A few Things to Consider About Picking a Career
- Details
- Category: Business & Money
- Published on Monday, 13 June 2011 06:00
Like a milestone maker in life, choosing your future career is a very important milestone at such a critical point in life for youngsters. Here is a few things to consider about picking a career.
It's crossing that Rubicon ...decision time at a stage in life where you are not exactly sure what is the right thing, it’s a dilemma faced by many youngsters whose age ranges varies from 13 to 20 years and older and a angst shared by many of the close or extended concerned family all brought on by their respective failings or successes in their careers.
Here are some things to consider before you make that decision and don’t forget you can change that decision as long as you can face the consequences of that changes and maybe being delayed in timeline of your career progression.
Unfortunately certain careers will have an unofficial age range at which to start as the society and the profession dictates it.
1) Choosing a career
The choosing of a career is not just a simple choice, it takes time and research is of the essence if your decision is to be the correct one, not all careers are a simple get on the bandwagon and away you go route, many careers have stages which need to be reached before the final culmination in the crowning glory that is the namesake of the title in the career that you have chosen is yours. In this day and age the internet is a great source of information and the proliferation of blogs and personalized websites of peoples challenges to reach their career goal is of great benefit, but use your head and remember only you can be the judge if what’s stated on a website is the actual truth.
2) Advice from an expert.....A Careers teacher.
A careers teacher or counselor or someone of that stature can be very beneficial to confer with as it’s their job to help people make the correct decision. They have access to resources that the internet can’t necessarily provide ......real life contact and experience through their own contacts. It works both ways industry needs people and so they have contacts with schools or colleges to help shape the future of potential candidates as over time the skills required will change. So find one and use their expertise, BUT don’t let them channel you into something they think is right for you....only you can make that decision
3) A Hobby as a career
A living from a Hobby is the ideal career, but the reality of one that will provide you with your financial needs is quite rare to have because the society and the location of where you are plays a important part, for example you may be a bee keeper but selling honey wont exactly net you the salary to sustain yourself unless you build a industry out of it.
4) Careers top jobs listing
The top careers listing is a potential source of working out your choice of career if you are single minded enough to follow through with your decision. It’s also dependent on hoping that the trend of certain careers are maintained over years to come...Be prepared for Change today’s new technology can soon become obsolete as time and research soldiers on, a historical search into this would be good to see how that career has fared, as long as its not a latest based on some new founded idea or technology. The Classic careers of doctors, lawyers, nurses, managers’ dentists to name but a few still hold their own prestige and provide bedrock from which to move into other fields at a later stage in life should you have a compelling wish to change because it’s overwhelming you.
5) Money Money Money ...the root of all evil.
Yet we all have the urge to make or have lots of money, a particular career path can generate lots of money over time with experience.
As the expression goes Money can’t buy you love and the same applies here it wont necessarily get your happiness, so don’t be fooled into going into a profession with money in mind you may be sorely disappointed if it doesn’t, try and aim for job satisfaction and you will reap more from that than money can ever buy and ultimately you will be richer for it ....maybe even money wise!
6) Wasted efforts
Making a career change may sound like a wasted opportunity but don’t take that stance, everything you learn in life has its benefit maybe not immediately but it can workout to your advantage if you are lucky on the other it may not, think more of the benefits of the new career path than what skills set may be lost or not used. Learn and prosper.
7) Is change possible later?
Remember a career is not always for life ...life rarely remains unchanged and so the same applies to a career, as you grow you have the courage to change to suit your current needs, so don’t be afraid and don’t stay rooted in that job just because you made great efforts early on in this career, you can do so once again but with a greater hind sight and life experience and the end result could be better this time round. There are many people who have spent years building a career, just to find that it was not their true vocation in life and do something completely different, but this only works for strong willed people who can see where their future lies and have the stomach to make another change, for these people change is not a great upheaval in life.
9) Experience from the real world.
You can’t really beat that...Having close friends who are happy in their field of endeavor is a good marker to see what can be achieved with a particular career path.
But each of us is different and we may not be as happy as they are...quite equally we may prosper from their failings and make the career path we follow even better than theirs and be even richer for the experience.
10) Just make a decision?
Choosing a career is not just a simple make up your mind and away you go decision.
The reality is that planning is required to reach the various tiers of a career, real life work experience can help tremendously your re action to working in the real world will dictate a change within a career if we excel the door of opportunity opens wider and if we don’t we carry on as we are within our chosen path till we look at our career plan and ask ourselves is change required and if so what change is required. A career plan should have a start where you set your goal, middle for self-assessment and an end to see if the goal set has been reached.
Quite often the dilemma lies in saying is this the career for me ,first-hand experience is great to have, So maybe a voluntary stint in that field would help you to get a clearer picture for your suitability, the good ole try before you buy applies here.
