How to Decide on a Career

Deciding on a career can be challenging, especially if you just made a big change in life, such as graduating high school or college or starting a family. However, by following these simple steps you can be well on your way to determining what career you should pursue.

First, write down several areas that you are interested in from most to least interesting down the middle of a sheet of paper. Some good examples include construction, education, law enforcement, government, military, agriculture, ranching, and so on. Then, on the left hand side of the sheet of paper write down past experiences and education that would appear on a resume. These could include things like library intern, nonprofit volunteer, manager at such and such a company, B.A. in Civil Engineering, and so on. After you have done that, grab some colored pens and draw a line from each item on your left hand list to its most relevant and counterpart(s) on your central list of interests. Having done that, go to the right hand side of your sheet of paper and write down some of your greatest hard skills (your abilities) and soft skills (your attributes). Hard skills include things like marketing, computer engineering, accounting, and management. Soft skills include things like communication, teamwork, patience, problem solving, performance under stress, and public speaking. Then, once you have done that, get the colored pens again and draw a line from each of your hard and soft skills to the top interests on your central list in which that skill would be needed. For example, an interest in the area of construction would require you being skilled in teamwork and woodworking, plumbing, or electrical. So, if you have woodworking on your list of hard skills it should go to construction because construction needs that skill.

Second, once you have finished step one, take a look at your sheet of paper and on another piece of paper write down each area of interest again and how many lines were connected to it. It should look something like this at the top of the page: construction (4), education (2), law enforcement (2), government (1), military (1), agriculture (4), and ranching (3). The areas with the higher numbers mean that you align with them the most and those with lower numbers mean that you align with them the least.

Third, choose the three with the highest score and start research on each of those areas and what it would take to get into them. At this point, you will want to start some light networking in each of the areas (which we have a video for on our youtube) to see which area you like and fit in the most. In addition, you will also need to consider your situation at this time while you are looking at your top areas. What hours and days are you willing to and not willing to work? What is the lowest amount of pay that you are willing to take? How comfortable are you working in the area that you are looking at? Do you have any health concerns that would make the job hard to do? What type of benefits does each area have? As you ask yourself these questions and network, you should be able to see which of these three areas you would best fit in.

Finally, as you are going through all of these steps that we have talked about, it is important that you ask God for His guidance and be in prayer about your career. Take some time to really think and pray on each of your top areas and as you do these steps one area should start to stand out among the rest of them. However, some of you may get stuck, unsure about which area you should go into or which area God would want you in. That is perfectly ok and happens to most of us. When this happens, remember that God will give you everything that you need to make the best decision that you can (Romans 8:28). Now, you still have to be actively looking and working to make the right decision, but, as you do, God will set certain people in your path, open or close certain doors, or even help you to notice something that you did not before. Then, once you decide on a certain area, start focusing on that one area and start networking, volunteering, and applying in that area.