You probably don’t have enough knowledge to make an informed decision. Often knowledge about careers and jobs comes from our social circles. That circle is inevitably limited and may not cover the professional area that may suit you.
Knowing what to chose professionally can also be broken down in chunks. I hope it will help those of you who don’t know where to start.
Think about it as two fundamental questions:
WHAT TO DO
And
WHERE TO DO IT
These two questions will provide insight into the industry where you could work and the function that you would prefer to perform.
Industry – where to be.
You can go to any job board and look at the search bars. One of them will have an “Industry” drop-down list, find a way to print it, and through exclusion and inclusion figure out the top five. For example, you may be interested in working in Aerospace, Manufacturing or Engineering; or in Arts, Advertising or Education.
Function – this answers the query on what you would like to perform in those industries. Are you interested in doing research, work with technology, data? Would you be interested in working in 'person-person' work structures, or 'person-informational system', or 'person-machines'?
You may be a technology professional who works in medicine or a doctor who works in technology. Or you can be a medical professional who works in education or an educator who works in the medical industry. Each of the above will be a different profession and possibly a different career path.
When you find out what to do and where - you can figure out the career path you would like to take.
This takes up to the HOW of your career – level of the role. This is your ambition and trajectory you would like to take.
Some questions may be of help here:
1. Would you like to follow a technical/expert career path?
That would take you to be an individual contributor and an expert in a particular field.
2. Would you prefer to become a people leader?
That would take you to a managerial role and leadership. You still need to have technical knowledge, but your main function is achieving results through leadership and teamwork.
3. Would you like to be on the strategy side of things?
In this case you become a leader of people leaders. You will need to set the vision for others, develop strategic plans, and be a very good communicator.
4. Would you like to have a mix of everything?
Project or program management may be your best choice. Not a single day will be the same!
Defining some of these parameters will narrow the search for you. I will cherish the hope that it may help some of my readers to nail it down your careers, not only come up with a shorter list.
Benefits
Defined motivation and a ready communication plan will help you in a variety of situations throughout your career path. Various networking activities, elevator sales pitches, interviews will work as a door to the best career for you if you can communicate your professional interest.
If you are able to express your career choice with precision and passion, it will open those doors on your way much faster. For others to easily grasp what you want, you need to know what you want quite clearly.
Solution: get informed. Yep – do research, go for networking, watch YouTube videos, read books, check out articles about the industry or profession. There is plenty of information; all you need to do is to roll up the sleeves and research until you get the feel of the thing that is right for you.