How to Decide if a Certain Career is Right for You

One of the most important decisions you will make in your lifetime is determining what you want to be when you grow up. Once a decision is made and you start down a certain path, it can be very difficult to reverse your course if you change your mind. So, spend some time researching to decide if a certain career is right for you before making a commitment.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Internet Access
• Computers
• Grad School Aptitude Tests

1. Consider your skills, interests and knowledge, what you like to do, your hobbies and your hangups when trying to decide which career course to pursue. If you have a flair for food, consider catering, not ethnobotany.

2. Look into your different career possibilities at sites like Job Futures: Canada and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook. These sites offer information on possible salaries, the education needed, the working environment, and statistics on overall job satisfaction of people actually working in the field.

3. Select several occupations for further inspection. Make certain to choose fields where you will be able to apply your skills and interests.

4. Work out in your mind what your career goal is and compare that ideal to the careers you have chosen. Career goals can be anything from the obvious - money - to the obscure - finding a job that will let you spend your days outdoors. Decide what works best for you.

5. Narrow down your choices based upon the best fit between the occupation, your skills and interests and what you feel you want to do.

6. Talk with real people working in the field you think you want to conquer. Often, real-world views of occupations can be quite different from the descriptions offered on paper.

7. Make your decision and start working toward your goal.

Tips & Warnings

• Help finalize your decision by talking with teachers in the field you are pondering or questioning professionals in the industry's trade organizations. They may be able to provide additional insight into the highs and lows the field has offer.

• Make sure you make your best effort to find out everything involved in getting into the field and the day-to-day of it once you get there. Strict educational requirements, high financial burden, long working hours and low pay may be enough to deter many people from pursuing careers they are not truly prepared to handle.