Growing up, every child meets this question at one point or the other “What is your future ambition?”. This question is often used to determine a child’s level of awareness in life.
A lot of children’s ambitions are determined by many factors, key among them external – societal values, peers, or parental influence.
This has resulted in many individuals growing up with uncertainty on careers they want to pursue, ending up in a pool of misery with neither passion nor purpose. This leads to frustration from lack of career fulfillment, hence the need for guidance in career choice.
So, what are the essential fundamentals of career choice?
- Your happiness and passion; These are the most important things to consider. Happiness is linked to the things we do every day. The interests we are so passionate about. Since your career is something that you are required to dedicate a lot of your time, energy, and resources to, it has to be something that brings you immense joy and satisfaction. This will propel your success.
- Skills and learning experience: Skills are critically important in the career path. ‘What can I do?’ and ‘how good am I at what I do?’ are the questions that deserve utmost honesty in answering. An amazing fact about skills is that they can be learnt. Therefore, it is also important to consider the skills you want to learn in choosing a career.
- Education and Certifications: Education is very important in choosing your career. Companies are particular about what your discipline is and your level of certification. Certain jobs require higher levels of qualification than others to get to the peak. Also, your course of study will determine where you will work. You can’t study engineering and work as a doctor – unless you change your profession and undertake medical studies. You therefore have to be certain of the career you want to pursue so as to guide proper choice of the course to study.
- Environment: In some cases, environment plays a huge role in determining one’s career. Your career choice can stem from the passion to meet a need of a group in your society or from the experiences you have had in life. Some choose to become lawyers after seeing their parents or relatives suffer in the hands of the law – have some passion to make your community better.
- Pay: While considering, the above in choosing your career, pay is a significant factor to many, and that matters. You do want to be stuck in a career that leads you to financial fulfillment. A career should in essence propel you towards success in life.
To wrap it all up, understand that passion is a key determinant of your career path – it is like a guiding star pointing marking your path. Your niche should be something that does not demand so much from you that it appears laborious; make it part of you and enjoy doing it.
When you are passionate about a job or business, it is never a burden but a joy.
Also, ensure that your passion is something you can monetize. Choosing a labor of love you are passionate about but cannot be monetized, is a recipe for frustrations. Choose your strongest suit, stay the course, and see yourself become something of an authority.
Katherine Whitehorn is right in saying that; “Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it.”
