Tony Jacowski asked:

The answer is career research, and you should always begin with yourself. Take assessment tests that are available online to know your strengths and weaknesses.

Speak with career counselors who can help you find a suitable career path for yourself.

Set Career and Job Goals

What are your goals and aspirations? What are your interests, your likes and dislikes? Where do you want to see yourself maybe five years from now? You need to determine what you want from your job and your career.

Are you looking to be financially independent, to become famous, or to bring about changes in your life? Your motives must be clear, especially with regard to what drives your sense of success and happiness.

Research the Industry

Find out all you can about the industry you have chosen: the future of the industry, the latest trends and career options.

You can find this information on the Internet, by reading industrial publications, by attending job and career fairs, and through your mentors.

Review Career and Job Trends

Obtaining information about the latest career trends is vital for the success of your long-term career planning.

It is important to determine areas where job growth is the greatest, especially in areas that interest you most.

Network

Networking can be beneficial. You can learn about new job openings and careers through your contacts, for example. You may even discover a fulfilling career that you might never have considered otherwise.

Volunteer

Volunteering can give you insight into yourself and guide you in your search for a career. Many find immense satisfaction in helping people.

Besides, volunteering can bring you to the attention of employers who may see some potential in you and offer you a lucrative career.

Read Industry-Specific Career Books

This should be high on your priority list. Seek out the best books that are industry-specific and are geared toward your career goals.

Go Online For Help

Make use of the web to research your choice of career. Find out all resources that are available on various websites.

Download and read trade journals about your career path. They may also contain the latest employment opportunities.

Participate In Job-Shadowing Opportunities

If you have a friend who is employed in a career you are interested in, it is a good idea to learn as much about it as you can from them. You may even choose to go to work with them for a day. This will enable you to experience the job firsthand and gain information about the work itself, including working conditions.

Be sure to get permission from the company to avoid embarrassing yourself and your friend.

Your career is an important part of your life. Take time to fully understand the path you want to take. Making the wrong decision will only make you miserable and hamper your productivity. If you love the job you are in, you will have a much better chance of being happy and fulfilled.

Higher Career

Josh Stone asked:

Have you wondered why it seems some people are so successful in their career and others are not? This is true, since most people who are unsuccessful in their career give up their hopes and dreams. These are the people who settle for something lower than their own capabilities would qualify them for. They did not do the things which people who are successful in their career do, which is keeping their focus on their future path, and working towards it no matter what may happen.

So how did successful people attain their desired profession and achieve their satisfied career success? The first thing they did was to carry out a session of career goal setting. To perform career goal setting successfully, you must state your career desires explicitly and write them down. This provides you with a basic outline to follow when you set your ideal career goals. With your career goals written out, you know what your final destination looks like and can steadily work towards it.

Also, when carrying out career goal setting, be sure you do not assume that you can achieve your long-term career goals easily and successfully without effort. There is a risk in trying to reach the end without having some mid-term and short-term goals along the way. To prevent this potential mistake, always start from the end and work backwards, since this provides you with the elements for a successful career. Moreover, seeing it from the end to the beginning gives you an idea about how that the long term career goals is achievable.

Suppose you are attending university to become a doctor. Your parents persuaded you to have everything that was part of becoming a doctor written out in a detailed form. By asking you to perform the above steps, they were actually asking you to carry out career goal-setting on the way to becoming a doctor. This includes the short-term, mid-term and long-term career goals of yours. Because you knew everything that was covered in going to university, you were able to do better than the average student. You were aware of every element in pursuing that doctor career and this prepared you well for the challenges you have faced.

People delude themselves into thinking that having a successful career will come easily. However, when reality strikes, they become fearful and quit without achieving their goal. Being prepared mentally requires it of you to be disciplined and persistent in order to overcome fears of failure, and thus you can achieve your career goals. Always expect the best from yourself and do not settle for anything less than what you know you are capable of achieving.

Just about everyone wants to advance in his or her chosen occupation. No one wants to simply stay put. The nature of living makes people want to get somewhere else and grow. But few people, those not lacking a self-starter capacity, really know how to make their own advancement happen.

Career development is not very complex, which is not to say that it is an easy task to accomplish. On the contrary, it requires a tremendous amount of discipline and determination to be able to maximize the resources available to you, such as your time, money, and energy. However, once you have mastered the skill of using what you have to the fullest effect, you will be well on your way to personal growth and new career advancement.

Some things that many have found help them in their career prospecting are:

Reading extensively. In many fields, taking your time and reading is one of the best things you can do to educate yourself. An oft-quoted study shows that Americans on average read only one book each year after graduation. Obviously, in a rapidly changing world, one book per year is not nearly enough. If you expect to get anywhere in this competitive world, you will do your share of studying and researching, if only in the subject areas which will apply to your line of work.

A large number of self-development professionals say that anyone who aspires to be a leader in their industry must read for at least thirty minutes each day. After all, they say, reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. By keeping your mind sharp and by staying abreast of the news and developments in your field, you will have a decided advantage over those who simply do not bother to take this kind of time.

Another tip is to provide what is required. Whether you work for a firm or bravely operate your own business, a fundamental principle is to give your clients or customers what they want. If you are an employee, giving the customers what they want is really giving your boss, who qualifies as your customer in this scenario, what he wants in terms of work productivity. If you operate a business, this principle requires no further explanation.

Always try to find out what it is that is expected of you, and what people want to receive from you as well. As a business owner, this will mean conducting some market research. As an employee, this will mean making a study of your own company and finding the area where your unique skills are most certain to have an effect.

Whenever the hard work to get ahead seems to be too much, remember that the temptation to quit will be strongest just before you succeed.

Higher Career

Tony Jacowski asked:

Whatever your reasons, thorough career research will yield positive results. Even so, effective career research needs to be conducted in an organized manner.

Here are some tips that can help you as you begin your research.

Make a Career Plan

If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s very difficult to figure out how to get there. Without a concrete plan, your research may become directionless and disorganized.

You may be working on a short-term career plan for a year or a few years or a long-term career plan that will cover five years or more.

Below are some points for consideration when making your career plan:

1. Analysis of your preferred lifestyle. Can the career you are pursuing make it possible for you to maintain this lifestyle?

2. Analysis of your work and leisure activities. Do you find them compatible with your career of choice?

3. Analysis of your weaknesses and strengths in terms of experience, talents, technical knowledge, education, training, skill development, etc., with respect to your desired career.

4. Analysis of what success means to you. Is it money, satisfaction, power, or something else?

5. Analysis of your personality type. Do you prefer a desk job or something that involves moving around?

Take a Career Assessment Test

You need to take at least one of these. There are many tests available; one is the Myers-Briggs personality test. Most tests are available online; some are free, but others charge a fee.

These tests are an excellent way to get pointers regarding the career you should pursue.

Learn About Various Occupations

Try learning about different occupations. Explore the nature of work involved, working conditions, earning potential and educational and technical requirements.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor can be an excellent source of such information.

Read Career-Related Books

Review books related to specific careers, many of which can be found online for free reading. You can also check your local library for such books and reading material.

Get Career Information Through Contacts

Use your network of contacts-your friends, relatives, family, peers, colleagues, neighbors, teachers, professors, and others-to get information about potential careers.

You may be surprised at the information you will unearth.

Use the Power of the Web

Conduct an online career research, which can give you an insight into a variety of possible careers for college majors and others with different educational levels.

Search Job Openings

Go through various job sites to find out what jobs openings are currently available. You may find many types of careers that you might not have considered simply because you had no idea that such jobs existed.

Doing dedicated research can empower you to select a suitable career for yourself.

Higher Career