Setting Your Career Path
Choosing how you make a living is much more involved than just determining how much money you will make. Setting a career path involves making sure that you can enjoy what you do on a day-to-day basis while providing for your needs.
Careers Vs. Jobs
A career is an established line of skilled work that has ability for advancement with growth and development. Jobs are a line of work that can be either skilled or unskilled and aren’t always permanent. Jobs usually come with basic function work that doesn’t always pay as well as a career will. There isn’t much room for advancement in a job as the employers want employees that can maintain their current position and perform the same function daily. Examples of a job would be a cashier at a store or a fry cook at a chain restaurant. Examples of a career would be a Software Engineer or Computer Analyst, etc… These different lines of work are a distinction that as a person, you should make before setting your path. Assess if you have a job now or a career path. If you want a better and always growing future for yourself, get on a career path that is well suited for you.
Determine Your Skills
Determine whether you are a skilled or unskilled worker. Not having a college degree doesn’t mean that you are unskilled. I personally do not have a college degree, nor do I have any college background, but I personally have an on-going career as a system analyst for software in the healthcare industry. If you are computer-savvy or can use a computer to type, you are in a good position to get into a company that requires certain word processing skills. Everyone is good at something, find the thing that you are good at and try to see if there are any careers that fit your skills or expertise on any matter and apply for them.
If you have a hard time thinking of what you’d love to do everyday. Check this out Cool Careers For Dummies
Enjoying Your Career
Work isn’t always fun and it isn’t always meant to be. Finding something that you enjoy going to day-to-day isn’t the hardest thing to do, but can be challenging if you don’t know what you’re looking for. When you are good at something and you have a career in it, it makes your day much better. A sense of accomplishment is crucial to your own personal satisfaction. There’s nothing better than going home and knowing that you’ve spent the day being constructive and have accomplished something that makes a difference. It may take a few tries to really find the career path that you enjoy, don’t be afraid to try something new.
Determining Your Living Needs
Making sure that you are able to live your life is important for obvious reasons. Find a career that will pay you what you need to live comfortably. No one wants to financially struggle or worry about paying bills, so finding something that will pay the bills and keep money in your pocket is crucial. It may take a few places to find the salary that you are looking for, but never be afraid to explore your options. There are employers out there that are willing to pay a better salary than what you make now. If you are looking to make the big bucks (aren’t we all?) plan on making changes to where you live to accommodate making work more available to you.
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