Determine Your Interests and Skills To Help You Choose A Career

When you’re young, you’re told the different career paths that you can follow to become successful in life. The list usually includes doctor, lawyer, teacher, business person, scientist, accountant and a few others. What you don’t know at this stage of your life is that there are many career paths out there and even specialties within career paths.

You don’t have to choose your career from a generic list. Take some time to research so you can find the career that will lead you to a happy and fulfilled life.

Personal Interests
Personal interests are the main indicators of your career path. If you enjoy doing certain things now, you will probably enjoy pursuing those things in the future. You probably have a busy schedule. Do you have a hobby that you try to squeeze in during your spare time? If so, identify what the hobby is. Now, list some skills that you utilize in your hobby. These skills are probably your strengths or at least skills that you are motivated to improve. Find out what careers utilize these skills on a daily basis. You will soon brainstorm a list of occupations that appeal to you.

Don’t assume that your interests are not serious. Your hobby could very well turn into your career. For example, do you enjoy reading? Most people would say that you cannot be a professional reader. Don’t be discouraged. There are many careers out there that have the love of reading as a foundation. Try researching careers as an editor, librarian or researcher. You will find that there are careers out there that match your interests.

Evaluate Your Skills
Evaluating your skills lets you determine your strengths and weaknesses. Taking your personal interest, hobbies and your personality into account, create a list of what you believe are your strengths and weaknesses.

Be honest in your evaluation. Once you’ve listed your strengths and weaknesses, try grading them using a scale of one through ten. Once you’ve identified your strengths, research careers that utilize those strengths on a daily basis.

Now take a look at your weaknesses. Your weaknesses are usually skills that you genuinely dislike or skills that need improvement. Separate your weaknesses into these two categories. If you genuinely dislike a certain skill such as computing statistics, then you can cross off careers that primarily use this skill. Knowing what makes you unhappy will help you weed through careers options.

Evaluating your interests and skills is an exercise that will help you find your likes and dislikes. This will help you choose a career that makes you happy.

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