Simple Guidance to Make a Good Career Choice

As you can find plenty of career options, you may be confused to select a good career option. It is however not an overwhelming task to determine the best career choice. Before making a career selection, you need to assess your skills, interests and personality traits. This can help you to decide which career would be more suitable for you. It is advisable to make use of some self assessment tools like free career tests available online to get 99% accurate results. You can even opt for a career counselor who can aid you to select a good career option.

While making self assessment, you can get to know various types of occupations available in your locality. However, the occupation list may be lengthy and you need to make it shorter by eliminating the occupations that are not suitable to your interest, skill and traits. You can then mark down the occupations that you feel appealing and write down those occupations separately.

Exploring the occupations in the list is the next important step in making a good career choice. You can try to gather as much information about the occupation on the list as possible. You need to know some basic information like educational and training requirement for that career, salary details and so on. You can utilize some useful online resources like careers by field or career briefs to get some fundamental details about a career. It is then easy for you to eliminate the career types that offer lower earnings than you expect.

After exploring the careers in the list, you would have only a few career types left in the list. You can collect more comprehensive details about such career options. You can seek the help of people who have great knowledge about the career types you are interested in. You can arrange for an informational interview with them to learn about the occupations. It is wise to ask some important questions like the working hours, potential growth in that career etc.

You can narrow down the list of occupations based on the details you gather in the informational interview. If any career type requires putting forth more time and energy to prepare for it, you can consider another career option. It is worth to set your career goals and take actions to reach them. Developing a career plan map can help you to select the right career option and to achieve your long term ambitions. 

John Brady is a career and job counselor, who also owns a blog on job search [http://www.localjobjournal.com]. He regularly writes articles on local and government jobs and careers [http://www.localjobjournal.com/articles].

Teen Quizzes Connect You to Your Future Career Choice

If you do not know which career to choose, or are confused about which career you should be in, teen quizzes can analyze your personality and abilities to see which careers you could fit into. If you are not interested in any careers at all, an interest test can still help, by suggesting careers you may be interested in, because of your personality type. Another way to find out what you like to do, is to take part time jobs in whatever you can get into. For example, if you work at a fast food chain, any experience can be added to your resume, and applied to the next job application.

Working in the fast food industry will tell you if you want to pursue it or not in the future. Experience will teach you what you like and don't like in the working world. A Personality Test can match you to compatible careers, because it is known that people with similar personalities and interests are happy in similar jobs. One test that matches your personality to suitable careers, is the Strong Interest Inventory (R).

This interest inventory test uses the Holland Codes Typology (R), which categorizes your personality into one of six distinct types - There's Realistic, Artistic, Investigative, Conventional, Enterprising, and Social. They are pretty much self explanatory. You want to discover your future? Look at your past and present. It is a good measuring stick to learn what you may be interested in doing for a career later. Someone's personality usually doesn't change, so if you are the Artistic type, you will probably stay that way.

Realistic: You enjoy physical, practical, hands on careers that are possibly outdoors, but do not want to involve yourself with a lot of paper work. You prefer to do, not think it out on paper. You only want the facts and are solidly based in reality. Let's get Moving, is your motto. You have no illusions, you want what's real now, and see things for what they are.

Artistic: You prefer expressing yourself through designing something without a clear set of rules or regulations. You go with your own intuition flow without deadlines. Imagination and creativity is you. You move at your own pace despite the speed of the world. Something in an art career cluster may be your ideal career choice.

Investigative: You like working with ideas and figuring things out for yourself, mentally. You are the pencil and paper kind of guy, or girl. You like investigating and observing. You do the research. You enjoy contemplation and pondering new ideas.

Enterprising: You are a self starter, an independent thinker, and like taking charge, leading people, and taking responsibility. When there's a question to be answered, you're the guy or girl, with all the answers - Just ask you. You are a natural born leader. Hand over the reigns, you will take over. You will direct the entire show. Consider self employment in your own legitimate home business, management, or supervisory positions.

Conventional: You like working by a predictable routine and a specific set of operational rules. You do not mind having to answer to someone, and being directed by an authority figure. You enjoy a predictable career working environment and job routine. You love to go by the rules and want them to be clearly defined. You work well with others within a cohesive team. You perform good as a team player, and like the social interaction on the job. This is the best job environment for your particular working style.

Social: You love people, and have to be surrounded by them. It is part of who you are. You do not like to do much alone. People energize you. You are a social butterfly. You are well liked, because you like people in general. There is no one you can't find something about them to like. Career personality tests show you to be amiable and possibly gregarious.

Take an inventory of all your education and skills. Have you been a babysitter? Take this in consideration too, because it could lead to you being a teacher in grade school, or owning your own day care center. Don't be in an occupation you are not interested in, nor passionate about. Make sure you have the natural aptitudes required for doing the job you are interested in.

If you use aptitudes you are weak in, or do not like using, you will be unhappy in that job. Pick a job where you can be who you are, and use those strongest skills and aptitudes you prefer using. Your personality has to fit the job, or you will not be fulfilled. Discover your abilities and who you are, and match these both to the right career, and you will then have a fulfilling career you will also be successful at.

Steve Humphreys

http://www.free-career-test-online.com

Key to ideal career discovery is self-knowledge. Find, develop, and plan your career choice with our self-help resources. Teens, career changers, or job searchers will find helpful advice and articles about career tests, resumes, interviews, and more. Let us help you find your dream career on your journey.

Free ebook http://www.free-career-test-online.com/career-ebooks.html

Career Choice in Recession Times

How many times in your life, you have mulled over which career to pursue since your childhood? Are you pursing the same career, which you had wished to pursue since your childhood? May be not! After completion of your graduation, your ideas changed and that reflected in your career decision as well. Now, you want to pursue a new one rather than your childhood dream career. That's great! Everybody in their lives at one point or other think like this about what they want to become in their future life. And every decision seems to be the final one. Alas! But, it is momentary. However, is it possible to take a right decision about your career at a very young age? And whatever you had decided, can you stick to the same no matter whatever changes happen both in your life and in this world? Read further to know ...

Career is one of the most important choices in everybody's life. Irrespective of the advancedness of the society, people take career decisions while they were young that they want to become an actor/doctor/ engineer/ politician/ etc. All those decisions were depend on the social circumstances/experiences they had faced during their childhood. Once the person gains maturity and his/her education levels improve, the thought process changes and that starts affecting his/her career decisions also. So, the person who has decided to become a pilot at his/her tender age, discards the same after gaining maturity and decides to go after pursuing some other career elsewhere.

Life is full of distractions. There are very few people in the world who achieved what they had decided to achieve in their childhood. Most of the people ponder different careers and still are undecided whether to pursue the same or not. There are a few psychological tests, which helps people to decide which sort of career is good for them. These psychological tests analyze the person's inherent abilities and map the same with those kinds of jobs, which needs the same kind of characteristics to pursue them. Nevertheless, these kinds of tests are available only for few people who can afford them. Overall, people around the world are blind regarding their career choice until they get struck by a good or bad job at some point of their life and once they get the job, they continue the same due to the duties and responsibilities they are expected to fulfill by the society they live-in.

Life is full of good and bad choices. It depends up on people which one they go after. It is not that much easy to crack a career, which interests you. Consider yourself lucky, if at all, that happens in your life. In most of the people's lives, they decide a career to pursue at their young age and start preparing for the same by doing courses to get into their career of choice. But, this world is an amalgamation of many trends. So, after the person has completed all the required courses and is about to join the career of choice, then suddenly, something happens somewhere in this world as recession has struck us now, and the whole plan of pursuing a dream career will become topsy-turvy.

What to do? The only solution to survive in the present scenario is to acquire capability to pursue any kind of career. It is not that you decide that you will pursue only so and so career of your choice. You should be game for what this world decides and offers you at different moments of your life. Acquire yourself all the skills and strategies, learn all the tools in demand, and shed all your fears and prejudices to pursue the career-in-demand.

In summary, the world wants you to pursue the career-in-demand not the career-of-your-choice at this moment. Since aeons, this world preferred the survival-of-the-fittest. Change your career strategy and show the world that you are the fittest to survive in this recession-struck world. Good Luck!

Resources:

Check your learning skills [http://www.geocities.com/diwan.kumar]

Innumerable Career Choices - Tips To Make The Right Choice

Wherever a person glances, it is evident that there is an extensive array of career choices across the world. Whatever be the choice - a practical career as an automobile mechanic or lounging in a comfy seat in a plush office, everybody has his or her own vision of what an enviable employment comprises of.

Nevertheless, while settling on the desired career is nothing more than pursuing a dream for a few people, for others it calls for extensive study. Apart from matching personality traits and abilities, it encompasses financial resources, educational qualifications besides involving oneself. Without even being aware of it, deciding on a career tends to become amongst the most remarkable choices in a person's life.

In the good old days, people often took after their father or went into the family-run business, when the time came to pick a career alternative. Nowadays, the constantly changing job market connotes that career choices can alter. A career route can begin anywhere and sharply change direction into something completely different in several years. Frequently, a person will start his career doing one specific task in an organization and then change, gradually climb up or move to a more suitable job in another organization. The most intricate career choices are the ones that shift totally from one industry to another. But, having a suitable career is certainly very essential to a person's happiness and welfare.

Now a career choice not only fully avails of a person's expertise, but in addition it is something that is carried out regularly in order to earn a livelihood. It can closely relate to a person's career, sometimes, even going to the extent of developing something on the lines of a connection. This is the reason a career choice tends to become such a personal preference.

However, career choices need to be sensible and carefully planned. In fact, it is not out of the ordinary for persons to embark on a career and then become conscious they have committed a blunder. Thinking that it is far too late to change things around, the majority attempts to make the most of their choice but they never entirely derive pleasure from their work.

While it was unusual in the past to switch careers more than a couple of times in one's professional life, nowadays, it is unusual to stay in the same job forever. A number of resources are there for assisting persons with selecting the right line of work. On the Internet you can come across several websites providing tools like information and career tests, resume services and educational resources. Although, it is a good thing to study in depth a particular profession, in this shifting market, it is very wise to have a number of choices open for an assortment of career choices.

Abhishek is a Career Counselor and he has got some great Career Planning Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 71 Pages Ebook, "Career Planning Made Easy!" from his website http://www.Career-Guru.com/769/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

Career change-they are doing a stellar choice? Step (1)

Most of us have days when we want we could change careers. For some of us and we will pass your frustrations. For others of us feel that we have to make a change ... gets stronger and stronger. The big question that many would-be career changing face is How to make the decision about what to do next. After all, if you're a competent person with some good experience there are many options. How to avoid leaving the range of choice to stop you in your tracks?

One way to check your choice of career change is to use stellar career change tests. Run the idea by your choice of career change through the six areas. Ask yourself the questions. Write down what emerges as the most important to you on your career change. If you do this with a few examples of careers as the sound of a pattern you start to emerge.

Skills
Trialing
XcitementAnd
Lifestyle
Egacy/ L
Atccomplishment
Reward

SKILLS

You already have the skills needed for your new career? Are your transferable skills? Do natural strength and talents lend themselves to success in your new career? You can make the transition if you are given a small amount of training or the opportunity to acquire practical experience?

EXPERIMENTING WITH

You can trial or test you are interested in this career? Most people take the time to transition to a new field. Do you know people who work in this industry that you could get insider-insights from? There are ways that you can try out aspects of your career choice, for example by taking on projects at work, attending night school classes, volunteer etc?

EXCITATION

This is a career change who are considering why you
competences but that leaves cold? This choice or bring a real charge or buzz for you?
You can identify problems in your new career area that would like to solve? Do you have a hobby that would turn into a career? Are you sure it's viable as a business or should stay as a much loved hobby and relax? Careers engage strongly affecting?

LIFESTYLE

This career choice will fit with your lifestyle? It fits with your family obligations? Interfere with important aspects of life you want to lead? As this career fits into the context of your life?

LEGACY/CREATION

Will this give you career opportunities too make the contribution you wish to make in the world?
It will give you a sense of accomplishment in the short or long term? Will provide the kind of stories that you'll feel proud to speak when I retire?

REWARD

Is the financial reward in this new field enough to keep his family afloat? It will allow you to continue to add to your superannuation fund? It will help you create the Board you must keep happy and secure in your old age?

Once you are clear about your new career destination you will be ready to start planning your move. You will stop being part of the chorus line to complain about what is wrong with his current role. You will be preparing to star in a new show!

Dorothea works with lawyers and other professionals who want to develop their business careers/improving their professional visibility; developing their own brand and communicate their experience.

Dorothea is a reach Certified Personal Branding strategist and author of Essentials: career change switched careers in the 21st century.

http://dorotheastuart.com
For more information about Career change Essentials click here

How Do I Make A Career Choice?

Making a right career choice is one of the most important of all the choices you will make in your life. The right career choice suited to your interests and personality can not only enable you to be financially comfortable, but also allow you to be happy and satisfied in your career. People who choose the wrong career can suffer from disappointment, disillusionment and oftentimes they can lose the curiosity of their life. Smartness, enthusiasm and hard working habit are diminished from their life and then, they lose great opportunities such as a salary hike or promotion in their organization. Here, is the importance of make a career choice which is the process of determining a field of learning that requires certain knowledge and skill.

There are some important factors that will strongly impact on the outcome of your career choice test. One of these is personality. Some people like to work in a team while others love to work alone. It's good for you to know whether you would like to work alone or together. Education is the best known factor that influences your career. The more volume of knowledge you have, the more chance you have of being successful in your career. So, expand your wisdom to make a career choice.

Often, family needs also impact one's career choice test and career. People who are responsible for looking after their family tend to gravitate to careers where they can gain higher earnings, job security and flexible. In such a circumstance these factors can often be placed above things such as career interests. In this situation, you must sit back and think what the most appropriate career choice you should take is. If you are failing to take on, an advisor can guide you in better way. Other important factors that influence one's career choice are job market, personal values, individual goals and talents.

When making my career choice I found the process very difficult. I did some step by step examination of myself in order to make a career choice and I was very successful in my attempt and got a pleasing job that suits my personality, education and skill sets. Here, the first step I took was self assessment. I assessed my education, personal skills, knowledge, abilities, values, goals and interest. To get most appropriate answers, you need to take more than one tests. There are some famous aptitude and personality tests that can be helpful for you. The General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) and Myers-Bridges are two well known self assessment programs in United States.

Once I assessed myself, I tried to explore job opportunities that matched to my personality and career skills. There are many websites where you can find thousands of job opportunities. And most of them are free for service. You need to sign up with them providing your personal information, education, interests and designation you are looking for. After registration, you may check out career options before you.

Now, it is high time to take career action plan; narrow down your list of career possibilities. In this stage, you need to be more patient and careful because nobody can offer you a greatest career plan over a night. It takes some time and effort to reach your passionate job. If you are feeling that you lack some skills, hurry to find out where is the training provided and to join the class with relentless passion and devotion. While pursuing required skill, you may make a well presented resume that will highlight your educational qualifications, experience and interests.

Management of your career and career development after obtaining a job or career is also just as important of the first stage of finding your career. You knowledge, skills and qualifications need to be kept updated so you can continue to move forward and develop in your career. You must be ready to welcome positive changes happening in your career environment and industry. Be prepared to accept advanced technologies out there. With ever increasing advances in technology who knows how the internet will be assisting people reach their career goals in the future.

If you are interested in making a career choice, http://www.careersense.com.au is the most suitable website to undergo career choice test. There you will find proper guidance and simple questionnaire that help you become self aware.

Career Change and Personality - 5 Ways of Using Your Personality to Guide Your Career Choice

When you are looking for new career ideas, it can be really helpful to start by getting to understand your personality better.  When you know more about the kind of person you are, you will find it easier to evaluate your current job and also to judge new career ideas you may be considering.

The first step is to take a personality test.  My personal favourite is the MBTI which gives you an insight into your preferred ways of behaving.  This can be a real eye opener and can dramatically change the way you think about yourself and others.

Here's how understanding your career personality can help with your career change.

Your current job

You know you are frustrated and unhappy at work, but you can't quite pin it down.  Once you know more about your personal style, you will be able to see why certain aspects of your job are difficult for you.  It is not always just a matter of skill - whether you have or haven't got it.  If a job demands that you regularly work in a way that does not suit your personality, you will find it tough going.

The people you work with

One of the great things about the MBTI personality assessment, is that it gives you the tools to understand not just yourself, but also others around you.  So you can now see that colleague who drives you round the bend in a new light.  You get to value the different approaches people take to their work rather than just being annoyed because they don't do things your way. This makes for better working relationships now and in your future jobs.

New career ideas

Once you know more about your personal style, you can identify what kind of job will be a comfortable 'fit' for you.  When you are considering new career options, you can assess them against your own personality preferences so that you make sure you will have the right kind of work environment, the right approach to work and a management style to suit you. You may not get everything you want n a new job, but you can identify the 'must haves'.

Knowing what to avoid

It is also essential when you are choosing a new career that you do not fall into the same traps as you may have done in the past.  Understanding your personality will also make it possible for you to avoid career areas which will make demands on you that you will find difficult.  For example too hectic a pace or a very unstructured approach to work could be frustrating and exhausting for some, but might be energising and exciting for others.  Make sure you know what will not suit you and avoid careers that will demand working in that way.

Job search strategies

Your personality will influence the way you approach the search for new jobs too.  If you love meeting new people you will probably find networking and using your personal contacts an easy tactic.  Others will prefer to take time doing detailed research on the internet or in books to find out as much as possible about new career ideas.  Both are fine.  Knowing your own preferences will enable you to do some of what you prefer but also know where you must stretch yourself to try other tactics.

Bonus tip
If you are looking for more information about how your personality relates to your career, I invite you to take a look at the How To Change Careers website http://www.how-to-change-careers.com/career-change-test.html. You can take a personality test and read more about what the results mean for you and your career as well as access my ebook, Know Your Personality, Know Your Career.

And if you would like some more ideas about how you can get your career change on the move, you can download my free Career Change Blueprint http://www.how-to-change-careers.com/career-change-blueprint.html which explains the key steps to career change success.

From Cherry Douglas - Your Career Change Guide

Will The New Job Or New Career Choice I Like Be The Right Career For Me?

As a psychologist and career counselor, I have worked with thousands of people over the years who are choosing or changing careers, and who are wondering whether they would really like to be in a particular career. Based on this experience, I believe that most people who want to go into a career they think they'd like do not really explore the questions they need to in order to be sure that it's the right career for them.

Here is a list of 20 questions to find answers to before concluding that a career you think you'd like is really right for you, followed by 9 sources of information for answering these questions:

Questions:

1. In general, why do you think you'd "like" this career?

2. Why is going into this career important to you? What values, needs, and goals does it satisfy?

3. What do you actually know about this career?

4. Do you have any direct experience in this career? Have you had any jobs or volunteer experiences?

5. Have you talked to people who are in this career?

6. Have you done any reading on the career?

7. What are the opportunities? What kinds of money can you make in this field, and where are the openings?

8. What would your typical day be like in this career?

9. What are the drawbacks, disadvantages, and roadblocks of this career?

10. Do your interests match the interests of others in this career?

11. Do you have the aptitudes, skills, and abilities to be successful in this career?

12. Do you have the education or training to get into this career?

13. Do you have the personality characteristics that will make you successful in the new career?

14. Do you have the motivation and energy to follow through and do what you would need to do to get into the new career?

15. What are your "transferable" skills? That is, what skills or knowledge do you now have that you can use in the new career?

16. What skills or knowledge do you have that would not only be transferable, but that would also be a unique advantage in the new career?

17. What will it take to get into the new career? What kind of additional training, education, or experience would you need?

18. Have you developed a specific plan, including timetables and specific goals to be accomplished?

19. Do you have a network of support from family, friends, co-workers, or significant others?

20. Having answered all of the above questions, do you still "like" the career and think it's a good idea to get into it, and why?

I think you'll find that there are many resources you can use to help you answer the above questions. Among them:

1. Reading. This would include not only the hundreds of books and pamphlets on careers and career choice, but also publications describing careers (such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the U.S. Department of Labor and available on the Internet).

2. Practical experience. Not only is it possible to get a full-time or part-time job, but one can also volunteer at an organization or a company a couple of hours a week, just to get exposure to the area. Usually, any organization is glad to have this kind of help (unless they think you're an investigative reporter from some newspaper or TV program).

3. Job search counseling. Anyone changing career directions needs a highly competitive job search strategy. This should include resume, cover letter, and job interviewing strategies that are specific to your situation. This may also include advice on researching the job market.

4. A thorough self-assessment. This is not an assessment BY yourself, but an assessment OF yourself. A good career counselor can provide this kind of assessment, which would include counseling and testing.

5. Career tests. In general, tests divide into three categories: 1) aptitude, ability, and skills tests, 2) career interest tests, and 3) personality and motivational tests that focus on characteristics related to the career world.

6. Career coaching. Guided discussions with an expert can help you to clarify your goals, strategies, and commitment.

7. Education and training. Before you launch full-time into a degree program, it is possible to take one course, or a seminar, or a workshop, or a brief certificate program in the new career.

8. Networking. There are many job clubs and career resource centers available to explore new careers. Schools, career counselors, and other professionals can usually give you information on these resources.

9. Informational interviewing. It's usually not a good idea to go into a career if you haven't talked to at least a few people who are already in it and can give you the lowdown. You can also talk to people in academic and training programs.

Armed with all of this information and all of these insights, you should now be in a better position to judge whether taking the next step in this new career area makes sense for you.

Sander Marcus, Ph.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Certified Professional Resume Writer in Chicago. He has over 3 decades of experience in providing career counseling, aptitude testing, job search coaching, and resume writing to tens of thousands of individuals. He is the co-author of 2 books on academic underachievement, various tests, and numerous articles. He can be contacted at marcus@iit.edu, 312-567-3358.www.center.iit.edu