Questions to Ask when Deciding your Career
Discovering which questions to ask can be an important career step. Here are some of the questions you can ask yourself about your professional path:
- What activities would you miss the most if you could no longer do them?
- What are your values? (Everyone has values or things that are important to them, such as financial security, social justice or work-life balance. These values can help you decide what type of career to pursue.)
- What are your talents and strengths? (If you don't know your talents and strengths, make a list of everything you’re good at doing.)
- What education or training do you need?
- What job wouldn't feel like working?
- What do you like and hate?
- What motivates you and what bores you?
- What kind of lifestyle you'd like to have?
- What has your past taught you? (Reflecting on your past experiences - what you enjoyed, where you found success, and what you down-right hated - can lead you towards making the right decision.)
- What makes you get out of bed in the morning?
Hope this helps! If you'd like, you can also answer one or more of the above questions in reply to the thread, as well as tag your 7cups peers to invite more participation!
@Fristo
Nice post, Fristo! It does help to know the other end i.e. “what we don't like doing” so as to cancel things out, good to see that included!
“If you don't know your talents and strengths, make a list of everything you’re good at doing” -- I feel like those are the same things, at least in a way. Would you like to expand on this?
@Fristo, this is awesome! I would also add "Do I enjoy what I am doing?"
A very thorough post, @Fristo
Sometimes, I find that it also helps to know if we would be doing a career just because of how it pays well, or if we want to work in a career where we feel satisfied, proud, and happy for what we do? Based on experience and seeing the people around me, there's like a 50/50 type of people. 50% of them, are only in their current career because it pays well, so, they aren't exactly happy and are always complaining about their work and the stress it gives them. While the other 50% actually love what they do, and for it to pay well, is like a bonus.
Of course, any career we end up with, it will be ideal if our talents, strengths, and passion can be applied; but at the same time, that kind of work is difficult to find. So, I think it's important that we work to compromise our needs, it may be difficult to meet all the needs, so even achieving 2/3 of it in a career we would like to be doing for the rest of our lives, will work just as good~
@Jaeteuk makes a lot of sense! no matter what our current job/ state of life is, we can always dream of and take small steps toward a more satisfying life and work-life, but at the same time being grateful of the blessings we currently enjoy.
this was useful🙃
When considering education and training it’s important to do research on the schools that you’re looking into attending. There has been recent news of schools that have defrauded and misled their students. Also a helpful tip might be to stay away from for profit universities. They are often known for wanting your money rather than providing a great education. In these types of universities you might think that what you pay for is what your getting, that’s not true. Pay close attention to the graduation rates of universities and understand that they are only updated year by year. Sometimes it can be helpful to consider using free resources on the internet before going into a ton of debt. Another thing to consider is that sometimes our interests change. Recently I did some research and found that about 80% of people change their majors in college. This can be costly and lead someone to spend more than they were originally okay with spending on their education. I hope this helps.
You've made a good point~
I know a lot of people who change their majors midway through University. Some even start to lose interest in their final year. If that's the case, students are only able to change majors if they have the financial support. Otherwise, they may have to work a couple of years then return back to school.
