HOW DO YOU PLAN TO DIRECT YOUR WORK LIFE?

You are likely motivated by one or more of the motivations discussed in this article, whether you are a young person just starting out in the workforce or an experienced professional seeking a career switch. You are probably also employing one or more of the techniques for making informed job choices that are outlined below. Finally, this essay discusses which strategies for making a career switch are the most effective and which ones carry a higher degree of risk.

Going with the flow is a poor strategy. In other words, if you’re at a loss as to which professional avenue to pursue, pick the one with the fewest obstacles. If you’re going to school, pick the easiest classes possible. If you’re looking for work, take the first job that comes up. Those without a job and a six-month emergency fund may find this approach particularly alluring. However, those who apply these strategies to figure out their professional futures are more likely to try out a wide variety of occupations before possibly landing on the perfect one.

Using this method has many possible disadvantages, including:

1. Wasting time, money, and effort on education and training that will not be of much benefit because such simple education and training might not qualify job seekers to enter the types of employment they want…
2. Spending time and money on a liberal arts degree that is unlikely to be as valuable as education or training tailored to certain fields of work
3. Experiencing difficulties because they are in the wrong profession.
4. Having former employers give you a negative reference is fourth.
5. Skipping jobs.
6. Having a harder and harder time finding work after this.
7. Being mired in a career’s “beginning”.
8. Being underemployed and unable to advance in their current positions.

Another strategy for deciding on a career path is to focus on in-demand professions and pursue formal training or education in those areas. Although the market’s demand and supply is a factor, it shouldn’t be the only one when picking a career because:

1. The number of available positions for jobs that now have a high unemployment rate may drop significantly as more people apply for them.
2. The number of jobs that already exist will decrease or disappear, while new jobs will be created.
3. if your interests, aptitudes, personality, and values do not mesh with those required for the job, it won’t matter how well paid or secure it is.

It is ideal to pick a job that fits your interests, skills, personality, and values. Several tests and books on the subject of careers might help you with this. You can learn more about your interests, for instance, by taking the Self-Directed Search test.

Take a career aptitude test to find out what careers are a good fit for your skills and interests. If you want to learn more about who you are as a person, take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Values exercises in books like “What Color is Your Parachute?” might help you learn more about how your personal values relate to different career paths.

One’s ideals and interests may shift during their lives. Tests of one’s interests and values administered at the outset of one’s professional life may yield results that are no longer relevant years or even decades later. It would be beneficial for older professionals who are thinking about a career transition to retake these exams.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook provides detailed descriptions of hundreds of popular careers, allowing you to research and learn more about potential matches with your skills, interests, beliefs, and personality. This guide also includes information on whether many professions might anticipate an increase or decline in career prospects.

The data from the OOH should be supplemented with information gleaned from talking to people currently employed in the fields of interest. The details and timeliness of the advice you receive from others you’ve met through networking are likely to be superior to those you’d find in the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

You may find that even after settling into a satisfying profession, you will want or need to make a shift. Many factors could make it necessary to make such a shift. Understanding and expecting the likelihood of career transitions will allow you to make better adjustments to such changes.

Even if you’re satisfied in your current line of work, you may need to switch to something that pays more to make ends meet, especially if advancement opportunities are limited. For instance, if inflation is really high, your present income may no longer be enough to cover your living expenses. Divorce is another scenario in which an increase in financial resources may be required due to the loss of one household’s income. It’s a fact that having a baby means more money out of pocket for the average family.

Some technical experts, like engineers, work in domains where the necessary knowledge evolves at a rapid pace. Those who make a living in these technological disciplines must adapt to the ever-shifting landscape. They might try to move into management or sales instead of keeping up with the ever-evolving body of technical knowledge if they don’t.

Some individuals might seek to migrate from full time, 9 to 5 positions to flextime or part-time jobs. This requirement may arise as a result of having children, retiring, or taking care of an elderly relative.

Another cause for career shift can be your desire for a career with more personal meaning or social influence. After decades in your current sector, you might be nearing retirement, and you might wish to attempt an encore job, even if the income and fringe benefits are not as enticing as those in your current position.

Career shifts that aren’t chosen by the individual are another form of transition. For example, some spouses whose partners are in the military or in the business world may have to change occupations because they are unable to find work in their field of interest in the places where their families relocate frequently. These kinds of considerations need to be made early on in any romantic endeavor.

Someday, all those who have served in the armed forces will return to civilian life. Such veterans might have spent only one enlistment in the armed services, or they might have spent a full career there before retiring and transferring to the civilian workforce. If their military careers have civilian equivalents, that will help with the transfer.

An added sort of involuntary change occurs when a significant accident or disease causes a worker to go through vocational rehabilitation and to move to a different career.

Losing one’s work due to downsizing, outsourcing, off shoring, or automation is among the most common causes of involuntary career changes. Those who have lost occupations for these reasons might not be able to restart the careers that they had before the layoff. This may be especially true for job seekers over the age of 40 who may face bias because of their age.

By 2020, the Millennial Generation Research Review predicts that short-term contracts, freelance employment, and temporary assignments will account for almost half of the workforce. This means that more of individuals who are in the workforce will be searching for new jobs considerably more regularly than they do today

The ramifications of a bad career choice can be devastating. That’s why it’s so important to give careful consideration to and follow through on your job choices. This calls for a commitment to continuous education.

You can get good advice from high school, college, or even government-employed career counselors. Career counselors in private practice can also assist in transitioning to a new line of work. Put the effort, time, and resources into your profession that you know you need.