Setting Career Goals in 3 Steps

Deciding on which university to go to or which program to select can be difficult if you don’t have a clear idea of what career you want to pursue. It’s not a bad thing to take a general course in undergrad to give yourself more time to figure out what you want to be, but if you want to cash on your degree, it has to be something useful and worthwhile.

I decided on my career at a fairly young age, so I was kind of an outlier. But, from all the career selection seminars that I have attended, only because they were mandatory, I gather that the best way to make a career plan is to work backwards. Career/Job -> Post Grad (optional) -> Under Grad -> School (High/Middle). Following this path will give you a clearer idea of what your journey will be like, your career/job being your destination. This will also make researching the necessary steps a lot easier for you.

In this post, you will find a list of things you should research to decide on what career is perfect for you and a few simple ways to determine what is really “perfect for you”.

Let’s assume that you are starting from scratch. You have no idea of what suits you and you want a starting point for your research. There are 3 good ways to figure it out:

1) Google it: Simply looking up “list of careers” brought me to a website (https://www.careerplanner.com/ListOfCareers.cfm) that has over 1300 career descriptions. Some keywords to add on would be “(your city/state/country)”, “(a stream like science, law, commerce)” and/or “with (an interest of yours)”. This tip is definitely for everyone that is just starting to decide on a career. You could be doing this because you have to decide on your grade 10 or 11 courses, and you need to know what your Grade 12 pre-requisites are. Or you could be in middle school, just wanting to stay on top of career selection.

2) Take a test: Career quizzes and personality tests go a long way. If you aren’t biased towards a career already, take a career quiz from a reliable source (like https://www.workbc.ca/CareerCompass/Career-Quiz.aspx). Answer the questions honestly and take a look at the results. If you feel like the results suit you, you can move on to researching that career. If you don’t, continue with your scout.

3) Introspect and Make a List: There may be no better place to start than from within you. Your skills, talents and interests are usually a great reflection of what suits you. Assessing what you are good at is the first step in this process. Look at yourself. Look at every one of your achievements and accomplishments. See if there is a common ground. It’s ok if there isn’t; it just means you are multi-talented. List these accomplishments along with all of your interests.

Think of everything that has ever attracted your attention. Maybe it’s the clothes of strangers on the street or that amazing billboard sign that made you want to kiss the hands that designed it. It could be a video of a vet helping a horse deliver or preparing a cast for a dog’s broken leg that made you want to jump through your screen and help them. It could be sitting in your class, admiring your teacher’s determination to teach important concepts to a class of 30 uninterested high schoolers, wanting to be able to change a population’s mindset. Think about what makes your heart flutter, wanting to do it right away; something that gives you a thrill or a kick.

Look at the kinds of club you have an affinity to; what’s common? Maybe you’re the treasurer in all of them, indicating an interest in money, therefore a career in Accounts or Banking or Financial Managing.

Once you have completed your list, look up careers related to that interest. For example, if being organized is on your list, look up “careers for someone who likes to be organized.”

The whole purpose of this exercise is to find a career option that you would enjoy; you must remember that you might work in your chosen career for 50-60 years, so you must choose one that you, at the very least, like.

Researching Your Options:

When you find a career option that has your attention, you have to research it, to see how well it suits you. Google provides some great information for any and every career type but it’s not your only source. You can always speak to someone you know that is in the field of your interest and ask them about their experiences. This insight might help you more than statistics will.

But statistics are important as well. Which is why you should look up the following things about your option:

1. Demand: The demand for professionals like doctors, teachers, lawyers and engineers is always high everywhere. But those aren’t the only options out there. Things as obscure as professional otter fluffers, people who take care of orphaned otter pups at aquariums, exist. But they aren’t needed at every aquarium. So, before you decide on a particular career, look up how high the demand is overall, and in the country that you will be living and working in. Obviously, if you have the means and passion, you could always move to a country where people are needed to do the job you want to do.

2. Salary: Becoming an Otter Fluffer would be living the dream life, but that wouldn’t pay for my other, more boujee dreams. Salary matters, especially if everything in your country of residence is overpriced. Some ways to find out what your salary could be is by looking up things like “how much does a (job) earn” or “average salary of a (job) in (country)”. Another way to find out is by looking at job application websites where companies or organizations post ads for applicants. This method might be a little slower, but most organizations usually post a range for the expected salary on the side or in the description. Some websites even require them, too. Beware, the salary listed on Google is usually a yearly salary. So, if you see that the average salary of a civil engineer is about $70,000, it’s a ‘per year’ salary, not a monthly salary. Though, wouldn’t it be awesome to earn 70K per month?

3. Average Work Hours: This is probably the most important thing to research in my opinion. To me, having a social life is pretty important, but my career is even more important. So, when I found out that doing what I want to do could take up to 100 hours of my week, I accepted it, because I know how much I want this. But, this may not be the case for others. If you know you want to be a family-oriented person, devoting 80 hours to a job, per week, won’t help your wishes. If you aren’t a morning person, working at a yoga studio that opens at 8 AM won’t be helpful, either. To put things into perspective, a week has 168 hours. If you spent even 7 hours asleep every night, that leaves you with 112 hours. An average person works 40 hours a week if they have a 9-5 job or an 8-hour shift. That leaves them with 72 hours to be a part of other things. A 60-hour week leaves you with 52 hours and an 80-hour week leaves you with 32 hours to spend. That’s less than 5 hours/day that you spend on commuting, eating and doing other menial tasks. The hours you devote to your career may change as you progress but it’s better to know what you are signing up for; it helps you plan.

4. Location: This could be how close to your house the job is required or in which specific countries is the job required. You have to think about things like rent, utilities, food etc. when you think of working far from home. You have to think about your life outside work. You can always make new friends if you work in the city or suburbs. But if you decide to be a part of a research team going to Antarctica, a place where you are only legally allowed to go if it’s for research purposes, you are essentially picking your career over having a social life. And you have to be okay with that because, in the end, it’s your decision to make.

5. Benefits: Jobs in the organized sector usually have a lot of benefits. But it’s better to research which benefits are really covered and what aren’t. Dental can be expensive, and some companies don’t cover it. You shouldn’t have to compromise on your health just because your company doesn’t want to cover its cost.

6. Recognition, Fame and Success: This tip might not be for everyone. But to some people, recognition and success matter. The Science and Commerce fields have a lot of potential for fame and success. The same goes for Arts careers like acting, dancing, singing and the fine arts. But this takes time, patience, improvement and excellence. If this matters to you, look at how many famous and successful people work the job you want to work. It’s alright if you don’t know their name; someone out there does. The fame and success you will get in the Science and Commerce fields are usually in very specific niches, whereas the name you get in the Arts careers has the potential of being popular worldwide. So that is something to think about: do you want your fame to be localized or global.

7. Vacations and Sick Days: This one is like the previous one: not a topic that matters to everyone. This is a trivial topic and you shouldn’t change your whole career decision based on the number of sick days you’ll get. But it’s better if you know whether you’ll get 2 vacations per year or 2 weeks in the whole year to yourself. If you’re religious, check if your holidays will be accommodated for. For example, as a teacher, you get 2 months off every year, for sure. But, as a doctor, you might be working even on New Year’s Day.

The last tip in this post, which will kind of tie in with the next post, is to look up how you will get to that career, as in what steps must you take to become what you want to become. Pages like WikiHow have great articles about planning your career. It’s better to look up “how to become a (job) in (country/city)” than without the place because paths to the same career vary from place to place. This will give you an idea for what kind of degree you will need, if you have to do post-grad or if undergrad is enough and what kind of standardized tests you have to take, like MCAT, GMAT etc.

I’m not fond of the idea of making such a big decision at such a young age. But I hope this post helps you gain some clarity on where to start. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email me at rueshi25@gmail.com.

-Aarushi