Are there any online resources that can aid me in deciding a career, or field or job?

Hi Georgia,

I'm delighted you are interested in researching careers. Remember, though, your journey will not always be fulfilled on your first attempt. Many people have several careers over a lifetime. Some overlap from a previous one, or it/they can be totally unrelated. My first career was clinical and public dental hygiene and later I transitioned to counseling. My master's degree is in mental health counseling but was employed for thirty years as a school counselor, without previous teaching experience.

Here are some resources I've shared with students and adults:

My first suggestion would be to take a career aptitude and/or personality test. If you are in HS and your school counseling department uses the Naviance program, there are two career inventories available in Family Connection. One is "Do What You Are" and the other is an inventory by John Holland, a psychologist who was a leader in career and personality theories. By answering the questions and interpreting the results, you can evaluate your options.

If you are in college, visit your Career Service Center and inquire about the availability of career aptitude tests. Even if you are post-HS and college, there are career tests available, including online.

https://www.careerfitter.com/free_test/careerbuilder
https://www.123test.com/career-test/
http://www.yourfreecareertest.com/
https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/best-free-career-assessment-tools http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp
https://www.truity.com/test/holland-code-career-test
https://www.123test.com/holland-codes-career-tests/

An excellent career resource is the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics Occupational Handbook. View it online at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/

If you are interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) professions and enjoy math, physics, and other analytical subjects, this could be an area of interest. You could use your problem-solving skills, focus on details, and systematic approach to developing/planning/ and completing tasks. If you are talented in advanced math, engineering and its cohorts, STEM would be a good start. Visit "Try Engineering.Org" for information at http://tryengineering.org/

If you prefer the life sciences (biology, anatomy/physiology, microbiology, chemistry), medicine and related careers could be explored.

Perhaps the humanities (languages, social sciences) and the arts (visual, music) might be an area to consider.

Hope this helps!

Hi Georgia!

You are asking a good question. Here is a link and some tips.

When I was doing college recruiting, the most frustrating times were spent with graduates, who upon entering the job, found that they had made a mistake when choosing a career. They should have asked as you have.

Try these exercises:
https://www.themuse.com/advice/14-free-personality-tests-thatll-help-you-figure-yourself-out

Let me know if and how this might help. Keep me posted. I would like to follow your progress.

There are plenty of online assessments available on the web that are free. However, for a small fee I particularly like the MBTI (vocational assessment) Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This assessment helps determine your work personality and where your vocational interests are based upon the assessment you take. The assessment is on 15 to 20 minutes long and have 93 questions to answer. The assessment should be answered by who you are, not someone you want to be perceived as. At the end its gives you a cluster full of job opportunities that you can choose from and research from there. Go to the OOH Occupational Outlook Handbook (free online from the dept. of labor), This will give you job descriptions, ball park wages, as well as positive or negative growth in the field you choose from.

http://lifehacker.com/top-10-ways-to-find-your-career-path-1628537579
http://theperfectjob.org/career-path/
https://www.princetonreview.com/quiz/career-quiz
www.strengthsfinders.com

Hi Georgia,

It can take some exploration and trial and error to find a career that perfect, but my advice is always to 1) Understand what you're naturally good at, 2) determine what you're passionate about and the types of things that keep you excited throughout the day (strengthsfinders is really good learning that about yourself) and 3) understand what type of jobs out there will allow you to utilize your strengths/skills as well to types of activities that motivate and energize you each day.

Once you understand what types of jobs fall into that subset, you can start exploring internship opportunities, part time jobs or volunteer programs, that allow you to learn more about the industry and shadow those currently working in it. There's no better way to learn if an industry is for than to get some experience working in it, even if it's unpaid.

Good luck!
Stephanie