Choosing a Career

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
- Confucius –

For some people, knowing that they want to do “when they grow up” comes at an early age. The problem though in some cases is wanting to be a superhero, a Jedi Knight or mermaid won’t be feasible ways to pay the bills. In most cases what most kids want to become “when they grow up” have disappeared by the time they are teenagers or young adults – and sometimes by process of elimination (professional athletes, actors, etc.). Some of us are lucky and successfully forge the course to becoming a doctor or a fireman or an electrician, making childhood dreams a reality. For the majority of us, we are not so lucky. For many of us, choosing a career can take months or years, sometimes decades. And many who have chosen a career switch a time or two or more.

According to The Princeton Review, the average person changes career fields two or three times in their lifetime. The Career Center at the University of California at Berkeley cites that the average student who enters college with a declared major changes it three to five times, and the average student who enters college with an undeclared major changes one to two times.

I commonly have 30-year olds, 40-year olds, and 50-year olds (sometimes even older) ask me for advice on the career path they should pursue, or switch to. I will be the first to admit that I am not a career counselor, nor do I profess to be. I think the key in pursuing any career is to choose from a mix of options that will satisfy your personal desires balanced with financial necessities and/or desires. A short list I have come up with include the following:

Assessing yourself – what natural talents do you possess? Where do your true passions and interests lie? Do you have a preferred work style or location? What kind of work-life balance do you expect? How much money do you want to make? These questions and others are important in assessing yourself as it pertains to a career.

List potential occupations – after assessing your talents, interests, skills and abilities, try writing down some occupations that seem to be interesting to you. There are also self-assessment tests online or through places like your college career center that can be helpful in identifying prospective careers.

Explore options – once you have listed out potential occupations, do some research about each. What kind of training or education does each require? What can you expect to earn over the course of your career? What is the job outlook into the future in the specific field?

Ask for advice from professionals in fields of interest – this is perhaps one of the most valuable tools in this process, not only to learn about careers in fields that interest you directly from someone who is in the profession, but also to potentially gain a mentor and connect for networking opportunities.

Create a career action plan – once you have decided on a career that fits you, plan out all necessary steps to make it a reality. This includes specific training or education endeavors, certifications, or anything else needed.

I am including two links to resources that are of additional help. The first is a well thought out and presented article from US News (here). The other, and it may be a little tough to admit this as a Notre Dame grad (because of the rivalry), but one of the best resources I have ever come across for choosing a career (or major) by a University is from Boston College. I think the 3-Step process they use is of tremendous value: Self-Assessment, Exploring Career Fields, Searching for Jobs.