When should someone decide on what career to pursue?

Hi Daniella! I was the type of person who worried about this a lot throughout high school and college. From my experience, people worry most because they feel like everyone else knows what they want to do - this is definitely not the case. In general I think the more common thing is people developing through their lives - changing jobs, careers, even hobbies. I'm going to use going to college as an example because it is the path that I took, though there are definitely other good options (think trade school, military, etc). A large amount of people go to college with an "undecided" major for their first year or two where they take more general classes before picking a major. Also, even after graduating, a very significant number of people end up getting a job that isn't related to their major at all. I have a friend who was a biology major in college and is now working in a totally unrelated business role with a large company. I think a good exercise to put yourself through is go to LinkedIn and just look at random people's profiles - try to aim for people a bit older. When you do this you'll probably start to notice a lot of people who have made significant changes throughout their careers whether it be simply a new job or even totally changing the type of work they do. The best advice would just be to put yourself in the best position by working hard and applying yourself with the things you do. This will give you a lot of flexibility in what you do if you do end up changing your mind down the line. There's a common thing that successful people say that's along the lines of "the harder I worked, the luckier I got". This may have got a bit off base, but hopefully you find this helpful. Basically at the end of the day, there isn't a one size fits all answer, it's more of a process of deciding and then reevaluating.

Hi Daniella: I agree with Kyle. There isn't a set time in the real world. In college, students are encouraged to choose a major by the end of their second year so that they can begin and complete their upper level (major) classes on time. Many students equate majors with career choice but it isn't true. A major is a study of a topic in depth, a career is choosing the work you want to do. Realistically, with technology, we are living longer than any other team in history, so you do have time on your side. I'd recommend just learning what careers exist and what is required to do the work and qualify to be any given job. A good starting point is onetonline.org. Here you can search in demand jobs, jobs by title, and hiy paying jobs as well as other options. Just take some time to look at the details. Also volunteer and assess enjoyment of past work and volunteer. This can give me perspective. It did for me. Good luck!