When choosing a career which is more important, interest or benefits?

Career choice is driven by many factors. Among them are the practical concerns of salary and employment prospects, as well as the valued advice from educators and family. Interest in a particular industry or type of work may be the deciding factor for some -- and for good reason -- pursuing your interest can lead to personal satisfaction and professional success.

Motivation to Remain Committed
During the early phases of a career, you develop fundamental skills and complete tasks that may seem divergent to your ultimate professional objective. Few people, however, can dive right into the meat of the career they feel they were born to do. So an in-depth understanding of what the career entails and the knowledge that your life's work will ultimately be fulfilling, adds to your motivation to remain committed, even when the rewards seem distant.

Enjoyment Meeting High Performance Standards
Successful people are required to meet high performance standards. These pressures come from employers, corporate culture and -- when you're an entrepreneur -- the marketplace. The necessary time, energy and intellectual capital is easier to expend when you love the work you do. From the most basic gauge of job happiness, from getting up in the morning to go to work because you love your job, to pushing yourself to go further in your career, remaining engaged is key to continued success.

Developing Innovation
Institutions benefit when their people have a genuine interest in the field they work. In addition to day-to-day motivation, employees are more likely to see their work from a variety of perspectives and bring fresh ideas to the table. This is how innovation occurs. You also benefit from this tendency toward innovation in a career that you enjoy: You can strike out on your own or create a niche in your place of employment.

Utilizing Your Best Strengths
Very often, career interests align closely with your strengths. Choosing a career that uses your best skills prevents a situation where hard work only leads to frustration. What you're required to do in a job is not always what you're best at, even if you eventually succeed. Often, people know what they're good at but never utilize the opportunity to apply those skills. Selecting a job that you will enjoy doing, ultimately lets you simply follow your interests in pursuing a career path.

What a great question. My feeling always has been that you must love and be happy in whatever you do since you spend so much time at whatever your profession is. We all need to earn enough to support ourselves and for some their family, but I never believed that money brought happiness....just makes life a bit easier....so if you are looking for happiness in your life follow the path of whatever you have a passion for and will love doing for many years many hours a day. Good luck