How To Choose A Great Career Path When You’re Undecided

Choosing a great career path can seem overwhelming, especially with the thousands of choices available to pick from. When it’s time to choose a college and a major, many students find themselves suddenly feeling unsure of what career path they should take, and some even end up delaying college because of this. If this sounds like you, you’re in luck! We have made this task easier for you by providing you with a step-by-step guide to finding the right career path.

Do A Self-Assessment

Before you can decide on a career, you first have to understand yourself, your interests, values, aptitudes, and soft skills. Your personality type matters greatly as it makes some professions the perfect fit for you and others the absolute worst idea ever. You can easily find career tests and self-assessment tools online that will help you gather all the information you need about yourself, and suggest compatible careers that best suit your traits. Alternatively, you can also work with a career counselor who would be able to give you the necessary guidance.

Create A List Of Careers You Want To Explore

After your self-assessment, you will have a handy list of all the careers that are a good match. Now it’s up to you to go through that list and find the careers that look appealing to you. Some you may already know a bit about, and others may turn out to be quite interesting.

Explore The Occupations On The List

Now that you have narrowed down the list you may have up to 10 or 20 options. It is time to get some basic details about each of them. Take a look at the labour market in Barbados and get all the information you need about earnings potential, licensing requirements, and any advanced opportunities.

Shortlist Careers

Next, it’s time to start eliminating occupations that upon further exploration no longer appeal to you. You will typically end up with two to five careers on your shortlist.

Carry Out Information Interviews

This is where you go even deeper to get more information about the occupations on your shortlist. This is an important step because you may have missed a few points while conducting step three.

Look for insiders – people already in these professions and interview them to get first-hand information on what it’s really like. You can use resources like LinkedIn, family, and friends to find willing participants. Ask as many questions as you need to because the information you get from these interviews will help you make the final decision.

Choose Your Career

Now that you’ve done thorough research, you’re in a position to make a truly informed decision on the right career path for you. Choose a career path that will bring you the most satisfaction and allow you to live the life that you want. 

Whatever career you settle on now, know that you can change your mind at any point in life and transition to another career.

Set Your Goals & Have A Plan To Achieve Them

Now that you know what career you want to pursue, and the requirements to get into that field it’s time to identify your short-term and long-term goals. An example of a long-term goal would be completing your education and training, while short-term goals could include applying to college and other training programs. These goals will help you chart a course toward working in your dream career. 

If you need help financing your new career path, the SRLF can help! Click here to learn more about our low-interest, student-friendly education loans.