The root cause of the confusion in choosing the right career is being carried away by an excess of the free advice given by your friends and relatives.
Every ambitious person's life somewhere starts with motivational thoughts like - "You can do, If you think you can." But it is seldom told what you should do or what your career path would look like. No one tells us what happens if we grow up and have no idea what we want to be. Often this part is decided by an individual under certain influences. This influence is sometimes from parents and sometimes from the social network. It is seldom out of motivation or self-analysis.
Are you also easily carried away by popular beliefs and free advice? Are you always searching the career and career options on the internet but still confused again? Please don't do it! After all, it is your career, and you have to live your life with your career in the same way as you have to live with your spouse throughout your lifetime. However, there is one thing called switching over your career that comes with a cost. It is a good idea to switch your job if required and results in growth or boost in your career.
The Career Confusions
Career Confusions are not uncommon. Nor are these unusual. One has right to think twice before taking a firm decision. The big question is how to pick a Career based on what you really enjoy
In my last post, I focused the topic on the #PathNotTaken. While you zero down the options at an early stage of your career, you are bound to choose a path and leave others. Whether you want to choose your career or want a switchover, you need to consider the following key points in both cases.
How to Pick a Career Based on What You Enjoy
If you’re going to put effort into choosing a path, make sure it’s something you like. Follow these tips to find the types of work you’ll likely enjoy.
Identify your favorite enjoyable activity.
What do you enjoy doing so much that you would do it for free? Motivational speaker Mr. Robin Sharma describes a perfect taxi driver in his book “Secret Letters of the Monk who sold his Ferrari,” who was once a successful hotel manager. He told the author that he saw a taxi driver come to drop a tourist at the hotel one day while he was sitting in his cabin. He waved at him. The manager recognized him immediately. He knew that fellow to him from his college days when he (the manager) also drove a cab to meet his college expenses.
Before he could come out of his cabin to see him, he could only see the rear lights going away. That day he realized that driving was the activity which he enjoyed most so far. He told the authors that he left his Hotel Manager’s job the same day. Since then, he was driving a cab. He told him that he was the best cab driver in the town. He knows all the tourist places and all the routes. So the tourists love him and vouch for him for his excellent credentials. That way, he gets more business as compared to the other cab drivers. This is what you get. When you choose a career, you are made for – Success, Satisfaction, Enjoyment, and of course, adequate compensation or reward.
Even if you don’t want to turn your favorite hobby into a career, identifying the reasons you enjoy it could help you understand how you like to spend your time.
Search for Career Resources
Some colleges and universities usually have a career resource center, similar to a library, where students can browse books, periodicals, and information online about pretty much any career you can imagine.
Career resources give you an idea about what jobs entail, the required skill-set, and the training or education that will groom you for it.
Consult a Career Counsellor
A career counselor or coach can help you identify with what you enjoy and your strengths and then help match up you with careers that fit your aptitude. Having a counseling session with such experts can help you find out careers you might never have considered, or even knew existed, or discovered on your own.
Career counselors help you a lot to spruce up your resume, brush up your oratory skills, practice negotiating, and steer you toward the skills and training you need to work in your desired field.
Take a Personality Test
A personality test helps you identify your working style, strengths, and what kind of environment you’ll work best in, based on complementary personalities and types of tasks. Several free tests are available online. However, a lot of tests paid tests that go more in-depth are chargeable. But they could be worth the expense for the amount of insight they offer.
Consider using a personality test that analyzes your traits and strengths rather than recommending a specific career. The former helps you understand yourself, so you can see where you’d fit in any field, while the latter focuses on job-specific tasks and interests and doesn’t give as broad a look at the possibilities.
Take skill development Course.
Often the short-term course available online and offline help learning more about a subject could be a magnet for you to put on a career path. A guided course is a simple way to get a comprehensive introduction to a topic or industry.
If you have discovered your passion for a subject, explore careers in that area further through research, interviews, volunteering, and networking to learn what it’s like to work in related fields.
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