Finding a career right for you is no small task, whether you are just starting, looking for a change or returning to work after being away.
With so many career paths to choose, it’s easy to become overwhelmed – and post, people do! The task may seem impossible if you don’t know what you want to do as a job.
Even with thousands of Certificate and Diploma courses at Alison, we know you’ll need a little help selecting the right ones for your career path. No matter what stage of your career, with guidance, organization, and knowing your strengths, making the right career choice won’t seem scary.
The Alison Career Guide
As you all know by now, here at Alison, we are about 100% free education, with 24 million Learners over 15 years. However, we also know that learning without a clear objective (unless you’re into it, in which case we say, awesome!) doesn’t yield the best results when studying towards a career goal.
Thankfully, we have a solution. The Alison Career Guide will help you make the right decisions regarding which career path you would like to pursue.
Our career guide gives you access to everything you need to know about hundreds of career options – and on top of that, we will recommend the skills you need to succeed in any of these careers and give you access to free courses you can take to develop these skills.
Find Out Who You Truly Are
Before you can choose the right career, you must learn about yourself. Your values, interests, soft skills, and aptitudes, combined with your personality type, make some occupations a good fit for you and others completely inappropriate.
Use a self-assessment tool, such as our free Workplace Personality Test, to learn more about your natural strengths and weaknesses and receive a personalized list of jobs that may be a good fit for you.
Make a List of Occupations to Explore
You probably have many potential career paths in front of you; keep yourself organized, and combine them into one list. Then, title it “Jobs to Explore.” Your self-assessment will have indicated that these options are a good fit for you based on several of your traits, so they’re worth exploring.
Next, find the occupations on your lists that appeal to you. They may be careers you know a bit about and want to explore further. Also, include professions about which you don’t know much. You might learn something unexpected.
Explore the Occupations on Your List & Narrow Them Down
Once you’ve narrowed down your list, you can get more information about each of the occupations on your list. Head to our career guide, where you will find vital information to help you decide which career to pursue. Get more information about:
- Typical job responsibilities
- Standard work environment
- Recommended job skills (plus free course recommendations!)
- Suggested work experience
- Recommended qualifications
- Projected career map
Now that you have the information narrow down your list even further. Then, begin eliminating the occupations you don’t want to pursue based on what you learned from your research using our career guide.
If the reasons for you not wanting to pursue a particular job are non-negotiable, check it off your list. Remove everything that has tasks that you don’t want to do. Careers with poor employment prospects should be avoided.
Remove yourself from any career if you are unable or unwilling to meet the educational or other standards or lack any of the soft skills required to succeed in it.
Set Your Goals & Action Plan
Once you’ve made a decision, define your long-term and short-term goals. This assists in planning a path toward finally getting a job in your desired area. Long-term goals normally take three to five years, but short-term goals may usually be completed in six months to three years.
Allow your research on necessary education and training to serve as a guide. Do extra research if you don’t have all of the information. Set your goals when you’ve gathered all of the necessary information.
Completing your education and training is an example of a long-term goal. On the other hand, applying to college, apprenticeships, other training programmes, and internships are all short-term objectives.
Create a career action plan, a written plan that lists all the actions you will need to do to achieve your goals. Consider it a road map that will take you from point A to point B.
List your short- and long-term goals and the steps you’ll need to take to achieve each. Include any potential roadblocks to reaching your goals and plans to overcome them.
This may appear to be a lot of work—and it is. However, carving out a professional path is much easier when you know what you want. In addition, taking these actions now can save you a lot of trouble and confusion later.
Make Your Career Choice
Finally, after completing all of your research, you are most probably ready to start choosing a career that is right for you and go about landing your dream job.
Based on your research, choose the career you believe will provide you with the most satisfaction. Remember that you have the right to a second chance if you change your mind about a decision at any time in your life.
Many people change jobs at least a few times throughout their lives, so don’t feel bad if the one you are currently in isn’t the right one for you.
