First Steps

If you can find a career that you truly find interesting and enjoyable, you will be more likely to achieve success and find job satisfaction. A good way to identify your interests is to examine how you enjoy spending your free time. Some areas in which you might identify interests include hobbies, school involvement, academic courses, social interactions, and recreational activities. While some of your interests may remain hobbies and not directly relate to an occupation (such as playing chess for example), other interests may have elements which can become incorporated into your career. For example, if you enjoy cooking but do not want to be a chef, you may consider restaurant management, television production for a cooking show, or publishing for a company that specializes in producing cookbooks. Similarly, if you enjoy sports but do not plan to be a professional athlete, you might consider sports management, coaching, or teaching physical education.

Skills refer to those strengths, abilities, and talents that you possess, learn or develop. While we may be born with a proclivity toward certain areas (e.g., an ear for music, an eye for art, an aptitude for numbers), most people develop skills through hands-on experience. Negotiating, influencing, writing, reading, researching, observing, analyzing, organizing, communicating, and motivating are all examples of functional skills gained through a variety of activities which can be transferred to many careers. Gaining experience and sharpening these skills will be important throughout your career development.

Different occupations will often demand a particular set of skills, so it's important to know your strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you are great with numbers but do not feel confident in your ability to write, you may do better in a position dealing with budgets rather than writing press releases. If you excel in public speaking and communicating effectively with others face-to-face, you may not be happy in a job sitting behind a computer all day in a cubicle.

Values are those principles, standards and qualities that you consider worthwhile, desirable and satisfying at work. For some people values are the strongest influences in choosing a career. For example, although you may have a talent for numbers and enjoy following the stock market, the values of helping others and contributing to the Jewish community may cause you to choose a career in Jewish Outreach Work (Kiruv). Or you may have an interest in art, but financial constraints may lead you to pursue a career in a more lucrative field while still allowing you to appreciate art as a hobby. There are many different work values that people consciously or unconsciously want in their career. Autonomy, job security, high income, achievement, leadership, prestige, ethics, creativity, responsibility, helping others, and advancement are examples of values. Taking an inventory of your values will help you in your search for a potential career.

The last factor to consider in choosing possible career options is personality style. Everyone has a way of being and acting in the world that can be successful given the appropriate arena. For example, someone whose natural style is to work alone, utilizing analysis and logic in a highly structured environment, may excel and feel comfortable working in a position such as a computer systems analyst/designer or an accountant. That same individual may not be well-suited for a career in sales or social service, where extensive interaction with others is required and the hours can be erratic. Knowing your personality strengths and your natural work style can increase your chances of finding not only a satisfying career, but also a satisfying work environment.