Selecting a profession after completing graduation is the most important decision in a student’s life. Success depends to a large extent on choosing the right profession. But choosing the right profession is not an easy task. A lot of factors influence this decision. Sometimes the candidate becomes puzzled – which way to go, which profession or career to choose? Family demands something, social circle says some other things, the internal desire of the candidate or job seekers opt for something else. In such a confusing situation, it is required to follow some steps that will help reduce the confusion & will make the decision making an effective one. Each candidate needs to have the answer to the following five questions to decide to choose a career. Those are:
5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Choosing a Career
What is My Passion?
The first thing to do is to – identifying passion. You need to know what makes you extremely happy, the accomplishment of which task gives you immense satisfaction, why it satisfies you. For example, if solving people’s problems makes you happy, then dealing with people, administering & managing employees, directing or supervising is your field to apply. Similarly, if you like to write & express your thoughts through it, then content writing is the field that can tap your talent. So the basic thing is to identify the hidden skill & passion that leads to doing a certain task with joy.
Have I Set Goals of My Life?
Once you identify your skill & field of passion, the next big thing is to set goals – both short term & long term that you will like to achieve in life using your skills. For example, once you realize that explaining concepts to people, talking on academic things relating with practical example make you satisfied then you must decide that teaching profession is your field & for that, you need to develop a plan that will contain the process of applying for teaching jobs, how to prepare for interview & how to make teaching effective for students.
What Does Expert Say?
Listening to seniors of different related subjects &consulting with people of different fields of work help to increase the horizon of knowledge. For example, if a candidate is confused & eager at the same time to apply for a job for the post of accounts executive, he or she must talk to the people who are already in that position. The seniors have the practical experience & so they will be able to tell clearly which quality is required for this job & how to be prepared for that.
Have I Looked For Other Career Options?
Sometimes, candidates have their own choice & pre-fixed priority to join a particular profession which is not bad but it is also important to compare several professions or career options at the same time. Sometimes candidates like to become chartered accountant by seeing the status & recognition & financial value of that position but after a point being such interested, joining the process of becoming a chartered accountant, it is realized that the amount of study & focus that are pre-requisite for becoming one is extreme & the candidate had no solid idea about it, as a result after a few months of trying & studying he or she just leave it in between wasting some valuable time from life.
Do I Know That Market Demand Changes?
After a well thought out plan to choose desired or suitable career, there should be given much thought to the fact that, things can change any moment. Market opportunity is never fixed for any particular profession. There will be shifts in the trends. Candidates must keep it in mind that, what is in demand today, might not be useful after a few days, so updating skill is extremely important to remain competitive in the market.
So, if a candidate after completing his or her formal education gives a considerable time to think of the issues discussed above, choosing a suitable career or profession will never be difficult rather rest of the life will be easy & meaningful.
Author: Abu Md. Abdullah
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Business Administration
Eastern University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Email: abdullah@easternuni.edu.bd
