{"id":5329,"date":"2023-10-19T15:17:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T19:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theforage.wpengine.com\/?p=5329"},"modified":"2024-08-21T10:10:58","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T14:10:58","slug":"how-to-choose-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theforage.wpengine.com\/basics\/how-to-choose-career","title":{"rendered":"How to Choose a Career: 6 Steps, Plus a Free Quiz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re unsure on how to choose a career path, you\u2019re not alone. We work for over a third of our lives (if you don\u2019t believe us, check how many work hours are in a year<\/a>), so the decision isn\u2019t something to be taken lightly \u2014 but, it\u2019s also something you don\u2019t need to overly stress about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that choosing a career can feel overwhelming when it feels like the options are endless, or when you don\u2019t know what all the options are. Yet it can be exciting, too \u2014 you have tons of options to choose from to figure out what\u2019s right for you. Learning how to choose a career is also an exercise in learning what interests you, what you\u2019re good at, your personality, your goals, and your passions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jump to career quiz<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What Is an Ideal Career Path?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An ideal career path is one that merges your skills, interests, values, and career opportunities.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These career paths look different for everybody! Even people with the same skills might have different interests or values. For example, two people might have stellar programming skills<\/a>. One may be more interested in a fast-paced, innovative career path, but the other might search for a more traditional, stable role. For person one, a career like software engineering<\/a> might be a great fit; for person two, they might apply their programming skills to become a business analyst <\/a>or data scientist<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skills<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What are you good at? Understanding where you naturally excel can help you figure out what types of tasks and everyday responsibilities you may want to do and what work environments you thrive in. For example, I\u2019m a strong writer, which helped me learn that I want a job where I\u2019m doing a lot of written communication. It also clued me into the fact that I prefer more independent, internal environments \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t make the best salesperson! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interests<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s much more fulfilling to work in a career path that interests you rather than something you hate or that bores you. Your interests include tasks you like to do, whether that\u2019s something that brings you joy, makes you feel proud, or makes time pass quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Values<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s important to you? Your work values affect what kind of work you\u2019d like to do, but also what kind of company you want to work for and what working conditions you prefer. I really value work-life balance<\/a>, which means I look for companies with flexible schedules and work hours.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Career Opportunities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, not every career path will have the right open opportunities for you at the right time \u2014 talk about not ideal! I have tons of friends who love writing, but only a few of us have chosen to be full-time journalists. That\u2019s because we didn\u2019t see career opportunities when we were applying for jobs that paid salaries we were looking for, offered the right work environments, or had assignments we were interested in. I still like fast-paced work, so I started writing for a startup; my friend who wanted to do creative writing started working in social media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can be frustrating when there aren\u2019t the right opportunities for you in what you think is your ideal career path. But that doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s not something else out there that you\u2019ll love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Choose a Career Path<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Where do you start? Here\u2019s your step-by-step guide for how to choose a career when you\u2019re starting from square one (plus, a free quiz to help you with your decision).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Take a Career Quiz<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We don’t just say this because we’ve made a career quiz on how to choose a career. Taking a quiz can be a great place to start if you want to know how to match your strengths, interests, and personality to a career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet most of the career quizzes out there require you to have background knowledge about certain career paths, hard skills<\/a>, and work environments. What if you’re a student who doesn’t know what job they want<\/a> or have any idea what roles are out there? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This career quiz will help you learn how to choose a career based on your interests, strengths, and working style \u2014 without using any complex career terms or needing any prior knowledge of different careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Choose a Career Quiz<\/h4>\n\n\n