How to choose a career? Sounds like a simple question but in reality, it is one of the toughest to answer.
Making the right career choice is crucial to everyone. But with so many options out there, it may seem a little tricky to find the right fit.
The good news is, it can be simple and easy if done right.
If you find yourself asking questions like Am I in the right place professionally?, or what career should I choose?, this blog is just for you.
Discover the 10 easy ways to figure out how to choose a career to find the most suitable career fit for you.
Why is it important to know how to choose a career?
While many people look for a great job to start their professional journey, the truth is that to build a strong career takes a lot more than finding a job that pays you well.
The first thing you need to understand is that while a job may be a stepping stone towards what you wish to build, it isn’t necessarily all your career is or can be.
It is crucial to know how to choose a career as it can help you in ways more than one. With your career choice sorted, you can,
- Work in the field that interests you
- Hone skills and use them appropriately
- Never get bored of what you do
- Have a clear direction and goals for professional growth
How to choose a career in 10 steps
Here are the 10 steps to help you make the right career choice.
1. Gauge your areas of interest
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life
The question how to choose a career, in essence, can be answered by this quote.
Picking a career where your interest lies can be an ideal scenario for you.
Not only does it help you focus better, but it also keeps you interested in it.
To find your area of interest, you can,
- Take personality and aptitude tests on websites like My Plan, Pymetrics, 16 Personalities, Persona Bubble, See my persoanlity, Myers Briggs, Self Directed Search, Princeton Review
- Speak to your seniors and mentors for guidance
- List all your hobbies and figure the ones that may have a potential career
2. Make a list of opportunities that interest you.
While some get clarity on what they wish to do with their careers easily, many people struggle with making the right choice.
So, if you dont know how to choose a career and are someone interested in many things, here’s what you can do,
- List all your interests and hobbies
- Identify the one that matches your skills and education
- Read up about them to identify the more promising fields
You can also take up online classes and internships to get a deeper understanding of these fields.
3. Do in-depth research on these fields
Research goes a long way, especially while making crucial efforts to learn how to choose a career.
Knowing about the prospects of the hobbies listed above will help you shortlist the one that seems most interesting.
So, research in-depth about the one hobby that you identified in step 2.
To do so effectively,
- Talk to the people in the industry
- Read reviews of the top companies hiring in these fields on websites like AmbitionBox
- Find vacancies in these fields from job portals like <a href= " Naukri.com
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4. Compare, prioritize and eliminate the listed careers
Once you have listed all your hobbies and fields that interest you, it’s time to arrange them well.
Start by comparing all these fields based on jobs available in the market, the demand, scope, growth patterns, and suitability to your educational background.
Then, prioritize your best options before all else.
Arrange the fields in descending order (starting with the ones that offer the most to those that offer the least).
In the end, eliminate the options that do you no good and narrow down your list.
Keep only 1, maximum 2, fields based on the research done in the steps above.
5. Make a list of the positions suitable for you
How to choose a career is a tad-bit difficult to answer.
Especially since career choices don’t just involve finding the field of interest but also determining the roles that appeal to you.
For instance, someone interested in digital marketing could be a social media expert, while the other could be an SEO expert and so on.
So, before going any further, draw a list of all the roles you can explore in the shortlisted field.
Further identify which one would be the ideal fit for you based on your skills, qualification, and interest.
6. Assess your experiences to make an informed choice
An important part of answering how to choose a career is making a career plan.
A career plan helps you understand which field to choose and makes the process of making a career choice easy.
But no plan can be laid without analyzing the base, making it important to gauge your strong suits and skills.
The best way to do it is to consider all your skills, courses/education, etc., and based on that, figure out what is the best thing you can do.
If you are a fresher, you can take into account all the co-curricular activities you participated in.
7. Ask yourself the important questions
The best way to make sure that you have circled in on the right answer to how to choose a career is by asking yourself the right questions.
Some of the questions to ask yourself are,
- Do you see yourself getting satisfaction in this field?
- Does your career choice resonate with your skills and interests?
- What could be the potential challenges I could face?
- Do I have any previous experience that makes me a good fit?
- Do I have a backup plan, in case this fails to take off?
8. SWOT Analysis
When looking to answer how to choose a career, one of the best things you can do is carry out a SWOT analysis of your career choice.
Though usually used for making business decisions, a SWOT analysis is an effective technique that can help you with making well-researched and informed choices in all spectrums of life.
It helps you identify your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats before you change your plans into a reality, and helps prepare for any potential highs and lows.
To make decision-making effective, you can explore free SWOT analysis templates on websites like,
9. Always have a plan B
If the career choice you make is Plan A, make sure you always have a Plan B ready beforehand.
Doing this allows you to explore your options and can be very helpful in case your career plans do not take off the way you want them to.
To make a Plan B, you can choose another field from the list of interests you made in the earlier steps of the process.
Take up the second-best option you had and plan what you can do with it in advance.
10. Consult with a career counselor
At some point, you may need professional help in making career choices.
The best thing you can do then is to visit a career counselor and seek their advice on the matter.
A career counselor can help people understand what they want with their tests and guidance.
The process can be very helpful in narrowing down your options and get you your dream career.
In case you don’t wish to invest, you can explore free online career counseling websites like Mentoria, , Tucareers, Stoodnt, and Mindler.
Conclusion
The right answer to how to make a career choice can be found by digging deep, and doing a lot of research.
But with a little effort and a lot of introspection, we are sure you can make the career choice that is right for you.
So, take a look in the mirror, find the field you belong to, and pave your way to success.
All the best!
