How to find the right career?

Finding the right career for yourself is not an easy thing to do, not by all means. And, honestly, it affects all age groups. It’s a myth that the “How to find the right career for me?” question only affects the younger generations. There’s plenty of people out there who are seasoned and want to find the right career. Only in their case, we’re talking about a career switch. However, the core idea and problem stay the same – they need to find the right career.

Therefore, if you’re struggling with this – keep on reading!

What approach should I use when determining the right career for me?

Firstly, there’s plenty of ways so don’t worry if you feel completely lost! First of all, you need to determine what drives you. What do you like and what makes you happy. Sounds like a cliché, but it is not.

Let us use an example – Denis and Maria.

We’ve got two people named Denis and Maria. Maria works as a programmer. She’s very task-oriented, likes to solve issues, enjoys algorithms, and has a huge interest in technology and the latest developments. Maria doesn’t like small talk and she is not particularly interested in cultural events or art.

On the other hand, Denis works as a supervisor in a restaurant. He loves to write poetry, he likes to be around people and has a phone released 3 years ago. Denis really enjoys small talk and is very into fitness and nutrition. He likes to read a lot and transfers his knowledge to colleagues and customers.

However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he wasn’t able to work. And even before that, he was kind of getting tired of the late hours and rather low salary.

He noticed a lot of job ads for software engineers, Java programmers and similar jobs. Now, he’s looking into the right course so he can switch careers.

Do you think this would be the right career for Denis?

Well, because I don’t. Sure, he’ll be happy with the pay raise and the novelty, but when it wears off, what happens then? He needs to move around and talk to people to be happy which means that sitting behind a desk is going to kill him. To conclude, he will not be happy.

Instead of going after this type of job, he could invest his money differently and become an educator or a personal trainer. That way, he would work with people and it would be more aligned with his personal interests. Moreover, he could have online sessions so his job is more secure in case of a pandemic.

The moral of the story? When choosing the right career for yourself, don’t look at just one aspect of it. Most commonly, people tend to go after the money, not realizing other aspects of the role.

What are the practical steps to determine the right career for me?

Truly glad you asked! If you do a quick web search of the phrase “how to find the right career for me”, that’ll help you.

You will see a lot of pages offering career quizzes, self-guided search, and career aptitude tests.

Some of those are free while for others you have to spend a bit of money. We’d recommend you do a few and then think about the results. Even if they seem silly at first and like there’s no way that is the right career for you, think about it. Maybe there’s something to it!

We’ll go over a few sites that might be a good place to start.

Holland’s Theory / Holland Codes

123test uses Holland’s theory to help you out and you get what’s known as Holland Codes. The test comprises of you choosing activities you (dis)like, entering education level, and sharing a bit of personal information like your gender, age, and location. Based on your answers, you get a code and a list of occupations that would suit you based on your personality.

Free Career Aptitude Test

Another site is What Career Is Right For Me. They give you a set of questions and you need to share your level of skill (low, average, high). After that, you’re asked about the minimum salary, educational requirements, and whether or not you want this job to be in a job market growth group. Similarly to the Holland Codes, you’ll get your answer in a bit.

A Comprehensive Career Test

Most definitely, you could use this very comprehensive test that can be found at Career Explorer.

First, you have a set of questions for activities that you grade from “hate it” to “love it”. Next, you’re asked to grade careers—another set of activities, and then scoring degrees. Then, you’re asked to share your history with them. This includes your name, gender, ethnicity, education level, and occupation(s). Then you’re prompted to share the city you worked in and the salary. The good thing is that you can skip any question you want!

You’re then asked to share opinions on your career(s). Then a set of personality and skills-related questions. It takes about 30 minutes to complete it, but the results are really interesting.

Free Personality Test

On the other hand, if you want to start at the very beginning, we’d recommend doing the personality test at Truity. A good personality test is equally important as it is the foundation of your career search. Furthermore, it will help you get to know yourself.

Other ways

Lastly, don’t forget that career coaches and counselors are here to help you as well! Even on this site, you can get in touch and discuss your next moves. After all, we’re here to help so don’t hesitate to reach out. Surely, we can find the right career for you together through our Full Career Coaching Experience bundle.

It’s always a good idea to talk to a professional, no matter what we’re talking about – fitness, mental health, or career.

[html_block id=”8293″]