How do you know what career you want to do?

I think the best advice that I have heard around choosing hour field is "Imagine a world where there was no such thing as money, what would you want to do?" The answer is there. If you focus your field on how successful you will be, or how much money you stand to make, you may not find yourself truly happy.

Obviously we live in the real world with bills and responsibilities, so my best advice is to find something that uses your skills and interests as strengths.

Personally I enjoy using my creativity, and am a very social person. I have a very technical background and interest to learning new technologies. I was able to find my way into a technical training role, that let me plan, create, and deliver technical training in group settings. I didn't plan my career knowing that is what I wanted to do, but as I began my career, I was able to move positions and companies until I truly found my niche.

By observing others or shadowing to see if what they do fits you.  Put yourself out there to try need things.  Even if it doesn't sound like an amazing job you might end up loving it.

Hi Brenda,

I would say there is not just one way of answering your question.

What I can tell you is that everything depends on your personal feeling mainly: try to think of what your passions are, what you are particularly good at, and also consider what you are actually uncomfortable with.

Since I was a kid, I had always known that I liked telling stories, speak with people, communicate. I had the great chance of starting an English course and having a pen pal straight away, and I understood that foreign languages, cultures and communication were my great passions.

Starting from there, I started orienteering my life, studies and interests towards that goal, and I started studying languages at university, then specialised in communication and teaching, to transmit my passion to students, and it was extremely rewarding.

However, I understood there was more in me: I have always been an empathetic person, and I have always liked helping people in any possible way I could. This led me to spend some of my time volunteering and learning from that experience.

Today, I deal with personal safety issues within my company, which means I do everything possible to make sure a person is in a safe condition when some sensitive situation occurs, and my communication and languages studies helped me a lot to achieve this very satisfactory goal, which I am really happy with.

Money is not everything, and you will end up doing something definitely more rewarding both in terms of personal and professional satisfaction, and payslip, if you do something which is truly connected to your passions, feelings and nature.

Ask yourself "Who am I?", " What do I like doing, or am good at?", "How could I help this world to be a better place, how can I give my contribution?": you will be surprised of how many answers you will get from yourself!

Wish you all the best in your life journey, Brenda, and always believe in yourself!

My advice would be framing a question to say "What professions, I really don't want to do." Once you eliminate all the careers you definitely don't want to pursue, try to narrow down the list to top five careers that you think may interest you. Then gather as much information as possible on those career paths by reading industry guides, reddit forums, and connecting with real professionals in those careers through LinkedIn and asking for informational interviews to learn about their work. Once you do that, it should let you narrow down the list to top 3 or 2 careers. From there I would just actually look for a job or internship in that area, and decide for yourself after working if it is really something you can do for a long time. Hopefully, this will get you to a job that you love doing so much that you will never have to work again!

There is no easy one-shot method to decide what career is the best for you. One good suggestion would be to go online and check out different opportunities that relate to your education/specialization that you took while in college/school. Carefully read about each potential job opportunities and ask yourself if you are good for this. Read the skills and requirements for each job and check if you have them or make a list of missing ones. Another way is to ask people around you for suggestions. But keep an open mind. Start with a blank sheet. Even when people say their ca5reer is a good choice or your parents suggest something, you shouldn't directly agree. Do some research and see if you have good skill sets to pursue that career. In the end, its your choice that matters. May be, you would want to wait a year after to graduation, think and understand what you really like and what you really want to pursue. Sometimes, the first job you might end up in may not be your best career choice! But we are not a tree and we can move! You don't have to be like, I was planted here so I shouldn't move! Be open, keep exploring! Try to figure out your passion instead of settling with what you get! Keep reinventing yourself! But the first and foremost requirement is know yourself - do self introspection! Wherever you are, ask these questions: 1) Am I happy? 2) Am I satisfied? 3) Is this what I want? 4) Can I pursue something better? And if yes, how?

I love computers a lot and love programming a lot. So I chose a career in computer science. This doesn't mean that everyone should take up that job! And I can't sat that to people either! Don't fall for traps like high salary! Choose satisfaction over salary! If you can get good salary and at end of each day you feel satisfied and thrilled about the contribution you do and feels socially relevant individual, have a group of good friends and a happy family with you having a good work-life balance, then that job the best one you can get! But remember, you are not a tree!

Hi Branda... Let me tell you something from my personal experience. When i graduated from school, i had no clue about what i wanted to be, so i studied the same as my dad (Accountancy), and i actually hate it. My advice to you is, if you can, take a time for you after graduate, so you can discover what you really want to do. Get your self some training in things you have always wanted to do, like photography for example. Maybe you discover you passion. Good luck

I love learning all subjects... then one day it occurred to me... a journalist is an amateur expert... and a lot of work. So that became my passion.

Hello Brenda,

Some people just have a feeling for what area they would like to have a career in and others don't. The best piece of advice I received was to look at my hobbies and see what I enjoyed doing. A career wouldn't seem as hard if you enjoy what you do. I completed different personality tests online to see what my strengths were (eg. caring for people or maths and science). There is plenty of different versions online and also speaking to a previous teacher and seeing where they thought your strengths were or where did they think you would end up. They give you a few ideas you could explore.

Brenda....here it is.! This will help up discover your passion for a career. Find a used copy of a book called What Color is Your Parachute. It is a really neat process of reading and exercises that will really get you focused on things that matter most to you. And THAT is what makes a career interesting! Good luck