Here’s how to choose a career that’s right for you

So, you’re just about to finish school and your parents, aunts, uncles, friends and just about everyone you see are asking, “What are you going to do next year?” If you’ve chosen what to study or what you’re going to venture into, you’ll get the cordial ‘That’s nice’ response.

But what if you haven’t decided? What if you can’t decide! You’re probably freaking out!

Breathe…

If you don’t know what you’re going to do after school, this article and those it links to will help you choose a career that will suit your personality, budget and aspirations.

Use these questions to decide on a particular direction:

What are you passionate about? You’ll know immediately if you’re passionate about something, it’s not something you’ll have to think too hard about.

For example, do you love baking, braiding hair, swimming, writing, languages or maths? Whatever it is you love doing, it’s the very first thing you should consider when it comes to choosing a career… Because if you can get up each morning and do something you love, you will love your job! Sit down with a piece of paper and make a list of what you love.

What are you good at? The next best thing to consider is what you do well, even if you’re not passionate about it.

For example, if you’re really good at maths and science, you could get into a career that doesn’t necessarily require you to do algebra all day but requires you to be good at it, like engineering, architecture or medicine.

You don’t have to limit this to subjects. You could be good at swimming but not passionate about it. But what if you were passionate about children and combined it with swimming? You could become a swimming teacher.

What interests you?The next consideration is what you’ve been dreaming about. There’s a good chance you haven’t had the opportunity to really experience the stuff you dream about by the time you’re in matric. For example, you may dream of travelling the world, being a game ranger, or a zoologist.

If you’re not passionate about anything or really good at something, and if your imagination hasn’t really ventured into anything you could carve a career out of, you could resort to considering what you’re able to do with the marks you’re getting for the subjects you chose.

If you chose mostly languages, you could consider a career in interpreting or teaching for example. If you dropped maths and science, you won’t be able to consider a career that requires these subjects, so that will also help guide you in terms of which careers you could go into.

Choosing the right industry is a step in the right direction
If you’re still struggling to choose a specific career, consider narrowing it down to industry.

For example, if you like animals, do you enjoy taking care of them or treating their wounds, or studying how they evolved over the centuries, do you like wild animals or domestic animals, etc.

As you can see, the jobs could vary from working in the veterinary (medical) industry, to paleontology, working in a zoo or a game farm caring for the animals, or working in or owning a dog parlor. This way, you can try to get into the right industry and work your way up.

Take your personality into consideration
It’s important that you know yourself and match a career to your personality as opposed to trying to fit into a career that you think you could make it in.

Use these steps to make better choices for your career. After all, your career is the next exciting phase in your life, you want to enjoy it and make the best of it.