You’ll be asked to consider a lot of things when trying to select the training or education program that will form the foundation of your career—cost, time, requirements, commitments and more are what you should consider when choosing a specific program. But the most basic thing, whether you’re going to be trained for the right career type, can be harder to know.
Some people choose a career path based on what their friends or family say is good; others see something interesting on TV, or they hear about opportunities to earn good money and decide to do that kind of job. Those are all good inputs for choosing a career, but the right career for you is the one you’ll enjoy doing. You don’t need to love your job, but a successful career is usually built on work that you enjoy or in a field that interests you. So how do you know which is the best option? The idea is to look inward at yourself.
Self-Assessment
There is an entire section of GoodProspects dedicated to how you assess your own interests and skills as a way of finding attractive career options (there’s even this assessment just for hospitality careers), but there are great ways to structure that, too, to help you see the best career fit for your interests.
The Career Gateway’s Job Seekers Guide is a great way to look at everything about your skills, interests and values to form an idea of what you could do for your career, and then make a plan to move forward. There are a number of assessments available (you combine them at the end of the process), but this assessment matching interests to occupations is a good place to start; use the .pdf sheet to score yourself, then take the rest of the assessments to build a fuller picture.
Next Steps
After you know where your interests really lie and which career paths they connect to, go ahead and explore career options. Then you’re ready to find the training or education that will get you started. These articles can help you find the right program for you, one that matches what your goals, priorities and professional interests, and these articles can help you get enrolled and on the path to success.
