A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Your Career Path

Finding the right career path to go down is an extremely tricky task for most people. After all, this is something that you will be spending a significant chunk of your life doing. In an ideal world, everyone would have an extremely fulfilling career which provides them with happiness and fulfillment, but it often doesn’t work out this way. If you are currently embarking down a path which doesn’t provide you with these things, you have to be the one who takes active steps towards changing course.

There are plenty of different ways that you can find the path which is right for you. In this article, we are going to be talking about a few of the best ones, so try out these methods yourself if you are still searching for the career path that is right for you.

Discover What Makes Your Heart Beat Faster

Your ideal career should be something which holds your attention for a significant period of time, providing you with new challenges on a regular basis. After all, this is something that you will be devoting years of your life to. Perhaps one of the most common signs that you need to change career path is that you dread going to work every evening and you can’t get passionate about it when you talk to people. Write down a list of what interests you and try to think of careers that directly relate to these areas. At this time, it is not worth worrying about status or salary. If there is a job out there that you would be willing to do for free, any kind of payment that you receive is always going to be a bonus.

Write Down a List of Skills

A lot of people are quite modest when it comes to thinking about the skills that they possess, but this is an important step that is going to help you match with your ideal career path. Many skills are transferable, so they can apply to many different types of job as opposed to just a single one. If you are struggling to think of your own skills, you could ask someone close to you to list some for you. You may discover things that you have never really thought about yourself before. Developing skills is something that you should look to do throughout your entire life. The more skills that you possess, the more career paths that will be available for you to go down.

Take a Careers Test

If you are still struggling to match your passions and skills to a career path, there are plenty of tests out there which can help to steer you in the right direction. You could get one from a careers counsellor or take one of the various that you find online. With so many different options out there, you could try taking multiple to see the different results that come up. Of course, you don’t have to listen to what they say, but they will at least provide you with some additional information and inspiration. You never know, you could discover a career path that you had never considered before.     

Speak to People Already in the Field

One of the best ways that you can get more information about a career path is to speak to people who are already working in it. Even the careers which seem like they are dreams come true have their negative aspects, so finding out both the good and the bad points will give you the fullest picture of the path that you may be embarking on. If you are currently weighing up more than one different area, you should speak to someone involved in each different field. Even if you don’t know anyone personally, it is likely that you will be able to find someone in your social network who can put you in touch with a useful person. If you can pay a visit to them directly at their place of work, this will give you an even better idea of what the job is like.

Read Online About Careers

The internet is an invaluable tool which you can use to discover new careers and read accounts of people who already work in the field at all levels. It is a good idea to read as widely as possible, discovering more information about unconventional career paths and not just the obvious ones. When you start to zero in on some areas that interest you, it is worth exploring them as widely as possible. Perhaps you are passionate about healthcare. While there are the more obvious doctor and nurse careers, there are plenty more like pharmacists, administrators, technicians and support works, which you can find out more about on  http://www.StaffNurse.com/. Essentially, before you enter a particular career, try to find out as much information as you possibly can about it.

Make a Top 10 List of Job Criteria

At this stage, hopefully you now have a pretty good idea of what you are looking for. If you have not quite settled on a single career path, you could try writing out a list of a few of the qualities that you are looking for in your dream job. Try narrowing down this down to your top 10. Obviously, it is going to be quite challenging to find a job that matches all of these, but if you get one which fits in with six or more, you are likely to be onto a good thing.

Keep an Open Mind

The last thing that you want to do is to rule out jobs because of stereotypes or negative stories that you have heard about them in the past. Keep an open mind and you may well find that these are careers that are ideally suited to you. Remember that everyone is different, and what is a nightmare to some people will be a dream come true for others. If you are at a stage in your life when you can try out multiple options, it is a good idea to do so. This way, you can get a decent impression of what will be best suited to you.

Try Some Work Experience

You may think that you have a brilliant idea for a career that you could embark on, but if you have never worked in this area before, it is a good idea to try out some work experience so you can get a better idea of what the day to day working environment is like. If you do decide that this is the right path for you, work experience gives you the opportunity to make some connections and demonstrate to potential employers that you are willing to put in the hours to learn the job. Another option is to undertake an internship in this field, though these are often difficult to come by and require you to work for a low salary or even for free. But many of the most popular careers require you to work your way up from the bottom, so doing an internship could be a stepping stone.     

Prepare Yourself for Your New Career

Just because you have settled on a career that you think will be perfect for you doesn’t mean that you will be able to get into it straight away. So, you need to start making preparations that will help you out. Start to tailor your resume to your new career path. Even if you don’t have any experience in this area, it is likely that you have developed some transferable skills through your previous work experience. If you are entering the world of work for the first time, you should describe how your education and general skill set makes you suited to the career you are going for.

Browse through job forums to find the different careers that are available to you. Perhaps through your research, you have found that you need to engage in further study, so you should start to explore the options that are available to you. If you think that you can go straight into a job, start to prepare your interview skills by presenting who you are and what you have to offer in clear and focused statements.

Hopefully, this quick guide has provided you with some inspiration about how you can enter a career that provides you with happiness and fulfillment. The first step that you need to take is to identify your skills and passions so that you can find a job that suits these things. If you are still struggling, it is worth speaking to a careers counsellor, taking a few quizzes, and chatting to people who work in various different jobs. You never know what you may find out. Try out some work experience to give you first-hand experience. Once you have found a path that is right for you, start taking steps to making your dream a reality.