Resume Writing Advice » How to Choose A Career

How should I choose my future career?

Michelle — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:38:33 +0000

one day I want to be a doctor one day I want to be an engineer, one day I want to be something else. So many options I just really don’t know which one of them would be the most interesting to me.

You should first look at your self see what you like and interested in, maybe you can get payed for doing something you love. Then you want to look at your living style, do you want to be in the fast lane or slowing things down? Next, look at careers that make good money, and takes a short to medium amount of time and energy but if your willing to sacrifice years for careers like a doctor then sure, but you better be a good one because what you’ll have to pay back will be pretty big. Also, you don’t want to stay on one career track because you might want to change your career field. Engineering is a good career field because you can use it to get other careers as well opposed to a doctors career field.

How do I choose between two career paths?

Michelle — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:39:49 +0000

I want to follow my heart, but I have so many interests and hobbies that don’t coincide. I love animals but I love the arts as well. I’m a good writer and I like designing layouts and matching colors. Maybe I could be an actor or a voice-actor or a writer. But I love, love, love all animals and it would be amazing to take care of them every day. I’m so drawn to both career paths. I’m not sure how to decide between them. Any suggestions?

I completely disagree with Judy. There a jobs that pay quite a bit that use the skills you mentioned:

Veterinarian
Technical Writer
Graphic Artist

If you like the teaching as well you might even want to think about instructional design.

And there are many more. They key is to know what is out there, get proper education, and to do something that you have enthusiasm for.

There are many many things you can do with your interests will enable you to make a living.

With that being said, who says that you have to choose? Everything doesn’t have to be a career – and everything doesn’t have to be done full time.

Consider this. You love animals – maybe you want to work as a vet or possibly work as an animal caretaker or trainer. This could be your main job. On the side, you could write about animals – maybe do some freelance work. If you became a vet, then you could answer people’s pet questions – start a blog, do some freelance work for a magazine and more. You could even manage a pet care website.

Or, you could work as a writer primarily, but make animals your focus. Or maybe you could find a job at a pet-related company, but work with advertising and PR of their products. You could do volunteer part-time with the ASPCA or the local animal shelter.

If you want to learn to act, perhaps that could be a hobby for you. You could do community theatre and this could give you the skills you need to be able to do voiceovers should that option become available to you.

One of the best ways to figure out which should be your main focus, is to volunteer at a place where people are doing what you want to do. Maybe you can talk with the SPCA or a local animal shelter in your area – or see if you can work at a vets office as an intern (if you are still in college). Or, you could try to start your own blog about animals and see if you’d like to do that – or maybe try to freelance write for a magazine. Also, talk to people in those fields to see what they are really like.

One thing I like to do is go online and type "A Day In The Life Of", then the name of the job, in a search engine. You’ll usually find good interviews that way. For example, you could search for "A day in the life of an animal trainer" you’ll find a lot of links, including this one: http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/p/animal_trainer.htm.

If you need to know about the types of careers out there, check out the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Look for careers for people who love working with animals, artistic careers and writing careers. You might even find a career that is a combination of all three! The Occupational Outlook Handbook will also give you a sense of how much the jobs pay and the outlook in your area.

One good thing to do, is to look on Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com – then type in the names of jobs that you are interested in. That will help you to know 1) what they actually pay 2) whether there are lots of them available 3) what the job responsibilities really are 4) what kinds of education lawyers are looking for.

You should be able to find something that you like – while at the same time making a decent living.

I wish you all the best!

How did you choose your career? Do you think you’ll stick with it?

Michelle — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:13:25 +0000

I’m having trouble selecting a career and sticking to it. I guess I get discouraged easily and find most jobs boring and unfulfilling. Not to mention a lot of work to obtain.

I’m a CPA who specializes in taxes. This career found me. I believe it is my punishment for something I did in a previous life, torture children and small animals.

I hope this helps
Gary

How do I choose a career that I would be passionate in UK?

Michelle — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 04:46:28 +0000

I’m one of those people who’s just “okay” at a bunch of different things.

I’m okay at writing, I’m okay at photography, I’m okay at school stuff, I am okay even at relationships and love.

I want to find what I’m really passionate about and love doing so that someday in the future, which isn’t that far away anymore, I can make a career out of it.

But where do I start? How do you find out what you’re good at? Any suggestions?

Where do I start? First, the bad, it is almost impossible to "choose" any career anywhere in these days of economic downturn. Your future starts here – today is the first day of the rest of your life. If you are mediocre at everything then it is entirely up to you to decide what employable skills you wish to develop. Only you can provide the passion.

Before I choose a career in the Alternative Medicine field such as Herbalism or Etc….?

Michelle — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:09:24 +0000

I need to know All the career fields in Alt medicine, how much money they make yearly, and what are the pros and cons, and will it benefit me to having a nice house and a car or whatever?, how much school is it gonna take….and the job description of each naming the activities. and where do they work…

If any of u guys work in the Alt medicine field or not you could give me an idea. im having trouble choosing careers lately. I wanted to be a Herbalist BUT i wanna know what im getting into before i do that. Just to make sure.

P.S no stupid answers

Alt med is called that because they have no basis in science or have not been proven to work. As such, alt med practitioners do not have the same education as doctors, nurses and other professionals in the allied medical fields. There are no new researches or breakthroughs in alt med because most practices are bound to old practices and are resistant to change. Alt med practitioners also do not have the same strict regulation as the medical professionals. They do not work in hospitals, are not covered by insurance and most do not have professional organizations.

If you (sadly) decide to proceed with your misguided plan, you will be working in the fringes of actual science, never getting the respect of the mainstream public. Your knowledge will stagnate as your alt med field is left behind by the amazing advances in science and medicine. You will not work in a hospital, and you will not earn as much as any of the medical professionals.

If you really want to go into something worthwhile, go into medicine or nursing or any of the other medical professions. Don’t waste your time and effort on this.

Good luck. Make the right decision.

How do successful working women balance family and career?

Michelle — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:03:30 +0000

It might be silly to be asking this now, considering I’ll be a senior in high school this year and I would like to have a family in 10-15 years, but how do successful working women balance their family and career? Especially women in male dominated fields, how do you continue to do well at work and still manage to raise a happy family?

I’ve been thinking about becoming a doctor and I do not want to choose either career or family. I would love to have both.

They don’t. They really don’t. Make a decision NOW about which you want, cause chances are you’ll win the lottery before you balance both successfully. Don’t let the movies fool you. Have your fun and career now while you are young and impetuous. Then when you’ve settled down and established a home(unlike 97% of the country), then have your family, i.e. children.

How to let my mom know that I’m independent enough to choose my career?

Michelle — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:45:23 +0000

My mom wants me to be an engineer but i want to be a journalist for a fashion magazine in New York City. She also said that she wouldn’t pay for college unless it was for me to be an engineer.

I think that’s disgusting, it isn’t up to her to decide what you do.
To give advice yes, and to have some say in it seeing as she’s paying, but the decision should be yours.
If you haven’t got a hope of being a journalist – if you’re really bad at English for example – then I can understand her refusing to pay for that, because it’s a lot of money and shouldn’t be wasted.
But you should choose your own college course as long as it’s something realistic, that you are very likely to be employed doing afterwards.
How good are you going to be as an engineer if you’re not interested? How are you going to get through what will be a very intense course, years of study, if it’s not what you want to do? Also it’s not really fair to take that college place from someone who really wants to do it.
But if she refuses to see that it’s your decision (within reason) then you’re going to have do pay for the whole thing yourself. Maybe if you do that, after the first term/year she will see that you’re determined and going to make a good job of it and decide to help you out afterall.

How do you choose a career path?

Michelle — Wed, 26 May 2010 08:12:25 +0000

I want to go to school but I’m not sure what to go for :/
How did you choose your career path?
or what do you suggest is a good career choice?

At first i wanted to be a computer engineer, but then i decided it might be too boring in an office. then i decided i wanted to travel and i needed a job you could do anywhere. so i picked electrics and i dont regret it. you cant go wrong with trades really

How can I choose a career that honors God?

Michelle — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:30:31 +0000

So I am going to be finished with high school pretty soon and have started thinking about college, but Im not sure if what I want to do honors God. I love history and would love and would love to do that, but does it honor God? I also am interested in art, music, and writing but Im really not sure if these are careers for a person in a relationship with Christ.

You might discover the answer by attending a school where the goal is to prepare men and women to serve God.

http://www.kingsseminary.edu/

http://www.regentundergrad.com/

I’m sure there are more.

Should i take the time to figure out what i really want to do, or just choose a career before its too late?

Michelle — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:32:43 +0000

Im 19. I dont know what career i want to get into, so im thinking maybe i should just choose one before its too late. Im sort of interested in Medical Radiography so im aiming towards that. But i look at almost every job, and see myself possibly doing that. Do you think its a good idea to just choose one rather then wait a long time before u figure it out?

yes, at 19, u are finishing high school, and need to decide on your career path. if medical radiography is what interest u, go for it. In life, u need to have goal, otherwise it will become a chaos and nightmare at a later date.