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An overview of why is it important for individuals to select the right career option? 

One of the most difficult but the most frequently asked questions is “ How can I find the best career for my future?”. Whether you are a college student or a mid-career professional, deciding the right career for your future can be a difficult task. Because every person wishes to land in a job that satisfies themselves.

If you want to have a highly satisfying work life and wish to enjoy your work then you need to decide on a career that can offer you a job that matches your skills, interest, and priorities. There is an old saying that “get into a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life”. It means that if you land in the desired industry then you probably are going to have the best work experience every day.

But finding the right industry for your career can be quite tricky and complicated. Before we get into how you can select the right career for your future? Let’s identify why you need to think about your future.   

Well, every person wishes to enter into a high-paying industry but sometimes you start hating the money you are earning just because of the gap between your current work and the work you actually want to do. No matter how effectively you work for your company or business there will be a time when you will start regretting your decision and will think of switching your career. So why not pick the right one at the initial stage? 

When you select an occupation there should be an inner voice that should tell “you are ready to do this work even if you are not getting paid for it”. In short, the tips and tricks to choose the right career are to find one that offers more great days than money. Eventually, one day you will grow and end up earning a good amount of money but selecting the right career goal will make your initial day more stress-free. 

With thousands of occupations to pick from, select in the best one will depend on your interest, skills, and priorities. If you successfully find a career that matches your personality and values then you will be more innovative and productive. So below we are going to list how you can select the right match for your career. 

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Step to consider while selecting a career option for your future 

1. Learn about yourself 

When you know what you are then the selection process becomes more easy and optimized. The first thing you need to do before selecting any career goal is learning more about your behavior, activity, interest, and skills. Learning as much as possible about yourself helps you to identify what you are good at and work that excites you.  

When we say learn about yourself then there is nothing better than self-assessment. By taking the help of a career counselor or career development professional you can get this done, but most of the time people fail to afford the huge amount charged by them. 

Well, don’t worry we have a solution to your problem. Using our AI-driven career assessment platform you can evaluate your skills and learn more about your interest, values, and more. Once you know about yourself then depending on the results you can set priorities which will help you to select the right career for your future.

You also talk to your alumni or get in touch with the placement office at your college or universities so that they can help you with self-assessment. Or you can use our platform that allows you to explore different hidden qualities within you. 

Take a self-assessment 

Self Assessment is the key to identify what you are and who you can be? That’s why we take this as our first step in career planning, setting career goals, and finding the right career for you. Well, all of the three mentioned topics may sound similar but all three have different meanings, a different purpose, and different roles to play in everyone’s life.

Before you make any important decision about your life and career, it’s always recommended to take a self-assessment for a reality check. Choosing a career is not a difficult job but selecting the right one can be complicated as you will need a profile that can help you to identify what kind of environment you need? Who you want to work with? What type of work you will enjoy and many more.

Below we are listing some self-assessment question that will help you to make it more effective: 

What are the things that interest you (your key values)? 
Like helping people, giving advice, job stability, financial stability, and more. 

What are the hidden soft skills within you?  
Like good presentation skills, communication skills, Time management skills, and more 

How good are you at your technical skills? 
Like codding, operating machines, photography, analytics, planning, and more

What type of work excites you most? 
Like working in the field, sitting in the office, talking to people, and more 

What natural aptitude do you have? 
Like leadership, selling, communication, writing, and more 

What’s your personality reflecting? 
Like an introvert, extrovert, confident, aggressive, loyal, and more 

What are you more interested in doing? 
Like technology drive work, writing, communication, designing, and more

2. Make a list of potential career option 

Once you are clear or have good knowledge about yourself, next comes the crucial part to identify the potential career option and make a list of it for future research. Start looking for a career option that relates to your skills, interest, and priorities.  If you come across an occupation you are not aware of then you can take it down in your list so that you can research and get in-depth knowledge about the work culture. 

Working in an organized way allows you to get more effective results that’s why we recommend making a list of all the potential career options that you think can fit in. In the assessment phase, you would have created a profile that highlights your skills, interest, and priorities. Make use of it to select multiple career options. People who have followed this process have come to an interesting career path which they were not aware of. 

More than a job title you need to focus on the job description. Below we are listing some tips to help you create a more effective list: 

  • You can start by looking at your networks. If you know a batchmate, friend, or colleague with a job that interests you then don’t hesitate to ask them about the industry they are working in. The advice you get from your network will play a major role in narrowing down your list. 
  • Before you started finding the right career you might have an occupation or industry that seems appealing to you. Take a note of it in your list. Many people are naturally drawn to some of the interesting career options like becoming a pilot, painter, fashion, and more. You can take note of all those occupations or attractive jobs that find compelling and interesting.  
  • In the self-assessment phase, you might have come across a section where you need to define things you enjoy doing. If you think managing people or designing or working as a part of a group excites you then you can take down a list of careers that involves these activities. 
  • Consider your goals and values. While making your career options list you think of where you want to be in the next 2 or 5 or10 years. At which level you want yourself to get positioned. Is there any specific location you want to get settled in? Considering these things will make your list more specific. 
  • What are your soft skills or technical skills? In the assessment phase, you might have discovered whether you are good at soft skills or hard skills, or both. If you are good at communication the doors are open for various career options. and if you are good at interpreting data or organizing data then you can think of becoming a data scientist and more. So your career option list can be narrowed depending on your skills, so make sure you make it depending on that. 

3. Explore the potential career option in your list

By now you may have a list of multiple potential career options. Next, you can narrow your list down to 5 to 6 options so that you are able to choose the right occupation or industry. You can start by getting basic information about different industries  

Remember the job title doesn’t highlight the working culture. Yes, you may get little idea from the name but to have in-depth knowledge about a particular subject you need to dive deeper and understand the ins and outs of the company. By doing research work can you identify what people do in their working days? What are their salaries and how is the growth rate in that particular industry? 

To learn more about  a partial industry you can follow the below steps: 

  • To identify whether the particular industry is the right fit for you or not, you can start by looking at day-to-day working culture. It allows you to get a better idea of how the industry functions and what employees do in their day-to-day life. You can also reach out to your known ones who are already in that industry so that you can have an in-depth idea of what a day-to-day job looks like. You can also browse the career paths to get a more detailed idea or identify the common responsibilities of a person working there. 
  • Once you successfully identify what the day to day life looks like in your desired career, next you can jump on identifying the salary. In the assessment phase you might have specified the salary or paycheck you expect from the desired industry. Undoubtedly everyone has a specific salary requirement, that’s why it is important for you to learn about the average and maximum salary people get working in that particular field at different positions.  You can also make use of tools like salary trends and more that allow you to check the salary range in various cultures in the diet industry. 
  • After identifying the right career option depending on salary and day to day work culture, next you can look for industry requirements. To enter into any industry you need to know what certification, degree, technical skills, and more are required to enter into the particular field. Once you become aware of job requirements, you may decide that a particular requirement is a good fit for you or not. Depending on that you can narrow down your list to find the best career option for your future.  
  • Before you make your final decision it’s important to identify the growth opportunities in a particular industry. Most of the time people find a career to be interesting but after spending 2-3 years they start accusing themselves and get frustrated after finding low to no growth opportunities. That’s why it’s important to identify the opportunity for growth in the selected career. By growth opportunities, we imply that in your future as you start gaining experience in that industry you should gain skills and take more responsibilities. 
  • To narrow down your list you can go through the job outlook i.e by identifying the reputation that industry holds, how it stands in the labor market, and more. You can consider data like hiring trends and job growth to make your research process more effective. Go through news and other articles or stories to get an in-depth knowledge of the industry that interests you.     

4. Narrow down your list  

After gathering all the information you can start to narrow down your list to become more specific for your career selection. In the previous step, we have highlighted how you can research different career fields. Once you have detailed data about the different industries you can eliminate the career that doesn’t match your requirement or priorities. 

Earlier in the assessment phase or after that if you had 10-15 career options in your list, then after this step you can plan to have a maximum of  2-5 occupations in your list making it a short one. If you are having career options that are not meeting your priorities then you can strike it off your list. 

Remember if you want to be stable in your life then focus more on career planning and less on a career change. So if you are planning to change or shift your career make sure you find the right one so that you can spend time and grow as an expert. Changing a career frequently will do more harm than good. 

Without any hesitation remove all those career options that don’t appeal to you. Eliminate options that have a low growth rate or less in demand. But if you think that the particular industry has less demand but you have more interest then keep it on your list and move ahead. Strike it for all career options where you are unable to fulfill the education or other requirements. If you are not good at particular soft skills then you can strike the career option that requires those skills.

5. Start Conducting Interviews

To narrow down your list even further you can start conducting interviews with different working professionals that are working in the industry listed in your approaching inception. Well, this may sound easy but finding the right person who can assist you and give you the ins and outs of the industry can be difficult. 

If you have any of your friends or relatives or your college alumni working in the same field then we recommend not to hesitate or feel shy in contacting them as they can offer your in-depth details about working culture, salary, and most importantly the growth rate in the industry.   

If you are contacting the working professional for the first time then try to get them on the phone once they are on the phone you ask them whether they are available for an in-person meeting or not. Sitting in front of a person and then starting your research gives you more output than a telephonic interview or text. 

Conducting informational interviews helps you to get in-depth knowledge about the industry. Depending on the data you receive from the interview you can narrow down your list even further to pick the best career option for your future. 

6. Set long term and short term goal

Once you are aware of what skills and degree you need to enter into the specific industry, next you can create a long term and short term goal to fulfill your desire. Having long and short term goals allows you to create a structured path for your chosen career. 

Long term goals are created keeping 2-5 years in hand, which means it takes 2-5 years to reach the final goal. On the other hand, you can caret short term for 3 or 6 months doping in your requirement. When you are planning to gain skills for the selected industry we always recommend having a long-term as well as a short-term plan. 

For example to land into the desired career option, if it is taking 2-3 years to complete it then we recommend to start by setting a long term goal and break it into 4 or 5 different short term goals so that you are about to accomplish each goal to reach the final destination. Remember once you finish a goal you get a feeling of achievement which encourages you to complete the next one. 

7. Start Getting training to build skills 

Once you know where you want your career to land in the future, next you can plan to upgrade your resume with the required skills and certifications so that you become eligible to enter into the industry. If you already have a degree in the same field then you can start looking at what extra skills you need to separate yourself from others.  

Undoubtedly your technical skills will play a major in deciding whether you are the right fit or not. Other than your hard skills, your soft skills will help you to separate your resume from the crowd. Today, in India most people fail in their interviews just because they lack technical skills. That’s why it’s recommended to be best at your technical skills so that the hiring manager can judge you based on your soft skills as well.  

Well if you wish to have a short-term plan then instead of selecting a degree that takes 3-5 years to complete, you can go with the certification. But make sure you check the industry requirement (by going through posted jobs), whether they are asking for a degree or not.  Reviewing job posting can give you an in-depth idea about what skills and certifications you need to get into that particular industry. 

There are companies and employers that are willing to offer on-the-job training (if you fulfill their basic requirements) and others will look for candidates who already possess those skills and fulfill their requirements. Once you successfully determine your qualities i.e. whether you are eligible or not, next you can reconstruct or update your resume to highlight your strength and skills. If you are using LinkedIn then make sure you highlight each skill individually to get a notification when a job is posted that matches your skills. 

8. Start applying for a job 

Once you know that your skills match the job description, then you can begin your job search depending on the location, position, and pay. There are various job portals that are accessible to mobile as well as a laptop. So you can make use of it to find a job in your industry.  There job portals like Indeed, Monster, and more that filter options using which you can find the recently posted job depending on location, salary, part-time, full-time, and more. 

If you are new to the industry then we recommend going behind the high-paying job because companies hesitate to pay high amounts to freshers. However, you can consult with the company about future growth. 

9. Grow and Learn

In the beginning, you may face difficulties and hurdles in your way, in short, it can take time to adjust to a new career, but once you establish yourself in the industry then start paying attention to the same details and other aspects so that you can grow in the industry. In the beginning, you may join as an executive slowly by learning soft skills you can become a manager then CEO. 

It all comes down to how much you inherit from the industry. You will continue learning new skills and growing as you start spending time in the industry. Even if you face difficulties don’t turn back instead face it so that you are able to maintain stability.  Keep a track of your goal so that you don’t miss out in the middle of your corporate career. Spend time in developing and optimizing activities you enjoy doing so that you can establish yourself as an expert.  

Why career counseling is essential for students? 

Career counseling has always been important to high school students, college students, and working professions, as it allows people to identify their skills, interests, and priorities so that they can select the right career for their future. Once you become aware of your career then you can set long-term and short-term career goals. 

Earlier we used to think career planning starts after we get into college life but in reality, career planning should start right after students clear the 6th standard. Most of the people were not concerned about career planning and counseling, but now it has started gaining people’s attention. 

People used to take counseling, only after they got into a job where they were not satisfied with the work and were looking to shift their career. As this concern has started troubling people they started to reach out to counselors in the early days i.e in high school and colleges.

Most of the students make their career choice based on what they hear from their close ones or from their teachers. They don’t sit back and research for different career options, which leaves them with very few options. Due to a lack of research, they end up taking what is the trend and land in a job where they don’t find themselves fit in. 

In India, this is the case with many students and working professionals. Picking a career option totally depends on what type, of course, we are taking up? But once we take up a course it opens up a lot of paths but we see only those that are visible to teachers, friends, and family. That is when we need a counselor. 

A recent study shows that one in three students feel unhappy after taking up their course. That means more than half of a million people feel unsatisfied with their careers. 

So what’s the solution? 

To determine the right career everyone should be aware of what career they should pursue or which course to take that matches their interests and priorities. If students are good at maths and drawing then architecture engineering can be the best career path. On the other hand, if the student likes to do more volunteering activities the management field can be the best option. 

Well, there are other files like agriculture, robotics, cybersecurity, and more. self-assessment allows you to determine the best part of your skills and interest and Career counseling enables you to explore various options. So that you stop making mistakes that are carried out by most of the students and working professionals. 

The psychometric test doesn’t help you to select the right career 

Most of the students and people go for psychometric tests thinking that they could find the best career option through it. A psychometric test is a scientific method used to analyze and measure an individual’s behavioral style and mental capabilities. In short, it helps people to identify their strengths and weaknesses. 

But studies have shown that instead of getting help from it, students get more confused. Because a student can be good at maths but also have an interest in Arts. That’s, why we recommend taking the help of an experienced counselor who can help you to find a career goal that meets your skills, strength, and interest. 

A career counselor can help you to define your career goal 

An experienced career counselor will help you to build a profile considering your skills and interests and priorities. Depending on your profile evaluation report a career counselor will help you to identify the right career choice. 

Many students tend to take advice from their teacher’s friends or from someone who they think has experience. But it’s not necessary that every one of them know about the industry and help you to choose the right one. To make sure that every student is selecting the right career choice they need to have a dedicated counselor who knows ins and outs of different industries. 

CBSE has made it compulsory for schools to have career counselors but most of them don’t have it just because they don’t know the importance of a career counselor. So if you want yourself to be placed in the right position then you need to have a research-based career goal. Every one of us wants to be successful and it can be achieved if we start taking the right advice for the right people. 

Conclusion: 

By now you might have a good idea about why it is important for every individual to select the right career option for their future. If you want to have a highly satisfying work life and wish to enjoy your work then you need to land a job that matches your skills, interest, and priorities. Above we have highlighted all the points that can help you to land a satisfying career option. If you wish to explore different career options in one platform then you can take the help of our career assessment platform or get in touch with our highly experienced counselors.  

Vati Careers

Author Vati Careers

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