18 May
When we meet someone for the first time, we are often asked the question, “What do you do?”. Our response not only tells the inquirer what we do for a living, but more about who we are as a person.
It is only natural we would want to choose a career that suits our personality, as we are most content when our mind is occupied doing something we are good at and enjoy. So, the question is, ‘What do you love to do?’.
Whether you are a student considering your first career, or a seasoned professional looking to change direction, the key to job satisfaction is building your career around the type of work that complements your preferences and strengths.
Self-discovery will help you make an informed decision on an occupation that is a good fit, and greatly increase your chances of success writes HEATHER HAMILTON, CAREER ADVISER, TRUEYOU CAREER.
Read on for five useful tools that you can use to guide you on the path to professional fulfilment:
1. Identify your interests and the careers which match those interests.
Start by completing a career interests test to point you to careers or courses which are compatible with activities you prefer, such as being creative or helping people. Taking into account your natural inclination will ensure you stay motivated and lead to greater career happiness. Some people choose to explore their options with the help of a career guidance practitioner who will administer psychometric testing, or career tests available on the web can also be used to evaluate your interests, personality, skills and values.
2. Understand your personality to find a rewarding career.
Your personality type describes how you see and experience the world and the way you like to do many things such as whether you are disciplined and structured, or flexible and go with the flow. Once you learn more about your personality, you are ready to discover just how strongly your preferences influence your career choice. Being aware of your personal strengths and weaknesses is also an essential part of marketing yourself well and landing the right job.
3. Assess your skills to find careers where you can advance.
Central to career satisfaction is knowing your career skills. These are the skills you are proficient at, such as driving sales or motivating a team as well as the transferable skills you can take with you to your next job. It’s also important to recognise ‘burn out skills’, the skills you are competent at, but no longer enjoy using as you may wish to avoid jobs that require them. Are there any skills you would like to improve or learn? Developing these skills could take you in an entirely different direction.
4. Know your career values and what is important to you.
It might sound rather vague but knowing your career values is crucial to understanding the way you prefer to work. Your ‘values’ are what you value most in your life and the aspects of your job that are important to you. Someone who is an entrepreneur might value working autonomously while others might seek a setting which places importance on collaborating with co-workers. To take another example, if one of your career values is honesty and integrity, but your work demands you do things you consider unethical, you won’t be happy in that job and you probably won’t be successful there. Once you have narrowed down some possible career options, ask yourself how congruent are your values with the occupations you are considering?
5. Create a career action plan to keep moving forward.
Gather information and first-hand knowledge of the occupations that are of interest to further pare down your list. Having decided on an occupation you want to pursue, ascertain whether you need to undergo training and create a career action plan to keep moving forward with your short-term and long-term goals.
Embarking on a new career often involves a lot of experimentation and can be a longer and more demanding process than most people anticipate. See this period of your life as an opportunity to learn more about yourself and what you can offer the world, so you can best align who you are with what you do.
Heather Hamilton is a career guidance practitioner with an Institute of Guidance Counsellors (IGC) accredited qualification in career guidance. If you would like to explore your employment, education or training options, get in touch to discuss your career goals or book your career guidance consultation.