Choosing Your Path
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1. Make a commitment to decide on your future career.
2. Begin by looking in. Find a career that fits and don't try to squeeze into a career that doesn't fit.
3. Seek full self-expression. Know the most important aspects of yourself and what your gifts and skills are. Find a job that will allow you to use those skills.
4. Break down the big question, "What am I going to do with my life?" into smaller, more manageable chunks. For instance, "What do I enjoy doing?" "What would I not like to do?" "What am I really good at?"
Begin by thinking about your natural talents and innate abilities, personality traits and temperament, purpose, meaning and mission in life, willingness to stretch your boundaries,fulfilling your goals, your values, compatible work environments, and the bottom line.
5. Complete some self-tests that measure your values, skills, and interests.
6. Design your career one piece at a time. Build with definite commitments. Don't make tentative decisions.
7. Make decisions that shape and define your career path. For instance, decide to take some college classes to learn more about what you like. Decide to find a summer job to learn more about a career. Decide to do a job shadow to meet someone in a career you are considering. Decide and then do it!
8. Go for vitality, not comfort. Decide which risks to take. Don't be afraid to chase your dreams if you are able and willing to do the work involved.
9. Once you have done some of this, then research which careers match what you have come up with.
10.Keep repeating these steps until you make your final decision. Then, make the leap!
11. Persist in spite of obstacle and setbacks. Believe in the power of persistence.
12. Celebrate your decision!
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." ~ Ambrose Red Moon
Taken from, N. Lore, 1998, "The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success." Fireside: New York.
Helpful links:
www.myfuture.com
www.collegegreenlight.com
www.monster.com
www.fastweb.com
www.acinet.org
www.bls.gov/oco
portal.ilcis.intocareers.org/
http://online.onetcenter.org
www.galesburg.com (JOBS)
www.sandburg.edu (Search Employment Resources, Job Listing link)
http://www.psychology.org/degrees
http://www.psychology.org/degrees/bachelors/
http://www.psychology.org/degrees/associate/
You can see the Tech Major Guide here: https://internet.frontier.com/tech-major-quiz/
http://magazine.nextstepu.com/digital_edition/NSU_STEM_Issue02/mobile/index.html