Choosing the right career path and sticking to it has never been more difficult. In eras gone by, there were select few careers to choose from, and when you started your first job on one path, you would likely stick to that industry (or even business) for the rest of your working life.
Although this sounds limiting – and it was – the lack of choice made it easy to decide which path to choose, and you didn’t have the agony of deciding whether to risk it all by changing occupations at certain points along the road.
In the modern working world, the idea of a single, linear career path is rather quaint. This is the ‘Information Age’, a time when skills are available to learn for free online, when you are inundated with the experiences of others, new jobs and businesses cropping up out of nowhere, and the ability to start an online business for nothing more than the cost of a website domain name. This makes choosing a career path extremely difficult because there is a huge range of choices.
Here are some top tips for choosing the right career for you:
Develop your current skill set
One of the best guides you can use when choosing a career path is to reflect on your current skill set. Depending on what point you are at with your career already, these skills might have been developed through certain jobs, or they may be natural talents that you have had since you were born.
Whatever the case, these skills will make you suited to certain types of roles, and less suited to others. If you are a gifted writer who produces novels in your free time, then you are probably more suited to copywriting than quantum physics. Alternatively, if math has always been your strong suit, then becoming a scientist, physicist, engineer or accountant could be a natural path to take.
These skills don’t have to be so hands-on, either. Perhaps you are naturally adept at organising others or enjoy having the responsibility of management. If this is the case, you should consider seeking project manager jobs.
Consider your interests
Continuing with this theme of natural inclination, you should take your interests and tastes into consideration when choosing a career. You are likely to be working in a particular industry daily for years on end, so you want to make sure that you are, to some degree, interested in your occupation from the get-go.
If you enjoy talking to others and building relationships, for example, then a career in sales makes sense, while if you are fascinated with technology or IT, then becoming a software developer would be a good fit.
What are you hoping to gain from your career?
Lastly, you need to know what you want from your career. If you are chasing the healthy pay packet that will give you a high standard of living, then you will likely need to pursue a different career path than someone who only wants to help others, with no particular financial interests involved.
By doing this, you will find it easier to narrow your options and choose the job that will reward you the most.
Conclusion
Choosing the right career path isn’t easy at any age, and it’s only made harder when you don’t have many ideas. However, by assessing what you want to gain from your work, your interests, and your current skills (as well as those you wish to develop), the process of picking an enriching and rewarding career will be a little bit easier.