In the first article in this series,
we discussed how your personality should factor
in the decisions you make when choosing a career.
This article will discuss skills and interests.
Once you have an understanding about
your personality and the way you think and act in
various situations, you are well on your way to
making a career choice that will be best for you.
The next step is to think about your skills and
interests.
Every person is wired differently
from others. We are all unique in our personalities,
skills, and interests. Finding what your skills
and interests are may be easy for some, but hard
for others. We all know that there are certain things
we are good at doing and others we are not. By the
time we are in high school, we should have a good
grasp of the subjects in which we excel and which
we don’t. Just take a look at your report
card. Which subjects do you struggle in? Which ones
does it seem easy to make an A in? This can be a
clue on the path to discovering a career
choice.
We can also learn new skills, yet
there are always things that we seem to naturally
understand how to do without trying very hard. In
the same way, there are always areas that we seem
to have an interest in and others for which we do
not. What things bring you joy? What do you find
yourself doing in your spare time? The things we
do even when we don’t have to are the things
we are most interested in. The things that we make
time for in our lives are the things that bring
us happiness and joy.
Are you musically or artistically
talented? Do you have great athletic skill or love
sports? Do you like to work with your hands, building
things or growing things? Are you happy inside reading
a book or working on a computer, or do you only
find true enjoyment when you are outside? These
“hobbies” could very well hold the key
to opening the door for a career that will bring
us enjoyment throughout our lives.
Translate the natural skills, abilities,
and interests you have into ideas about a career.
Research types of careers are available in those
areas. Perhaps you enjoy doing something that you
don’t think you could make a career out of.
Or perhaps you are skilled in an area, but you don’t
think you would enjoy making a career
out of that skill. Think outside the box.
If you love sports, but you aren’t
a great athlete, think about a career as a coach,
a manager of a team, or even a journalist writing
about games or announcing games on the radio or
television. Perhaps you have an interest in the
medical field, but you don’t want to be a
doctor or nurse. There are many careers available
in the medical field, ranging from personnel director
to hospital administrator to equipment operators,
such as x-ray technicians.
Look at the overall picture
of your personality, your natural skills, and the
areas you are interested in, and put all of this
together in making the best career choice for you.
Our next article will discuss our values and priorities.
Click
here for: Making a Career Choice - Part 3
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