How do I choose a career?

When choosing a career, you need to decide on several things first.

1. In the future.....Where do you want to live? Do you want to stay in or near your hometown? Do you want to live in a big city? Do you want to travel? Are you willing to relocate every few years? Do you want to be able to work from home?
2. In the future......Do you want to excel at your career, moving up to management level positions or do you want to excel as a partner and or parent and have plenty of time for outside of work activities? Are you willing to put in lots of hours at work or do you want to be able to work 8-5 and have time off to to attend your chosen outside activities? Do you mind working weekends? Are you willing to do shift work in the evenings? How far are you willing to commute?
3. In the future....are you going to be more interested in making money or in enjoying the simple things in life? What will really make you feel like you are being authentic and living the life you are supposed to live?

Once you have answered the above questions honestly, then you should begin researching ALL occupations that would meet your criteria. There are an almost infinite number of possible occupations. Don't just settle on the ones you always hear about....a doctor or lawyer or computer programmer. What about being a transatlantic ship captain or the owner of an automatic car wash business? Spend time doing research, after all, your choice of occupation is going to dominate the largest part of your future life.

Hi Bobbie,

I absolutely agree with Mr. Ernst. After I graduated college with a bachelors degree in Psychology, I was working as a recruiter at a call center. It obviously wasn't my dream job, but there were parts of it I enjoyed. One day, I sat down and took a good long look at my resume, thought about what skills I had learned through my different jobs, and reflected on which parts of those jobs I enjoyed and which parts I disliked. Then I considered my own interests and goals - where did I see myself in 5 years? I wrote it all down and complied a list.

Taking all of that together, I decided to enter the field of higher education administration. It combines all the things I love (helping others, institutional organization, education, etc.) and challenges me to grow professionally every day.

Whatever career path you choose, let it be something you enjoy, that plays to your strengths, but also allows you room to grow as a person and as a professional.

Hope this helps!

Bobbie W,

First find out what interest you. Then find out what you are good at. Then study and become trained in both your interest and the things you are good at so you can develop lifelong skills. Do not let salary be the main element in making a career choice but instead focus on what are the rewards you will receive in life, how are you impacting the world and are you setting an example that you can be proud of in this career?

If you are not willing to start from the bottom then its propbably not the career for you.

I wish you the best on your journey.

A great place to start is to take a good free career assessment like https://www.mynextmove.org/. Take the Career inventory which helps you identify interests, abilities, and work values. The assessment will give you up to 3-career clusters that match you- your primary, secondary, and tertiary clusters. They are Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional careers.

Don't overthink this. Some people will change careers in their lifetime or work in an area they didn't originally think they would land in. To start, ask yourself: What do I enjoy doing? Can I make a living doing this? Sometimes the perfect career is already in place and you simply have to work hard to get there. Other times you have to create your own position.