Avoidable bloopers in career selection

When you make a career decision, a lot many things depend on it. You will definitely want to select a career in which you will succeed in it. During the course of your career journey, you may change careers and which can call for intense struggle. The struggle will generally not be there if you do not change careers quite often.  This implies that you should go in for a career that fits you well and can continue to support you in the long-term too.

You can boost the chances of making a good career selection decision by avoiding the following bloopers:

· Ignoring your own self-identity: Your disposition and principles are exclusively your assets and they need to be in sync with jobs that you seek to take up. You will find it very difficult to change such inherent core attributes. In the light of the foregoing, they have to be accorded precedence in your career selection, else you will end up being a dissatisfied and disgruntled person.

· Being unable to do your groundwork. You should choose your career only after having got to know it fairly well. It should be ensured that you have all details about the career to include roles you would be required to perform, minimum educational qualities, pay package and the job outlook.

· Keeping monetary issues as top priority: Money is significant alright, but if you do not love what you do, how can you enjoy the results of your endeavours? Therefore, you need to maintain a proper balance between work that you delight in and monetary compensations.

· Taking all advice as a diktat to be followed: Quite a few people think that career advice given by them should be followed in letter and spirit. It is your career, so how will your career decision impact them. You and you alone will have to handle your choice for the most part of your career journey. Therefore, the career that you choose should be one that you would enjoy pursuing.

· Following the route adopted by others literally: It is likely that parental influences may weigh you down to get into their profession, the plus points of which are already known to you. Such pressures could be respectfully disregarded. It is best to tell them that you need to make your own choice because factors applicable to them are perhaps not applicable to you. And when you succeed in the choice you exercise, they will be delighted.

· Failing to meet people in the same line: Your groundwork will be incomplete if you do not interact with people in the same field you are considering to enter. A person who is already working in the same field can guide you better however, you must talk to several such persons to avoid any subjective advice.

· Paying scant attention to the venue of work:  Some career opportunities exist only in certain cities, generally metros or specific areas of cities like outskirts or industrial zones. Now if you reside somewhere else, it is likely that such opportunities may never come to you. And if at all you do get hold of them, any unwillingness to move out will cause you to be rejected for the job.

· Overlooking times ahead: Just as you do not judge a book by its cover, likewise, you cannot make a career decision solely on the advice rendered by others. You are not a divine prognosticator and predicting things about your career. The only that you can do is to always hope for the best. In the interest of your career and your own self, the least you can do is too discard anything that indicates that the future can be despondent. 

Any decision about your career does not always have to be complicated. If you spend time getting to know yourself and researching different opportunities, you should be able to make a sound decision. The trick lies in arriving at a sensible and composed decision. And that will entail using both your head and heart. You may make a very logical decision, but the same can be ruined because your heart perhaps is not in it. Similarly, an impetuous decision could backfire if it has not been properly considered.

Making an informed career choice is actually about a lot more than choosing a job. It is about choosing something that will provide you with the lifestyle you seek. Therefore you should not decide till such time you are fully prepared for it. In the meantime, you must indulge in extensive research, serious soul-searching, add up to your qualifications, and most importantly, persist with your standards and principles.