21 Finding a Career Path
Jenna Perlow; Sarkis Hermez; Natalia Acevedo; and Donovan Oneal
Outline Your Career Goals
When beginning your journey to finding a career path, you must first outline your career goals. Having set goals can help you know you are on the right track, whether it be the amount of money you make or the experiences you have with the job. A few examples of career goals are to increase knowledge, increase earnings, be more active in the workplace, or obtain a higher position. These are just a few of the nonspecific ones, but they are your personal goals and you can customize them to your interest.
When designing your career goals you also have to make sure you will be motivated to fulfill them. Your motivation to achieve your goals can either be intrinsic, extrinsic, or both.
Intrinsic motivation brings personal satisfaction. Extrinsic motivation is to receive something from others. You are motivated through a reward or punishment. Motivation plays a huge role in your career path, without it we lose satisfaction and commitment to our career.
There are many different goals to set for yourself, they can be big or small and should be personal to you. Your goals should cater to your personality, values, and interests. Depending on your personality it may be harder to achieve some goals over others so make sure you set challenging goals that are in your comfort zone. Values also come into play when setting goals because you have to make sure you are not bending your beliefs to accomplish your goals. Finally, make sure you are interested in your goals, if you are not interested in them then either it should not be a goal or you are heading in the wrong direction.
Discovering Your Personality
Picking a career is a major part of everyone’s life. Personality plays a huge factor in deciding what career is right for each individual‘s lifestyle. A lot of studies have shown that people who hold characteristics and tasks related to their personalities are more productive, happier, and more successful. People shouldn’t waste their time and money going into a career that makes them feel unhappy and unmotivated to go into their job every day. For example, extroverts tend to usually work in a job involving communication and sales. On the other hand, introverts usually stick to working in environments with computers and technology. Whether we’re choosing a job, a partner, or even a home, our personalities lead people in the right direction and shape the paths that our lives take. There are four reasons why your personality should fit your career: better culture fit, better job performance, higher job satisfaction, and it’s easier to identify your strengths and weaknesses. You can find out a lot about your personality by simply doing self-reflection, taking personality tests, and understanding what different personality traits mean. A helpful resource in finding the appropriate career for your personality is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. It’s a