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What Career Should I Pursue

Sunday, August 10th 2014. | How to Choose a Career

You are on the right track if you ask yourself early on “what career should I pursue?” The first step in solving a problem is to know exactly what the problem is. It is good that you are willing to face up to your dilemma – that you are unsure of what you will do with your life and you admit that you need some direction.

Personal Assessment

The very first thing that you need to do is to take stock of your own abilities. After going through high school, you have been able to see where you are good at and where you are not. This is the primary purpose of going through all the rigmarole of high school studies – helping you to see what you really are, and guiding you in your career choice.

What Career Should I Pursue

Things that you need to assess about yourself are:

Personality traits – Are you friendly or are you an introvert?
Interests – Are you interested in the arts, or in sciences?
Values – Are you willing to sacrifice anything for your principles or do you easily compromise?
Skills – Do you have mechanical skills, or people skills?

By now, you can honestly ascertain the areas where you are good at. Try focusing on these areas and see which of them tickles you the most. If you are not sure of how to do this, you can ask your school’s guidance counselor: “what career should I pursue?” and he will gladly help you for this is what he is there for. You can also read books and manuals about how to make career choices.

Be Flexible

Let’s assume that you were able to determine that your best career choice is in the arts. Most people who love to doodle with their pens and pencils are naturally inclined to choose a career in the field of arts and culture. You can really glide through easily in college if you take up a fine arts course.

But what happens after graduation? Do you have the potential of making a living by painting canvasses with beautiful senescence? If in your college studies you were able to win several painting awards, won over many competitors and gain so much recognition as a student painter, perhaps your career as a painter will be well paved. But if not, you won’t be able to sell your paintings easily.

In other words, you must be willing to flex your career choices. You have to look into the future of your chosen career. Perhaps you can get a degree in architecture which has more potential money-wise, and still utilize your artistic abilities.

Money – A Major Consideration

Another consideration in making a career choice is your ability (or your parent’s) to support all your financial needs while in college. Pursuing a medical degree if your father is just a daily wage earner would put your family in debt – unless a rich uncle bestows your family a hefty endowment. In other words, be practical when asking yourself: “what career should I pursue?”