When choosing a profession, it is essential to:
- Know as many professions as possible and their features;
- Identify your abilities, interests, and inclinations that can contribute to future success;
- Assess your psychological and physiological personality traits;
- Have primary and secondary career options;
- Proceed from all factors of the profession, not just wages. You also need to consider your capabilities.
Having settled on the most appealing career option, develop a plan for further action. By setting goals, it will be easier for you to move along the desired path.
Making the right choice means finding a profession that is interesting, accessible, and feasible, considering the capabilities of a person, their lifestyle, health status, level of knowledge, and skills.
Feelings of satisfaction and joy will be the criterion for the correct decision. In this case, work will become your favorite thing and will bring both moral and material satisfaction.
