Ground Report

If you aren’t sure about the direction your career is going in, perhaps it is time for you to consider changing your career. Maybe it’s time you met career counseling professionals? There are many important decisions you will have to make in life, but none are more important than for you to find a career you can commit to.

There are so many things to consider when it comes to choosing a career; you can’t simply follow in your parent’s footsteps or make a random decision. Here are ten things you should keep in mind:

What energizes and excites you?

This is the most obvious step. Everyone would want to enjoy what they’re doing. One of the biggest signs of being on the wrong path would be when you dread going to work every day. Even though passion isn’t the only thing needed for you to be content with your career, many believe that it is essential, if only because it is what will keep you going even in the toughest of times. Think about it, is there any job you would consider doing for free?

What are you good at?

Maybe you are the kind of person who doesn’t feel passionately about a specific career. Or maybe there are multiple areas that interest you, and it’s hard to decide which one you like the most? What you need to do is learn as much as you can about your personality and look at the skills you have.

Take tests

What if you’re in a situation where you don’t know exactly what you’re interested in? Taking a career assessment test in college or in high school will help narrowing down the field. But if you haven’t taken any of these tests or if it’s been a while, you should consider taking a more advanced test. The internet is full of tests which you can take. So go online and find out what you’re best suited for.

Have you considered internships?

If you’re flexible in terms of salary then perhaps you could consider going in for an internship to see how an industry works and whether you would be interested in taking up a career in that industry. Even if you don’t like how the industry works and figure it isn’t the right path for you, you will at least have built up your network, and this will only benefit you in the future. Also, don’t think that every internship will have you doing menial jobs. Some can be quite educational.

Find the right mentor

A good mentor can be the difference between your career being stagnant and taking things to the next level. This is one of the easiest ways for you to make sure you are on the correct career path. So if there is a career that you are interested in, try and find out about some of the people in that industry and see if they will let you shadow them for a while. If you like what you see, and if they are willing, you have found yourself a mentor.

Consider exploring unconventional careers

Some of the most popular careers out there include a doctor, teacher, lawyer, engineer, police officer, etc. If you are uninspired by these typical choices, there are quite a few unusual jobs which you can also consider. The internet is a great place to find a list of jobs that aren’t as common as others. Chocolate inspector, panda caretaker, etc. Now aren’t those jobs you would love?

Ask others

Perhaps one of the best ways of discovering new careers is by asking other people about their own careers. Assuming you can come into contact with people who aren’t working in a similar field. For example, your network on LinkedIn or on any other social media site is a very good place for you to start mining for additional information. Also, do not forget to check local career resources. You may get some really good leads in and around your area this way.

Use the GPV formula

When looking for the perfect career, there is one formula which works, the GPV formula. This is the Gifts + Passions + Values formula. You need to consider all of your passions and strengths just like we mentioned earlier as well as your values. What are the things which you aren’t willing to reconsider when it comes to your work?

Career plan

As with anything, your career path is only going to benefit you if you have a good plan in mind. You may be thinking that you want to be a writer, but you can’t always be a writer. The next step here would be moving on to editing. Or maybe you are thinking of going into restaurants from writing. How do you plan on getting there? You need to map out exactly where you are looking to go, have concrete milestones for yourself, make it into a project.

Make stepping stones instead of a linear path

Every plan or idea you have is not necessarily written in stone. Think of your career as more of a marathon instead of thinking of it as a sprint. The road can turn out to be quite winding indeed. It is knitted together out of all of your experiences. Hopefully, the end result will be a career which you like.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, it is very important for you to be working towards your end goals at all times. There is nothing worse than ending up in a dead-end job without any future. When you have a good career, you will have a reason to wake up every morning. You will be doing what you love. So what are you waiting for? If you don’t like the direction your career is going in, then it’s time you did something about it. Go online and start searching for alternatives that interest you. This can end up being quite a lot of fun as long as you find the right career at the end.