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When and how did you know that the career you're pursuing is for you?

#career #college

Thank you comment icon Hi, Areha. For some, it’s early in life. For others they find the career just for them later in life. My answer is very similar to Paul’s. In my book, I talked about how I started paying attention to the things that got me all jazzed all the time. What was the skill I wake up looking forward to using and fell asleep at night learning more about. To that end, i became aware of the skills I love to use, learn more about, and help others with. (Some other helpful resources to help out are Strengths Finder 2.0 and pymetrics.com.) Besides self-awareness, there is so much out there, but the great news is you are ultimately the deciding factor for you. Pay attention to what you love and how you can use that to help others. I hope this was helpful! Hope LeNoir
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Spruce’s Answer

Hi Areha,

Good question. In my own case, I wanted to be a mechanical engineer for as long as I can remember. My father was an engineer as is roughly half our extended family. So that’s what I did, and I enjoyed it very much. Note that not many kids have the advantage I was given of knowing exactly what they wanted to do when they graduated high school. To be uncertain about your future career at age 18 is perfectly normal. Please don’t beat yourself up (or let others beat you up) because you’re not sure yet.


What I usually recommend to students who are not 100% sure they’ve got the right college degree or career path is to think back about how you got to this place in time with that degree or career path in tow. If you remember that this career path is something you always thought about and can still picture yourself doing that but you’re just not sure, then go ahead and start school – you’ll do fine.


If you aren’t sure yet but you think you’re in the ballpark, you could start school with basic classes that would apply to several disciplines within that ballpark. Also, just to be complete, if you want to change outside of the ballpark, that’s okay; it just takes more paper work (students do change majors so it’s not the end of the world, and here’s two schools that talk about it). https://ls.berkeley.edu/advising/planning/schedule-planning/changing-majors ; https://www.thelantern.com/?s=Changing+majors


If you’re not sure at all, one idea is to go to a community college (cheaper than University) and take a couple classes to see how you feel about the subject. Then you could also take a part-time job until things became clearer.


If you’re not even sure that college is the right career path, I would suggest not going to school at all for a year and just work. There’s no rule that says you have to go to college right out of high school, in fact there’s no rule that you have to go to college at all. You could check out trade schools see if there’s an activity that you can get certified in. My sister-in-law started out that way in Office Management and worked for the state in a local community office, got promoted several times, then got promoted to the state capital offices.


Good luck.
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Paul A’s Answer

Hi Areha! Interesting question! I discovered on my roller coaster career ride journey that Self employment worked best for me. You know by how you feel. You look forward to going to work. You feel challenged, valued and energized by your daily work tasks and activities. Its important that the culture where you work is a match for your personality and personal values. Life balance is more vital then a career. The journey more important then the destination. Loving what you are doing as work is the real plus. May you continue to be curious and asking thoughtful questions. :-)
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Ashish’s Answer

Hello dear,

Important is not that what you are pursuing is right or wrong. Important is how much you believe on your decisions and how much you are dedicated to make it true.

But yeah, when you achieve your passion that time you are pursuing your best career.But to achieve passion you need to take courageous decisions.

So always focus on your decisions.
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