Career Advice

A Little Career Advice

Whether you are thinking about a career change or you are new to the job market and just trying to come up with the best career for yourself, there are a number of things to consider. The most obvious things are your age, your education and your previous job experience.

There are always different ways to accomplish your career objectives. No one takes exactly the same career path as anyone else because all people are different. When you contemplate a road trip, there are lots of different routes you can take and still end up where you want to go. The path to your ultimate job/position is like that too. It’s a rare thing for a person to ‘know’ at an early age what they want to be when they ‘grow up’. Certainly not unheard of but unusual. To drive this point ever harder, consider this: The majority of college graduates are NOT working in a business or job that directly relates to their college degree.

So obviously somewhere along the way they may made a poor or uninformed decision regarding their degree program. There would be a lot more happy people in the world if people could have or would have made better choices regarding the direction of their careers.

So if you are struggling with a career choice, the solution just might be a meeting with a career counselor. In high school most people met with the school ‘guidance counselor’ at least once. And some schools even go as far as to allow students to take aptitude tests to see what types or career/jobs they are naturally most suited for.

For those fortunate enough to have attended college, then the odds are pretty good that at some point they had someone in the counselors office give you some advice on a career path.

Most counselors are well trained and truly have your best interest at heart. Many times during meetings with counselors, people hear ideas that lead them into considering new areas of interest. Sometimes you just need to get your imagination going and counselors are good at helping you to open your mind to see other opportunities that lie outside the box, so to speak.

You may find the advice from a career counselor is a lot better than the advice you receive from well meaning friends or relatives. Many times friends and relatives can only see opportunities from their own perspective. That’s why a good career counselor can really be a benefit to you. A good career counselor will take a lot of pride in helping point people towards a life long fulfilling career.

Once you have made a decision on the direction of your career, what next? Well the first thing you should do is post your resume on Joboodles.com, then think about this….
How many people do you know who are working in a job they are qualified for but unhappy about the environment in which they are working? Unhappiness in such a major portion of your life, like your job, will inevitably begin to contaminate other aspects of your life too. More than likely, you have never seen anyone who is extremely unhappy about their job but extremely happy in their personal life. Most people are just not able to compartmentalize those major portions of their lives. So once you have made your career choice then try to make sure the companies you elect to work for closely match your own personal beliefs and provide an environment that will make you a happier employee. A little extra time and effort here can make you a happier person over the long haul and make you a better and more valuable employee for the company.

So the bottom line is to make an informed decision on the career path you want to follow and then don’t jeopardize your integrity or personal happiness by accepting a position with a company that you know is not a good fit for your personality. Companies have personalities too, just make sure the company personality matches your own personality.

Do that and you will never regret the career path you have chosen.