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Which career is right for me? Self-discovery, the first step towards finding your ideal profession
What I want to be?
High school students love this topic and sulk
As they scratch heads to find their dream
Fixing their mind to the last superhero on screen
They want to save the world and become the next Hulk!
This question confuses even the brilliant minds during the final year of school when one must venture out in near future seeking your own career path. Choosing the right career is not easy, when you have the highest motto in life. However, you are smart enough to understand, superheroes like Hulk and Captain America do not save the world, but smart professionals like engineers inventing latest technology like AI and cloud computing and scientists researching on new medicines and vaccines make our lives healthy and prosperous. It is believed that you should choose a career that is very close to who you are.
According to Howard Garner’s theory of multiple intelligence, there is no single unit of intelligence, but we have a combination of areas where we excel, for example, a student may have high aptitude for creativity. He may like spending time writing poems or sketching cartoon figures but does not like finishing his maths homework. He shows high intelligence in creative subjects and if his interest also lies in a similar field, he may as well choose a related career path.
This just shows how self-discovery is the first step in choosing the right career. So, here are some intuitive questions that will help in exploring yourself. Aristotle: 'Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.'
What you’re great at? Recognise your talents
Think about the regular appreciation that you get from your friends and family members, the number of certificates you have collected in competitions and how your peers recognise you. Are you a leader with great problem-solving skills and friends depend on your fair advice? Do they assert you as a geek, artist, writer, singer, musician, player, cook, mathematician, organiser or a multi-talented genius? If you are one of them, rank your talents according to your passion. Do you loving coding and want to build a technology that will change lives? Do you love cooking and when you are in kitchen, you feel lost in the aroma of your new creation? Just rank your talents and then you can go the next level of finding your character, whether your personality traits fits with career choices relevant to your skillset.
What lifestyle do you want? Identify what work culture appeals you?
Are you an introvert or an extrovert, drawing energy from others or from the inside of you? Do you like presenting ideas or you prefer giving support from behind? Are you comfortable working alone where you set your target or working as a team? Do you like learning new skills? Do you like challenges or you are content with hassle-free routine job. A chef and developer are artists in their own fields. Both bring logic and imagination to create impressive products. Both careers need relentless hard work and the ability to reinvent skills at a much faster pace than any other career.
Do you enjoy working with data, machines, people, animals or books?
This is another key question to understand your ideal career. If you love interacting with people in order to change their lives, you can excel in social service or government service. If you are passionate about keeping records of little things and friends appreciate your data handling-skills, you can excel in accounting and management roles. Likewise, you can become a vet or care giver if you love being with pets.
These questions will reveal your interest and if you still need help, you can go for online aptitude test where experience counsellors will evaluate your work profile using psychometric tools to find the best career match. Remember, you need to choose your right career path before selecting your stream.
