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Facing the tough challenge of choosing a career can be overwhelming. With changing technology and growing international markets, there are a lot of options to choose from. The possibilities are truly endless so where does one start?

Your chosen career should be a harmonious blend of your skills, education, personality and interests. A self-assessment is a great way to identify a starting place for your search. Take time to jot down your likes and dislikes on a sheet of paper. Brainstorm several jobs that would utilize at least two of your likes yet avoid your dislikes. Use the list you have come up with to research and evaluate these options. You can gather job descriptions, examine the education and experience requirements, check out the career’s longevity outlook, interview others already in the position and visit the library for additional resources. Following this process will put you in a much better position for choosing which direction you would like to pursue in your career.

You could also take a formal skills assessment test. Several good ones, most of which are free, include those provided by careerlab.com, keirsey.com, the Princeton Review Career Quiz and CareerFitter.com. You should take a mix of tests as no one is infallible but all may present opportunities you had not previously considered. Taking advantage of a career coach or counselor is a great idea if you can afford it. These professionals can help you examine key areas in which you excel and point you in the right direction. Many often have their own skills evaluations as well. If a coach or counseling structure is not an option, you can get free advice from parents, friends or colleagues. Be careful when listening to the often biased opinions of parents; however, as their agenda tends to be geared towards the monetary aspect rather than what would be a good fit for you. Choosing a satisfying career should not rely on how high a position pays but rather how close it embodies your own goals and interests.

If you are young, I suggest temping. Join one or two temporary staffing agencies that specialize in your primary fields of interests. This would allow you to try out several different positions without committing yourself to a particular company. As an added bonus, you can use the temp agency experience to pad your resume. Then, if you do decide to pursue a career along the same lines of the temporary positions you have held, you may have gained some very important industry reference contacts. Don’t worry if you are already in a permanent position. You really don’t have to be stuck in one job forever. Take smart risks and explore what’s out there. Careers can become dated just as hairstyles. What fits today may not fit tomorrow and because all temp jobs can be listed under its relative agency, your resume will not reflect you as a “job bouncer.”

Choosing a career can be a grueling task. Try to only look at options that keep your interests at the forefront. Remember, going into a job simply because it pays well will not keep you happy. You want to find a career that offers the most growth potential, is attuned to your passions and properly rewards your performance.

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Choosing The Right Career!

Making a career choice is a tough decision. If you are able to make the right career choice earlier in your life, then you have a good chance of success in the future. The right time to start thinking about a career is when you are a teenager because the decision you make will determine your education or training after high school. But if you’re a university student and you haven't decided on a career, or if you are a working adult who work in a job that you never really planned, then perhaps it's time to do a career analysis by taking a closer look at your strengths and your weaknesses and deciding what should be the best career for you. So how do you know what is the right career for you? Essentially, when you are trying to look for a career, you are finding a match between a career and your own interest, ability, motivation, personality and expectation.

Choose a career that matches your interest

I strongly believe that a person should have a career that matches his own interest because otherwise he will lose the desire to carry out his duties effectively. Unless you are a person who can find love in anything you do, then finding a career that interests you should be an important priority.

Choose a career that matches your ability

Sometimes interest alone is not a strong enough factor for a career decision. You must also look at your ability because sometimes what you like is not necessarily what you are good at. I have interest in football and I like watching football games, but I simply do not have the athletic ability to play at professional league and therefore, a career as a professional footballer is out of the question for me.

Choose a career that matches your motivation

According to Abraham Maslow, human needs have the following hierarchical order: physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, cognitive needs, esthetic needs and self-actualization needs. Although some scholars argued against the hierarchical structure of these needs, I believe that each person has his own unique levels of needs. So examine yourself and try to figure out, for each category of needs, what level you find acceptable and then see how the career you choose can fulfill the needs.

Choose a career that matches your personality

What kind of person are you? Do you like working with people, or do you prefer working with machine and equipment? Are you comfortable handling stress? Do you have specific lifestyle that you are not willing to compromise? Do you prefer high-risk high-reward type of job or do you prefer a more stable job? These are basically things that relate to your personality and you need to consider them seriously before deciding on a career.

Choose a career that matches your expectation

Planning for a career requires you to have a vision of yourself in 10, 20 or 30 years from now. If you have a clear vision of where you want to go, then it is easier to decide how to get there. For example, if your expectation of yourself is to be a millionaire before the age of 35, then your pathway to get there is probably through business ventures. Have a clear expectation of yourself and you will see a much clearer path to reach your destination.

Conclusion

Choosing a career requires you to examine yourself and analyze your interest, ability, motivation, personality and expectation. If you can find a career that matches all these five criteria then you are on the right track. But one thing to remember is that career analysis is not something you do once in a lifetime. As you grow older, you will develop new interest, acquire new ability, and experience a change in your expectation. When that happens, you know it’s time to do a career analysis again and decide what career is best for you. Article By: Azmir Yunus

Should you Make a Career Decision Based Upon a Career Quiz?

Author: Brian

Q. I'm about to graduate High School and I don't know what I want to be "when I grow up". Do you think that a career quiz might help me decide?

A. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! But maybe not for the reasons that you think. You see, as the great Quizmaster, I've found one thing to be true: A career quiz, or any quiz for that matter, is always biased towards the thoughts and belief's of the person who wrote it.

Usually a career quiz is written for entertainment purposes only. Now, if you are calling it a career quiz, but you really mean some sort of standardized occupational guidance test like professional career counsellors and the military use, then those are typically valid assessments of your career capabilities.

However, since you are asking the question here, and I am definitely not a career counsellor, then I'm going to assume that you are talking about your run-of-the-mill career quiz like the type that you find in typical magazines and on a variety of general audience web sites.

So, the reason that I said "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes" is because anything that gets someone thinking about career options is a good thing. A well-written career quiz has the effect of causing you to brainstorm over your career options. What you want to be "when you grow up" may be a moving target for you. Most people evolve as they mature and their goals change. What sounds like a good idea now may be far away from what you will eventually become. However, as I said, a career quiz gets you thinking and that's a start!

When looking for a career quiz take a good look at the type of questions that are being asked. Remember what I said about the author's bias earlier? You want to find a career quiz that asks "horizontal" questions rather than "vertical" ones. For example, a horizontal question might be: "Do you enjoy working against deadlines?", while I vertical question might be "do you prefer the precision of hand tools versus the speed of power tools?".

Horizontal career quiz questions are designed to explore general career likes and dislikes while "vertical" questions tends to try and shoehorn you into a particular career path. Now don't get me wrong, there is a place for a vertical career quiz. For example, if you are thinking about a career in woodworking, and you are trying to decide if you want to be a cabinet maker or a house framer, a vertical career quiz is exactly what you need.

The important thing to remember is to never make a career decision based solely upon the results of some career quiz that you happen to come across. If the quiz gets you to thinking that you might enjoy some particular career, then research that option more fully. A career quiz is simply another tool to help you navigate the pathways of life. Good luck!