Make your mind up on an exciting career

Career selection has never been an easy proposition. Today, everything revolves around money and this issue has made matters more complicated. Therefore, one should consider all aspects in an all-inclusive manner before deciding on a career that is actually fascinating, motivating and relevant in relation to one’s personality and penchants.

In the times gone by, career selection was usually based on rather based on traditionalist deliberations. Today, things are different and several hitherto fore run of the mill leisure activities can be taken up as fulltime careers; and they are equally lucrative and satisfying. However, if you cannot discern a potential career for its appeal, satisfaction and appropriateness, you will find disappointment coming your way at every stage of your career journey. Therefore, it is important for everybody to select a career with due seriousness.

There are several factors that should be considered without fail to decide upon a career that is going to be stimulating and lucrative. These factors are:

·   Interest & complexities involved: Inclinations and interests vary from person to person, though one may find one more appealing than the others. And as one grows old, interests and concerns also tend to change; with age you become mature and hence taking a decision becomes easier. Realization may dawn that what you thought as fascinating earlier may not appeal to you today and hence the activity as a career option is not found suitable. Your deftness at executing things logically does not imply that you can be an expert on allied technical aspects of the work. Considering all these aspects, it is necessary that you possess a fair idea about the feasibility of all career options available to you.

·   Research & inquiries: An ideal career can well be one of your leisure activities. Should it be one that does not serve you well, like a hobby, you can change it. Therefore, when selecting a career, you should always consider one that is your hobby or fad or an extension of it. In doing so, your entire career selection process becomes trouble-free and uncomplicated – something you can get pleasure from for certain. There is one more exciting method to discover your fascinations – reflect over the likelihood of you taking up a particular career without any remuneration. If your response is positive, there is every possibility of the same being a first-rate career option.   

·   Capabilities & acumen: If any pursuit attracts your attention or you happen to take interest in a pastime, it does not imply that you possess the requisite capability to take it up as a career or line of work. Know-how and proficiency are two different things; combined together they mean skills. You have to make certain that you acquire the necessary skills for the career that you want to take up. Mere possession of skills is not sufficient; you also need to upgrade them on a continuous basis because they will eventually prompt you to continue with a career or not. Traits like or related to headship, voluntarism, sincerity, organizational ability or administrative acumen are helpful in deciding what career you would like to embark upon and continue with.

·   Practicability & achievability: It is next to impossible for any person to embark on a career without considering involved financial angles. In fact, everybody looks at his or her career from the point of view of financial rewards that it offers. And it is correct to do so because remuneration is one of the most important factors in career selection. But it is necessary to make certain that hobbies and leisure pursuits should be pragmatic and practical for being taken up as a career. This evidently calls for an improvement of one’s knowledge base to the level of a career as soon as possible.

·   Outlook & devotion:   The attitudinal requirements of each profession are different. While one may call for a very social attitude, another may necessitate a very reticent attitude. It all depends on how much public dealings or social interaction and principled behaviour or upright functioning that could well be the qualitative requirement of a job. Since individual ideals for no two persons are alike, the likelihood of landing up in a wrong job cannot be discounted. Therefore, you will have to take into account the kind of approaches and mindsets that you are comfortable with. You cannot think of having excessive free time at your disposal; you will have to work hard and make useful contributions. Initially, men and women may not accord priority to their domestic affairs, but in actuality, particularly in long-term perspectives, it is the family that needs to be accorded top priority. Therefore, you will have to decide on the number of hours you would be willing to work daily and how best you can fulfill all your work and domestic obligations satisfactorily.

         An important aspect to be borne in mind is that it is difficult to withdraw from any bad career option exercised by you at a later stage. It is not that you cannot rescind your earlier decision, but that would call for a complete and continual evaluation of your accomplishments. It is only then will you will be able to decide what your next step ought to be.