How to Decide What Career You Want and How to Get There

What is your Passion?

2 Step Plan to Figure Out What You Want.

Ask yourself these questions, don’t think much, just jot down several ideas that come to your mind

1. 1. Do you want to have a job or a business? You need to decide whether you want to find a job or work for yourself and own a business. People are different and everyone has different capabilities and wants. It may seem that owning a business should be the right way to go, but not everyone is capable of doing this, and not everyone wants to go such route.

1. If you had all the money in the world, what would you like to do, what career or business would you choose? Brainstorm and write down things you enjoy doing, work you like to do, career you’ve been dreaming about, etc. Take a look at your list and pick your top 3. Does any one of your top three choices reflect what you do now? If yes, GREAT! You are moving in the right direction. However, don’t forget to assess your progress, reevaluate and update (if needed) your goals from time to time (whether they still relevant or need to be tweaked). If your current job or business is not even close to what you want to do, start taking actions to move towards your dream job, business or whatever else you want to do.

I know that sometimes it seems impossible to achieve the dreams, but the reality is – everything is possible.

The only person that is stopping you from achieving what you want is YOU.

Just start thinking and working towards what you really love and want to do. The best deal is to do what you love and make some money out of it. However, not everyone can do this. So try finding a job or a career as close to what you like doing as possible.

How to Choose the Right Career?

• Assess your interests, passion, skills, abilities, and personality. Since you already identified your interests and passion in the previous section, now you need to assess your knowledge and possibilities. Based on what you know and can do, think about what kind of work could you do. Not everyone’s personality is suitable for a sales person job or a manager. If your personality does not suit your job, you may do alright at first, but eventually you’ll become miserable and will need to change things. If you do not have skills to do the job you want, you’re in good place because you can always learn things and acquire knowledge.

• Research your career choices. Since you know your likes and dislikes, abilities and skills, now it is time to see what is out there. If you know what job or career you want and where you want to work, all you need to apply and get the job. Otherwise, figure out what is important to you in terms of work place and a job itself, and do some research on the jobs, companies, growth opportunities, etc.

If you feel stuck and not sure where to what you could possibly do for a living or what job or career is right for you, get an advice from others, talk to a career coach, or do a career assessment. There are many tools online and in print that can help. I would suggest reading “What Color Is Your Parachute” by Richard N. Bolles. This will give you a better idea of yourself, possible careers, and career assessments. If you’re not sure, just don’t get stuck, but look for help and assistance.

Online resources:

Career Research Center (Riley guide career help)

O*Net Skills Research (O*net center skills tool)

Career Assessment tools (Iseek careers/skills Assessment, Central test assessments)

Analyze yourself

Here are some questions and the answer to these should give you a pretty good idea of what career or job might suit you best. Write down answers to these questions and look for a pattern and common things. You will be able to narrow down to several choices.

• What area/field would interest you? E.g. IT, travel industry, history, beauty, politics, communications, agriculture, etc.
• Are you a people’s person or you’d rather stay away from interactions with people?
• Are you a team member or an independent worker?
• Do you like managing or supervising others?
• Do people come to you for an advice?
• Are you a quick learner?
• Do you like children? Could you work with them on a daily basis?
• Do you like teaching?
• Do you want to work for yourself
• Do you want to have a job?
• Do you usually need a support group or are you an independent person?
• Could you/do you want to run a business? (Be realistic. It is not what you think you want, but what you can really do.)
• Is a flexible work schedule a must?
• Do you like structure?
• Do you like numbers? Could you work with numbers every day?
• Would you prefer day or night shift?
• Could and Would you travel for work?

After you narrow down your choices, do research on your possible job or career options. This may achieved by talking to your family, friends, coworkers, etc., doing research online, interviewing people who have careers that you’re seeking, or simply hiring a career adviser.

Now that you have an idea of what you want to do, you need to figure out how you can get from where you are now to where you want to be.

A fast track to your goal. 7 steps will get you what you want.

1. 1. What is your goal? Write down (yes, you need to do this) what exactly you want to achieve (your goals) or what you want to change and describe everything as best as you can. Your goals must be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.

1. 1. Start with the end result in mind – Describe how your life would look like if you achieved what you wanted. As much as it may sound strange, act and think as if you have already achieved your goal; moving forward in your mind will take you much closer to your “wants.”

1. 1. Now think of the steps that would take you “there.” Whether it is going back to school to gain some knowledge, volunteering, hiring a career coach, or something else, think it over and write down every step you need to go through in order to achieve your goal.

1. 1. Develop an action plan. Take each step and develop an action plan on what exactly you need to do to get to your milestone (a step in your plan). Think of what it would take to get you from one step to another and what actions you need to take.

1. 1. Commit to your goal. If you’re not committed to achieve what you want and change things,you will go nowhere. If you do not want to hire a life or business coach, work with your friends or family. Tell 5 of your closest friends what you want to achieve and what you’re doing ask them to hold you accountable. Then tell 5 strangers each week about what you’re trying to accomplish. Only spreading a word out will make you feel differently about the road to success.

1. 1. Evaluate your progress. From time to time you need to evaluate what you achieve, to stay on track, and recommit to your goals. Timing really depends on what you want to achieve and how fast you can move forward. There is no rule how often you need to check your, but make sure you track the progress often enough and modify things as you, if needed.

1. Celebrate your achievements. This will keep you motivated and eager to move forward and act faster.

Good Luck!