How to choose your career before you start College?

The biggest dilemma for a typical student is how to identify their true calling. Your career choices become limited right from the time you choose your subjects after 10th, and narrow down further when you dedicate yourself to a stream after 12th. How to choose your career before you start College may seem like a complicated decision for a student but with proper research work and soul searching, it may prove to be a turning point of your life.

The process of deciding upon a career should start much earlier. As much as teens and young adults may want to deny it, parents and society do have an important role to play in making a career decision.

Here are some of the common problems that can actually become steps to your ultimate career success:

Problem #1: I do not have a particular goal in Life. I dream about doing one thing one day and then, find some other thing more interesting the next day. What should I do?

Step #1: Explore Your Day Dreams

Write down your day dreams, ideas, goals, or aspirations. They can be activities, occupations, or careers that you might want to do or that fascinate you. These can be important clues to your passions or interests.

Once you have made a list, narrow it down to the ones that attract you the most and figure out their most interesting aspects.

Then, research on career options that cover most of the activities that you dream of doing in the long run. Or you may try to research about study choices available that can lead to occupations of your choice.

At Shiksha.com, we have divided popular subjects into 11 categories - each with various sub-categories - to help you narrow down the list.

Problem #2: I have often seen that people get disinterested in their jobs after a while and either switch their career paths or stop performing to the optimum. I would like to do something I am passionate about. How should I find such a career option?

Step #2: List down Your Interests

Make a list of what interests you. It can be subjects you love to study as well as activities you enjoy the most. Your interests can be clues to the topic areas you want to know more about. Often, your qualifications and your interests can be teamed up to come up with a career option that is tailor-made just for you.

Thus, a Psychology expert who has flair of writing can own an ‘Agony Aunt' column in a newspaper or someone who has done MBA in Sales but loves skiing can manage Sales division for a ski manufacturer.

Tick your interests from the following:

You can add your other interests to the list too.

Analyze this list and then, try to come up with most relevant career choices for yourself.

Problem #3: I have so many interests that lead to so many careers. From being an Astronaut to becoming a farmer, I dream of doing so many things every day. I am still at a loss about how to choose an ideal career for myself.

Step #3: Figure out Patterns in your Life Experiences

Reflecting on our life experiences can reveal a lot about our likes, dislikes, and passions. If you will try to remember experiences that have been most memorable and enjoyable for you, and meditate on episodes in your life that you enjoyed the most, you will be able to find out a common theme or pattern in your life experiences. This pattern or theme is the ‘real' you.

Your Life Experiences are based on two sets of influences:

• Internal Influences: Things you have liked doing or have pursued time and again, point to what you might like to do in future too. Similarly, there might be things which you have started and then left off in between; or situations where you might have faced certain bad experiences and hence have resulted in mental blocks that stop you from exploring certain activities - are all important clues to the action steps you must take to succeed in your chosen career.
  
• External Influences: These include family and cultural influences. Careers preferred or often discussed by your family, especially parents; perception your family has about a career being preferable for one of your gender; reaction of your family on some of your earliest career ambitions; how your career choices affect your family or society in general; your role models or mentors - all come under external influences.

Problem #4: I have listed down my interests and dreams but I still find that there are about eight or ten career options that I can opt for? How should I find which one is my favorite?

Step #4: Turn to Fun to Tune in to your Favorite

What we do for fun is the best way to tune in to your inner calling. You may try googling for careers in your favorite field such as ‘careers in engineering' or ‘careers in animation'. You can also ask yourself questions like:

1. What are your favorite television shows and what are their themes (e.g. finance/ wildlife / fashion shows)?
2. What are your favorite movie or TV show characters and what are the roles they are playing (e.g. doctor/ lawyer/ or businessman)?
3. What would you do if you had everything in the world?
4. If you want to start a business, which business would you start if you had unlimited funds? What would be the products or services you would like to sell?
5. If you were asked to speak on any topic for one hour on primetime television, what topic would you choose?
6. What is your favorite pastime?
7. When you meet your closest friends, which subjects do you discuss the most?
8. If you were given an opportunity to decide your own key responsibilities for a job, what responsibilities or duties will you assign yourself?

Problem #5: Do I have a talent that I can use?

Step #5: Find out your Natural Talents

Everybody has talents that are unique to their personality. Anything that you can do easily, without much practice or training, can be your talent. Some people are good dancers, some paint really well, while some are really good at convincing others.

Optimize your natural talents by training yourself in your strengths. If physical coordination and flexibility comes to you naturally, you may try your hand at professional gymnastics. There are people who may have an eye for photography. Excellent memory can again be an asset in some of the careers.

Apart from what you think you can do well, ask your family and friends to point out what are your best assets. Activities or classes in which you used to excel in school can also be good pointers to your natural talent.

Remember, talents can be acquired and nurtured, if you really want to pursue your interest. So, if you haven't tried out some of your interests yet, this is the time to do so.

Problem #6: I don't think I can work under anybody. Is there an option for me?

Step #6: Your Personality and your Values must be a part of what you do.

If you can't work under anybody and want to be your own boss, may be you would like to start your own business or choose to freelance. Your personality and values are something you cannot compromise on. They are quite personal in nature. Your beliefs, ethics, and convictions may be same as your family values or might be quite different from them.

It is important for you to find out what values you want to uphold all your life. Compromising on ‘values', and working in conflict with your ‘personality' - are some of the biggest reasons why people are not happy with their jobs.

Check the values important to you from the list below or add more to the list as required:

Step #7: Write down your Career Vision Statement:

Now work out a summary of all you have done above:

"As a child, I had dreamt of becoming a __________. In school, I enjoyed studying __________ while I never liked _________________.

I always try to read more about/ do _________.

In my ideal job, I would love to do ___________.

If I get an opportunity to meet one person I like the most, I will love to meet ___________ who is a ___________. I admire him/ her because ___________________.

I have often dreamed about becoming a ______________.

My most memorable moments are when I do __________________.

I am naturally talented in _____________________.

My family and society thinks best profession for me will be to become a ___________.

Values I won't want to compromise on/ most important to me are __________________."

Once you have figured your career vision, it should not be hard for you to decide upon the right career choice for you.

Feel free to share your results here and seek views of experts and peers on what career choice suits you best. In case, you still need help, feel free to post your Career Vision Statement to our Q&A forum and ask our experts for their advice on what career suits you best.

Source: Ruchi Shrimali (Shiksha Team)