6 Steps to Help you Find a Career that Fits
Disclaimer: Blogs are a great place to get helpful information but they should never replace mental healthcare and this blog is no exception. These blog posts do not replace mental heath care and is not medical advice.
Some Encouragement, First.
Finding a career is a very exciting but stressful task. I want to start out by saying, where you are now will not be where you are in the future if you don’t want it to be. If you’re feeling stuck, frustrated, confused, or helpless, these 7 steps will help you start strategizing.
Think of your interests.
Make a list of all of your interests. Take a couple of minutes or seconds to just jot down whatever comes to mind - your hobbies, what you find yourself doing in your down time, things you enjoy reading or watching videos about, etc.
When I say make a list of whatever comes to mind, I mean WHATEVER comes to mind, even if it seems irrelevant. We have a tendency to filter out our own thoughts/ideas and in this brainstorming activity you don’t want to do that because you’d be limiting the possibilities before you even get started.
2. Think of your Talents.
Next, write a separate list of things you are good at doing. Maybe you were a great athlete in high school, maybe you’ve always had a knack for art, or maybe you’re really good at taking care of children. Again, do not self-filter, write down EVERYTHING you can think of.
3. What careers have you come across that sound interesting?
Now, right down careers that you have heard of, read about, or come across that sound interesting to you. We usually get stuck in our career search because we feel overwhelmed or limited. Writing a list will help you visualize how many careers you’re interested in and what industries they are in.
4. Look at your Résumé.
Now you’re going to list the jobs you’ve had up till now and the things that you enjoyed about them as well as things that you did not like.
5. Group into Themes.
Cross-check the list of jobs (or volunteer activities/internships) you’ve had and group them based on similar themes they have in common. You might have a group that involves helping others, another that involves creativity, and another that involves research/problem-solving.
6. Now, which of your career interests/hobbies fit your themes?
Look through your career interests and hobby lists and note which fit your themes. Careers that fit your major themes that you are interested in (such as helping others, creativity, problem-solving, etc.) are the ones that you should take the time to do more research on to discover if they fit your target lifestyle.
Now you should have a good idea of which careers best fit your interests most and this is a good starting point for your career research. The next steps here would be to research those careers for information on income, job growth/availability in your area, and education/training requirements. It would also be great if you could find someone you know is working in the field and reach out to them for advice.
Let me know how these steps worked for you and any other things you’ve tried that have worked in your career search! If you need an example of the above steps being used, see my example below:
My Interests
Human behavior
Health
Research
Art/drama/music/theater
Cooking
Watching day in the life videos
Watching cooking videos
Watching cleaning videos while cleaning
Watching videos on entrepreneurship
What I’m good at:
Teaching children
Working with families
Cooking
Taking care of my family
Giving advice/helping adults
Listening to others
Understanding others
Writing
Interesting Careers:UX Design or UX Writing
Counseling
Career counseling
Data Science
Teaching
Nursing
My previous jobs & what I liked/disliked:
Pre-k teacher
Pros: working with kids & creativity
Cons: not enough income, not enough growth potential
Dialysis technician
Pros: helping patients, learning more about the human body, being part of a life-saving team of healthcare providers, frequent raises, flexible schedule, 30 hours a week was considered full-time, good benefits.
Cons: did not meet my income goals, lots of physical work, sore back, hands, fingers, and wrists daily, no room for advancement without becoming a nurse
Case Manager
Pros: helped families, ministry work, opportunities to be creative, flexible hours
Cons: organization had little opportunity for advancement, low pay/low hours
Executive Director
Pros: led a team, ministry work, learned new things about running an organization and leading people, some room for creativity
Cons: low pay, no opportunity for advancement, stressful situations with clients and team (disciplining, dealing with ambiguous organizational issues), fundraising/donor relations
Noticeable themes
Helping others
Creativity
Providing information
Receiving information
Problem-solving
Homemaking/family values
Flexibility
Interesting Careers:
UX Design or UX Writing:
Themes: Creativity, providing & receiving information, problem-solving, (some) flexibility.
Interests: Human behavior, research
Counseling:
Themes: creativity, providing & receiving information, helping others, flexibility (depending on environment), family values (depending on environment), problem-solving
Interests: Human behavior, health, research, art/music/theater (can be used in counseling)
Career counseling:
Themes: creativity, providing & receiving information, helping others, flexibility (depending on environment), family values (depending on environment), problem-solving
Interests: Human behavior, research
Data Science:
Themes: helping others, providing & receiving information, problem-solving, (some) flexibility
Interests: Human behavior, research
Teaching:
Themes: helping others, creativity, providing & receiving information, problem-solving
Interests: Human behavior, research, art/music/theater
Nursing:
Themes: helping others, providing & receiving information, problem-solving, (some) flexibility (depending on environment)
Interests: Human behavior, health, research