Career Exploration: Finding the Right Fit
What would you do for a living if money wasn’t a consideration? Whatever comes to your mind when you answer this question gives you valuable insights into your career passion. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could actually make a living doing something that’s a perfect match for your interests and preferred talents?
Career exploration takes time and the willingness to really think about who you are, what makes you happy, and what you see yourself doing in your dream career. Remember that finding your career passion isn’t quite the same thing as a job search. Instead, it’s a dynamic, progressive process of understanding your interests, motivations, and skills, and then finding the industries and jobs that are a good match for you personally.
Why is finding your career passion important?
It’s all about happiness and fulfillment. You have countless options when it comes to job and career selection, but you really want to be strategic when making these decisions to ensure that you’re spending a good chunk of your waking hours in a career that makes you happy.
Sure, being happy sounds great and all, but you’ll also be pleased to know that there are some practical benefits from spending time to find your career passion. For example, identifying a career passion will help you focus on just a few opportunities that are a great fit for you. Employers LOVE it when potential employees are focused and enthusiastic about the jobs they’re interviewing for. You’d be surprised how many job seekers take the approach of throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what sticks. It’s easy to see why your focused approach is infinitely better than the spaghetti approach!
Another practical bonus you’ll get from this exercise is time savings. And it’s not just a few hours either. Consider the fact that many young professionals are projected to have between twelve to fifteen jobs over the course of their careers. Many of these young people realize after a year or two into a job that they went down the wrong path. While this can happen for many reasons, one of the main culprits is the lack of passion about the job they initially took. Switching careers from one industry to another is incredibly difficult, especially the older you get. Thinking strategically about your career passion now will put you on the track to your dream career faster than many of your peers.
Why should you think about this now?
You have a huge advantage at this point in your career. As a young professional, many of you don’t have the responsibilities of supporting a family or paying a mortgage. The freedom you currently have is a huge reason why you should consider going after your career passion now. Switching into an entry-level position in a new industry requires that you take an entry-level salary, regardless of how many years of work experience you have. Doesn’t it make sense to take that job now instead of in five years when an entry-level salary may not be sufficient to cover your expenses and responsibilities?
What should you keep in mind when exploring your career passion?
YOU are the one person in the world who can ultimately determine what your career passion is. You’ll hear advice from your parents, friends, and others about what they think you should do. This can be great information, but take it all with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, you’re the one spending at least forty hours of your week at a job.
Money doesn’t equal fulfillment. Making enough money to live is important and should absolutely be something you think about, but never take a job just for the salary. There are tons of entry-level jobs that pay a lower salary than other jobs you might be qualified for, but rest assured that you will make more money in time.
Just because you CAN do something well doesn’t mean you SHOULD take a career that utilizes this skill. You all have many talents and skills. Make sure that the career options you select allow you to use the skills that you’re not only good at, but the ones you truly enjoy.
Your college major should never hold you back from pursuing any career path. You may need more education or training to get where you want to go, but majors should never limit your possibilities.
Don’t worry, you’re not selecting the career you’ll be stuck in for the rest of your life at this stage in the game. However, you should strive to find something you really enjoy doing now even if your passions happen to change over time.
Finally, don’t limit your options, but do be realistic. Unfortunately, you may have to get your foot in the door of your dream career by doing some work that’s not exactly glamorous. This means you really have to love something about your chosen career to make it through the few months or years where you might be doing work that doesn’t toot your horn as much as it will after you receive a promotion or two.
Steps for Finding the Right Career Fit
Career exploration can be broken down into three main areas:
- Assess yourself – you need to learn as much as you can about yourself by focusing on your past and present to help you figure out where you should go in the future.
- Identify career options that fit – you should start a list of every career possibility that comes to mind as you fill out your career assessments and do some research; some of these career options are ones you’ve thought of before while others will be new to you.
- Research the career options you’ve identified – once you have ideas of careers that interest you, you’ll want to dig a little deeper to understand what exactly you’d do on a daily basis; this step will help you refine your career options further before you start applying for jobs.
That’s it! These three steps may sound like a lot of work, but they'll ultimately save you time and headaches in the long run. If you’re interested in a personalized action plan that goes through each of these steps in detail, sign up for a free online course, WhatCollegeForgot101. As a bonus, you’ll get a free a free resume critique or a free 20 minute coaching session.
By: Gale Bowman
10-20-2010
After graduating from Notre Dame, Gale realized that young professionals need a source of reliable information as they face “real world” challenges. Gale manages WhatCollegeForgot.com and is pursuing an MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
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