Career Choice Archives

Child’s Play Hints

I was thinking the other day about how child’s play reflects interests and strengths. It is amazing to me how very quickly you can begin to see a child’s natural strengths emerging. Also the preschool years are a time when the child is just doing their thing without worrying about other people’s opinions for the most part.

If you are stuck trying to figure what what you want to do for your career, or if you are trying to build your personal brand based on your strengths, you might try thinking about your preschool years to get back in touch with what really brings you joy. Or you could talk to several people who knew you as a toddler and preschooler. Ask them what you seemed to learn quickly at those ages and phases of interest you went through. What would your relatives and caregivers say about you? Now, you may need to take this info with a grain of salt but by asking 3-5 opinions you should get some interesting data to consider about yourself.

Careers Ranked

Check out this listing of the “Best Careers 2008.” This kind of stuff is great for career research! Of course the danger here is that this list is developed using someone else’s value system, or at least values that are presumed to be important to most people. But if you go into the article realizing that, you should be okay.

Also, keep in mind that what really make a career one of “the best” is how well it suits the individual. For example, just because audiologist is listed doesn’t mean everyone will be happy doing it of course!

But this article does get you thinking about trends and changes as well as profiling a few select careers so it is worth a looksy. I especially like the section on “Most Overrated” because we all have stereotypical ideas of what certain careers are like and so it’s good to get the rest of the story. Of course it would be even better to talk to someone in person yourself if you are seriously considering one of these careers.

Best Career Tests

There is not an OSFA (one size fits all) for career assessments. Generally, though, there are some important data sets that a person can consider when taking stock of career options – personality type, interests, skills, and values.

  • For personality type, I recommend the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®. You can find a list of certified providers of the assessment here or contact me. Here are some great books and free resources too but consulting with a certified provider of the assessment is ideal.
  • For interests, I recommend the Strong Interest Inventory®. See the list of providers above many who also give this assessment or contact me. You may also want to check out this introduction to Holland Codes which are also used in Strong Interest Inventory® results.
  • For skills assessment, I like to reference the O*Net Skills Search checklist which is free online. Here is another good free one online.
  • For values, here is a very good free resource.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a trademark or registered trademark of the MBTI Trust, Inc., in the United States and other countries.

Strong Interest Inventory is a registered trademark of CPP, Inc.

Look Past the Surface

Thinking about past experiences in school as a child and teen is an often recommended exercise that can help you recognize where you are naturally skilled and activities you enjoy. You have to be careful and thoughtful in the interpretation though. For example, I used to love to ride my horse as a preteen. In looking back later during a career reflection, it would be easy to me to take off on a tangent about how to involve horses in my career. If I imagined taking some kind of route like that, I would realize that it just doesn’t feel right to me. I’m not that interested in horses! So after more self reflection I was surprised to realize that it was more about the sense of freedom and independence I got from horse riding. There was also a bit of risk-taking involved as well as a camaraderie that I enjoyed building with the horse that really drew me to the activity. Now, I can see now how this past joyful experience plays into my career choice of being an infopreneur.

Creative Career Management

It all begins by knowing yourself. That is not to say that you will choose one career for life, no, it is an ever evolving process of making more and better distinctions of who you are and what you want to accomplish in your lifetime. It is about, learning, researching, and talking a little everyday about potential and opportunity. It is not in obsessive thing though. It is more about going with the flow in a productive manner yet always honoring when you are right now in the process.

Career Research

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/oco/) and the O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/) are great places to begin your research about different career fields. But once a specific career field is still being considered after written research, it is time to go out into the field to learn more. In fact, one of the most important aspects to choosing a career path is to talk to people who are doing the kind of work you are considering. This is called informational interviewing.

Typically the informational interview process involves finding people in the field of interest to talk to, scheduling a time to meet with them for 30 minutes or so to ask questions about their career, and sending a thank you note.

There are several ways to find people for an informational interview. The best method is to use your network of contacts to find people in the line of work that you want to learn more about. Begin asking family members, friends, and other people who they know working in the career field. For example you might approach your aunt and ask her, “Who do you know who works as a civil engineer?” Once a member of your network knows someone to refer you to, ask for that person’s name and phone number. You will be surprised how many people your contacts know and how easy it is to find people to talk to about all kinds of careers.

Next call the new contact. Give your name and how you were referred to them. Let them know you want to learn more about their career field and you were hoping they could help. Ask if you can schedule a time to speak with them for 30 minutes because you would like to ask them how they got into the field and about their recommendations for people considering entering the profession.

Following are some questions typically asked in an informational interview. Remember you most likely will not be able to ask them all since you want to keep the interview to only 30 minutes. Also be sure to take a pen and paper for quick notes. Get the correct spelling of your interviewee’s name and their address by asking for a business card which will be helpful when you send a thank you note.

INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

  • How did you develop your career path?
  • How did you get into this job?
  • What are your duties as a ____?
  • How long have you been in this position?
  • What do you like best about this career?
  • What do you like least about this career?
  • What would you do differently if you were starting over in this field?
  • What are the educational requirements of this field?
  • What is the typical salary range for this career field?
  • Can you recommend some professional associations for this career field?
  • What do you read to stay up-to-date in the field?
  • What further education do you participate in?
  • What are the advancement opportunities in this field?
  • What do you see as the future of this career field?
  • What is your career goal for the future?
  • What is happening in this industry?
  • What kinds of companies make up this industry?
  • Where has growth taken place in this field recently?
  • Who are your customers or clients?
  • How do you promote your products and/or services?
  • Who are some of your competitors?
  • What has helped to make companies successful in this industry?
  • What recommendations do you have for a person interested in this field?
  • Do you know others I should speak to about this career field?

Utilize Your Strengths

It is better to focus on your strengths and be aware of your weaknesses from the standpoint of having a high quality of life. It is stressful to work exhaustively on improving weaknesses and furthermore it doesn’t honor your strengths or the strengths of those around you. It is okay that someone else is better at something than you. Respect them for their gifts while honoring yourself for yours too.

Most likely, you will learn about or create lots of other opportunities while going through the exercise of recognizing your strengths. Possibilities for career changes or enhancement will emerge that you never imagined.

About Your Dream Job

Finding your dream job is a process not a destination. The key factor to start the journey is to define your dream job, yes, but also add “for now.” This is important for many reasons but mainly so that you can have some appreciation for where you are right now in the process. It is also important because you are continually learning more, acquiring new skills, and making new distinctions about whatever career you are pursuing so that your “dream job” is constantly evolving as you become more aware about yourself and the possibilities.

Career Myth Debunked

A widely held myth about careers is that there is a perfect one out there for everyone. That is not true because there are actually several careers out there that would be a good match for you! Isn’t that exciting news? I believe it is. For one thing, this point of view relieves the burden of continually seeking the perfect match in order to find career happiness. Instead you are free to focus on where you are currently in your journey allowing life and opportunity to unfold in ways more satisfying than you could have planned. I think this is primarily due to the enthusiasm that will shine through you when you give yourself permission to embrace your unique strengths and interests. That enthusiasm then serves as a strong attractor of people and circumstances to propel you on your way.

“When you follow your bliss…doors will open where you would have thought there would not be doors, and where there would not be a door for anyone else.” —Joseph Campbell

Personal Mission Statement

Essentially a personal mission statement is about your big picture purpose in life. In 50 words or less, mission statements are concise guiding principles that you can refer to again and again to remind you of why you are doing what you are doing.

The mission statement touches on the idea of life’s purpose and why we are here. Most of us at one time or another have wondered along this train of thought, right? We feel we must be here for a reason, a higher purpose if you will.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could bring in money and be working on our purpose in life at the same time? You have probably seen people or known people who have found their mission in life. They are passionate about and proud of the work they do and seem to exude a special type of energy or joy.

Mission statements will evolve as you go through the stages of your life. In fact, it is interesting to save old mission statements as a record of how you have changed over the years. Maybe your mission statement will be essentially the same and only become better defined and distinguished. Or, maybe your mission statement will change dramatically. Either way is perfectly fine.

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