Grow up, finish college, get a job. While the three-step process might have been entirely reasonable for your parents or your parents’ parents, it certainly isn’t for you. Not in the opportune growth environment the modern generations live. Quite simply, choosing the career path you’re going to love is more complicated now than ever before.
Should you apply for an internship first to test the waters, or should you start at a lower position in a company and work your way up the hierarchical ladder? Or, should you ditch the preconceived notions of your parents and surroundings and make a name for yourself as a successful entrepreneur? Let’s find out.
Determine Your Preferred Working Style
Nowadays, the business world has a lot to offer regarding lucrative career paths, work conditions, and work hours. You can easily find positions that require your undivided, eight-hour attention, or you can choose to schedule your own time and work from home, or you can even choose something in between – such as working on a project basis.
The choice is yours, so be sure to choose your ideal scenario carefully. Some people would love the opportunity to work in their PJs while sipping on a fresh cuppa, but there are also plenty of aspiring business leaders who would like nothing more than to work in a competitive office setting. Determine your ideal work hours and conditions, and begin your search from there.
Home In On Your Unique Talents
Everyone is different, and every individual has an aptitude for a unique field. Don’t just settle for an industry or a niche others think is best suited for you, but instead, work towards discovering those unique talents you possess and how you can capitalize on your natural gifts. Are you a people person or do you prefer working alone in a dark room? Are you creative and quirky, or do you thrive on logic and hard-data?
The answers to these two questions can mean the difference between becoming a public figure or a PR representative for a company, and a back-end developer working in a secluded corner of the office. But it’s not just about whether or not you enjoy spending time with people or if you want to be left alone, it’s also about figuring out what you love doing.
Let Your Personality Make The Call
One of the most important factors that will define your future and help you settle on a career path of a lifetime is your personality. The type of person you are and the values you hold in your mind and your heart will guide you towards your dream job, and this should be something that makes you feel alive and grateful.
That’s why some of the most rewarding careers out there have to do with helping others. Building a career as a support worker and caring for the elderly or the ill, for instance, can help you develop your livelihood based on flexible working hours and a per-client schedule. Nowadays, such vocations are very easy to get into, as you can always join an online platform and quickly find potential clients in your community. If you’re a real people person and thrive on helping others, then there is no better path for you than the path of assisting your fellow earthlings on their life’s journey.
Have Clear Financial Goals In Mind
No matter how much you like to believe otherwise, money does make the world go round. If nothing else, it is the food on your table and the roof over your head, and there is no viable reason not to build your career around a lucrative opportunity. Fortunately, you needn’t be a CEO of your own company to make extra dough, as there are plenty of lucrative job offers at reputable companies both on the online and offline plane.
Modern growth-oriented businesses care for their employees and do whatever they can to make them feel appreciated and satisfied with their job – the success of their brand depends on it. With that in mind, you want to put your ideal income on paper, and figure out whether or not your field of interest can make it happen. And don’t worry, you needn’t settle for just one job, as the modern workforce thrives on project-based careers, so why not try opening numerous fronts yourself?
Assess The Potential For Professional Growth
Business opportunities are everywhere around you, but that doesn’t mean that you should accept anything that has a big fat paycheck attached to the agreement. Why? Because money might be important, but not as much as your long-term happiness.
It’s quite easy to end up at a high-paying, dead-end job you can’t quit because you would be throwing your livelihood and years of hard work out the window. Instead, focus on finding a job that not only makes you happy but one that offers adequate personal and professional growth. Remember, humans thrive on positive change and progress, so make sure you take control of your professional and personal development.
Finding the career of your dreams might not be an easy task, but that doesn’t mean that amazing opportunities are scarce. Quite the contrary, when you find out precisely what lifts your spirits and motivates you every day, you will have no problem kick-starting a career of a lifetime. Image: Unsplash. Author: Stella Van Lane, Sydney Writer & Home Design Consultant.