Finding a career that is right for you is no small task, whether you are just starting out, looking for a change or returning to work after being away. With so many career paths to choose from, it’s easy to become overwhelmed – and post people do! If you don’t know what you want to do as a job, the task may seem impossible. Even with thousands of Certificate and Diploma courses to choose from at Alison, we know you’ll need a little help in selecting the right ones for your career path. No matter what stage of your career you are at, with guidance, organisation, 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 all about 100% free education, with 24 million Learners over 15 years. We also know that learning without a clear objective in mind (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 when it comes to deciding 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 be successful 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 personalised list of jobs that may be a good fit for you.
Make a List of Occupations to Explore
You probably have lots of potential career paths in front of you, keep yourself organised, and combine them into one list. 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 managed to narrow down your list, you can get more information about each of the occupations on your list. Head on over to our career guide where you will find vital information that will 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. 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 if you 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 to accomplish, 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. Applying to college, apprenticeships, other training programmes, and internships are all short-term objectives.
Create a career action plan, which is a written plan that lists all of 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, as well as the steps you’ll need to take to achieve each one. Include any potential roadblocks to reaching your goals, as well as plans to overcome them.
This may appear to be a lot of work—and it is. However, it is much easier to carve out a professional path when you know what you want. Taking these actions now can save you a lot of trouble and confusion later on.
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 that 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.
