A career is a professional occupation you pursue for a significant part of your life; it may require special training. It involves a series of advancements and different position titles. To enjoy the many waking hours spent at work, it helps to love what you do, respect the people you work with or serve, and share the goals of your employer. Finding a creative flow and sparking innovative output is also important, as is engaging with a larger purpose.
What Is a Good Career Fit?
The more you know about yourself, the easier it will be for you to choose and prepare for a well-matched career. Beyond the right training or education, you must consider your values and what is important to you. For instance, do you value creativity or your work environment over financial success? Do you want a career with travel opportunities or one that allows you to spend a lot of time with family? To be happy in a career, your values and priorities should align as closely as possible with the job's requirements.
While what matters most in a job depends on the individual, people just starting in their careers often feel pressured to find their one true calling. While they may succeed, the pursuit can often be counterproductive and close off meaningful experiences. It’s generally better to play the long game by prioritizing learning and developing skills that will be valuable later on.
While there is no right profession, most people are happier when their chosen work aligns with their core values. To discover your core values, look to your role models for clues, use an online values inventory, consult a career counselor, and or spend time reflecting on your own experiences.
While there are exceptions, generalizing rather than specializing can help you navigate your career, especially early on. The paradox of expertise is that specializing too soon can be detrimental to your career, even for those who show obvious talent early on; for every Serena Williams or Steve Wozniak, far more people find success by following their curiosity and developing a wide range of interests and skills.
Psychology often plays a major role in matching people to suitable professions. John Holland’s Occupational Themes, also known as the Holland Codes, identify six vocational personality types: Realistic (Doers), Investigative (Thinkers), Artistic (Creators), Social (Helpers), Enterprising (Persuaders), and Conventional (Organizers). Using these categories, you can explore careers that are a better fit for your personality and values.
Some jobs are well-suited for the super-smart, including physician or surgeon, lawyer, college professor, electrical engineer, researcher, data scientist, IT expert, and materials and design engineer. Of course, not all intelligent people choose to pursue these types of careers, which often require years of additional schooling culminating in an advanced degree and a specialized skill set. Some smart people report that they deliberately choose "dumb" jobs because they are less stressful, more flexible, or better suited to their values/needs.
How to Build a Career
A fulfilling career is a key source of life satisfaction. The challenge for many is not how to perform well on the job, but how to identify a career at that magical intersection of individual capability and societal demand—for wherever there is market demand for a skill set, fair pay should follow. Some people are satisfied with a job that supports their lifestyle but one that doesn’t necessarily lead to new experiences or opportunities for advancement. Many others, however, eagerly seek out prospects to develop new skills and find personal and professional growth via their careers.
Start by taking stock of where you are in your career now—including the skills and experiences you have accumulated, what motivates you, what causes a loss of motivation, and the circumstances under which you work most effectively. Using this framework, imagine what you want to happen next in your career and work backward to identify the actions that will get you there.
Very. Many people are frustrated and held back by a single bad manager or by a broader pattern of poor management throughout their organization. Negative workplace experiences tend to lead to increased stress and reduced motivation. It’s not unusual for a career to stall when someone works for a company or a supervisor who doesn’t respect their talents or value employees taking initiative.
Student loan debt after graduation has indeed been skyrocketing. Still, higher education offers an economic return that far exceeds the initial investment. College graduates also improve their critical thinking, social skills, and aesthetic and intellectual values. They gain a stronger sense of their own identity and a broader perspective on the world.
To ace a job interview, be warm and friendly to put the interviewer at ease. Do your research on the company and the interviewer; this demonstrates that you are conscientious, a desirable trait. Show that you’re confident, but be ready to discuss your faults. Prepare for common interview questions like "What's your greatest weakness?" Have some anecdotes to share, and be respectful of the interviewer’s time.
Consider a few things when you change careers. First, you can redefine how you measure success; money may not be the priority at this point in your life, particularly if you're considering a midlife career change and have already experienced financial success. However, you do need to have a clear sense of your finances and emotional obligations. It’s important to explore all possibilities before leaping.
