Choosing The Right Career

It is a daunting task to choose a career. The hunt for the perfect career begins when student enters F.sc/Intermediate or A-Levels. It is the time when a long list of careers peak them. This article discusses some important tips that will help fresh graduates and future graduates in choosing the right career paths.

1.     Survey Your Options: Fresh graduates must survey all of the options they have for their career. Some jump to conclusions and choose the career in haste, and regret their decision later. Once you are done with your studies, or are at the brink of completion, you should list down all the career options for yourself. Suppose, if you are doing your masters in computer science, then you can list down all the skills that you possess and the ones you learned through the course of your studies. Once you have this list, you can easily identify the jobs that will suit you best, and you can work as a computer programmer, a software architect, web developer, software engineer or enter any other related profession. The same goes for students doing their majors in marketing, accounting, or human resource management.

2.    Stick In To Your Values: When choosing a career, you should adhere to the values which are closer to your heart. Everyone has a different set of values such a leadership, risk talking, security, working as a team member, gaining experience, climbing up the corporate ladder, prestige, monetary benefits, open to new ideas and creativity. You should determine the values, which are important to you and then make an effort in short listing a career where you can easily protect them. For instance, if you are a family oriented person and love spending time with your parents, siblings and close friends, then doing a job with long working values hours will hurt your values, as you will have no time for your social activities. Invest through the first few jobs fresh graduates are enthusiastic when doing their first job for the salary they will earn, which they plan to spend on shopping and other activities. The sole intention of doing your first job is to invest the salary instead of wasting it. People lavishly spend their income when they are in their early years of professional life, thinking that their family is there to support them. You should start investing from the very first salary you get, because you will gradually become independent when you ahead in your life. It will be your investment benefiting you in the end.

3.    Learn, Explore, Discover: A common fallacy in your society is that a person should choose a profession that compliments the degree he/she has received. If a student is an MBA in marketing, then he/she will look for jobs related to his field of study. You should enter the professional world with an open mind and be able to render your services in a job, which may not directly link to your degree. Unfortunately, fresh graduates lack this attitude. There is a concept of ‘’rotation’’ in internships, when internees gain experience by working in different departments. This enables them to learn insights about the professional world. Graduates must learn from the corporate world, explore their inner potential by accepting a job, which they can perform, no matter if it isn’t linked to what their studied at their university. This will help them discover their hidden potential.

4.    Follow Your Passion: Where doing the job not related with your degree is an option, finding a job where you can follow your passion is also necessary. You can turn your passion and hobby in your profession and there are no restrictions in doing so. If one loves photography, then he/she can do it on a professional level.

5.    Make Your Own Path; Don’t Compare: Comparing yourself with your peers and colleagues is mistake we all commit. Whether we are students or professionals, we try to match life, our careers, and ourselves with our contemporaries. This results in nothing but stress and anxiety. Everyone is different having a specific set of skills and talents. If your best friend is satisfied with his job as a sales manager, then it doesn’t mean that you too will become a good sales manager. You should try to visualize and realize what you are good at, and then focus on the work where you can do justice with your life and career. Sometimes career paths come from the heart, which prove to be the best choice.