How to choose your career before you start College?

How to choose your career before you start College?

8 mins read3.8K Views 15 Comments
Updated on Dec 1, 2011 11:03 IST

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:

Aerospace
Animals
Aquaculture
Architecture
Armed Forces
Art / Creativity
Astronomy
Automobiles
Backpacking
Biotechnology
Books
Broadcasting
Camping
City Planning
Climbing
Clothes/Fashion
Computers
Construction
Consumer Advocacy
Cooking
Counseling
Criminal Justice/Corrections
Cycling
Dancing
Design
Disability
Drawing
Drug Abuse/Alcoholism Treatment
Editing Videos
Electronics
Energy
Entrepreneurship
Environmental Issues
Ethnic Studies
Filmmaking
Financial Matters
Flying
Foreign Languages
Foreign Service
Franchising
Gardening/Horticulture
Government
Green Energy
Health/Nutrition
Healthcare
Horses
Insects
International Affairs
Internet Research
Investigation
Landscaping
Law
Machines
Management
Mathematics
Mechanical Things
Meditation
Music
Nutrition
Photography
Planning Events
Politics
Politics
Pottery
Public Relations
Reading
Reading
Real Estate
Rehabilitation
Research
Robotics
Rock Climbing
Rocks
Sales
Scuba diving
Social Networking Sites
Software
Solar Energy
Spirituality
Sports
Teaching
Tennis
Theatre
Travel
Video Games
Videos
Watching Television
Weather
Writing
Yoga


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:

Achievement
Adventure
Aesthetic appreciation
Challenging problems
Change and variety
Community
Competition
Cooperation
Creativity
Ecology awareness
Ethics
Excellence
Fame
Family
Financial gain
Friendships
Helping others
Independence
Influencing others
Inner harmony
Job tranquility
Leadership
Location
Make decisions
Material gain
Meaningful work
Nature
Personal Development
Physical Challenge
Power and Authority
Precise work
Public service
Recognition
Reputation
Responsibility
Risk
Security
Social contribution
Spirituality
Stability
Time freedom
Tranquility
Working alone
Working under pressure
Working with others


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)

 

About the Author

This is a collection of news and articles on various topics ranging from course selection to college selection tips, exam preparation strategy to course comparison and more. The topics are from various streams inclu... Read Full Bio

Comments

(15)

3154946
vishakha damare.

2014-08-23 13:44:51

Hello mam, your guidance proved to be very useful for me , but i have came up with two interest one is teaching and the other is banking.Guide me please or suggest me some common educational qualification which will encourage me to develop my carrer path.

Reply to vishakha damare.

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amore pareek

2013-05-31 22:48:15

I am in 12th with commerce. i have got interest in music and art (no formal training)i'd like to go for NID bt will it affect my 12th score?

Reply to amore pareek

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amore pareek

2013-05-31 22:41:38

Hello ma'am ! I am in 12th grade with commerce (maths) . i have got interest in music and art but i don't hold any formal training . due to family restrictions i could not opt for arts as my stream . I'd like to know about courses both in commerce an

Reply to amore pareek

2582816
Jyothi Jo

2013-05-08 18:45:14

Which is better option for degree(B.com or BA) if i want to appear for civils.?

Reply to Jyothi Jo