How to choose the right profession if you don’t know what you want: recommendations + 3 tests

Good day, dear readers! Yulia Kel is with you. Are you still searching for yourself? If your job does not suit you, or you are just deciding where to go to study and work, then I will help you. I'll tell you how to choose a profession if you don't know what you want, so that you like it. What you need to pay special attention to, what specialties will be in demand over time, and where to check your professional orientation.

After studying the information, you will understand how to approach the choice of your future specialty and will not make mistakes.

CAREER APPLICATION TESTS FOR ADULTS AND ADOLESCENTS

Difficulties in making the right choice

One of the important stages, which applies not only to schoolchildren entering adulthood, but also to working people, is the choice of profession.

In my senior year, I still had no idea where to go and what to choose. But after a few months I made up my mind. Needless to say, this choice was not entirely correct? Tests and lectures were conducted directly with graduates, but all this did not help much, since it did not give anyone a clear idea of ​​the profession that was suitable or attractive.

I decided on a specialty (I’ll tell you how I did it below), and even delved into the list of disciplines that would be relevant to my choice. But I didn’t have a clear idea about the work. At that moment I did not understand that this was necessary. I had enough general knowledge on this matter. It turns out to be one theory that is somewhat at odds with practice.

I chose the specialty "Human Resources Management". I liked the specifics of the work. But who says that it will not be easy for you to find a job in a particular field? Or the fact that you, without experience, will interest few people?

A little later, by chance, I expanded the scope of my choice and transferred to another direction - “Organization Management”. There were much more vacancies related to it, and getting the desired job was somewhat easier.

Pros and cons of changing jobs

Many people who are starting their career path again are tormented by fears. Is this reasonable? Will you be able to succeed in your new profession? Many fear financial ruin and unfulfilled hopes. To make the choice easier, you can write down the pros and cons of a new profession for yourself. The advantages include:

• new opportunities;
• more prestigious place of work;
• pleasure from your activity;
• a rich and interesting life.

There are also many disadvantages:

• the severity of the transition period, during which you will be tormented by doubts and fears associated with the decision made;
• falling standard of living;
• a radical change in social circle;
• the need to spend a lot of time and effort on mastering a new profession, as a result of which your relationships with family or friends may suffer.

Yes, changing a profession after 30 years is fraught with many risks. Most likely, many of your friends and relatives will discourage you from taking this step. But you can also get a lot if you make the right choice. You will live with confidence that only you control your life, and not random circumstances, and you are able to make it interesting and rich.

Reason for choosing specialty

Why did I choose this direction? There were many reasons for this, and when faced with a choice, many people turn away from them.

1. First of all, the prestige of the profession and its demand are important. I looked through the entire Internet, studied vacancies that would always be in demand, and chose from those listed.
2. Good salary in the future. Of course, we all want to ensure a comfortable future for ourselves, so I put this point as the second most important. Just be aware that, as a newcomer to your chosen industry, no one intends to pay you a lot of money right away. This must be achieved through effort.
3. Own wish. I reasoned like this: “I want to work in an office, interact with people, I’m interested in testing for workers,” which means it suits me.
4. Experience of friends. Ideal if you have friends who work in the field that interests you. Perhaps they will inspire you to choose something specific. Unfortunately, there were no such people in my circle. But I was looking for reviews about the profession on the Internet.
5. Parents' opinion. As a rule, parents always want the best for their children, and thanks to their experience they can give practical advice. It’s worth listening to them, but you don’t need to force yourself to follow them. At the end of the day, it's your life and your experience. I was lucky with this - my family immediately supported my desire.

What about the employer? How can I convince him that I am suitable?

– In order for potential employers to pay attention to you, you must have:

• understanding which job search channels to use;
• a resume reflecting your work experience and reasons for your career move;
• ability to write cover letters;
• the ability to talk about yourself and your experience within 2-3 minutes;
• you must understand what questions the employer is interested in and know how to answer them;
• you should know what questions you can ask a potential employer in order to determine for yourself at the interview stage whether this company and vacancy are suitable for you or not.

Mistakes when choosing a profession

Avoiding mistakes in such a complex issue is not easy. But I will help you prevent some of them.

• Accepting the choice as unchangeable. Many people believe that what they choose today will be relevant in 10 or 20 years. But life goes on, and our desires change every day. Perhaps after a while you will feel your calling in another area.
• Everyone strives for fashionable professions, but few people think about those that are truly in demand on the labor market. At the moment, the market is overcrowded with lawyers, economists and is experiencing a shortage of engineers and other technical specialties.
• Ambition. This trait, inherent in the majority of the younger generation, is also its ruin. No, I have nothing against ambition. It's great to set goals and achieve them. But many do not consider it necessary to really try for this. Young people come to work expecting a high position and a correspondingly large salary. But you need to start with less, work and gradually move towards more. Nothing comes to hand immediately and by itself.
• Re-evaluating yourself. You choose to work with people, although in reality you absolutely do not know how to establish contact with them, and for you this is practically torture. Or you are aiming to work in the FSB, but have no physical training. Look at your capabilities realistically.

If you carefully study these points and take them more seriously, you will be able to choose a suitable profession and not make a mistake.

Where to go to work after studying?

After studying at school, some immediately go to work and not waste time getting a diploma. There are several suitable options for them:

1. Security guard. Although the profession does not seem particularly prestigious, some places pay very well. For example, a security guard at a bank or large company is definitely not in poverty, and even wears a beautiful uniform that commands respect;
2. Waiter. If you get a job in an elite restaurant, you can receive decent tips, which sometimes even exceed your salary;
3. Salesman. The advantage is the ability to quickly get settled even in a small city;
4. Postal employee. What could be easier than delivering correspondence or handing out parcels?

Sources of ideas

If you don’t know what to choose, and you don’t have a craving for anything worthwhile yet, then use the options that I once went through myself.

• Internet. It is full of information about each specialty. You can conduct a survey on the forum, just look for destinations with characteristics that suit you.
• Experience. You can work in several areas, even in a lower position, and learn the essence of the work from the inside. There might be something that might interest you.
• Tests. With the help of testing, you have a chance to find something suitable for yourself. Tests, through your answers to questions, help place you in a specific field or profession. You will find them below in this article.

I have listed several sources for you, the use of which can lead to useful thoughts.

How to determine your strengths and weaknesses?

– Here again, I recommend working with a career consultant. It is he who will help you choose a field of activity and advise you on what competencies you already have and which ones should be developed in order for the transition to a new field to be successful.

Determining your strengths and weaknesses on your own is quite difficult, because we are not taught this. Friends, colleagues, and surroundings are biased. The consultant has various techniques in his arsenal to identify your strengths and growth areas.

Recommendations for choosing a future profession

How to choose the right profession? The algorithm of actions that I followed will probably help you too.

1. Take a career guidance test. There are a lot of tests now. You can go through 3 - 4 options to understand where you are drawn more.
2. Keep an eye on the job market. It's important to stay up to date. Study which vacancies are in demand, which specialty will bring a good salary in the future, and which will lead to good career growth.
3. Find out more information about the specialty you are interested in. People working in this field, the Internet or your own experience will help you with this.
4. There are many courses that provide initial training for a future profession. I would advise you to visit them.
5. Think about what you are drawn to. For example, certain school subjects, hobbies. Perhaps your calling is to be a doctor or a designer.

Try to sketch out this algorithm and go through its points. Most likely, this will make it easier for you to find yourself.

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"Vikium.PROFESSION" is a customization of a development program specifically for your profession. With its help, you will achieve success at work in a short time and increase your personal effectiveness.

Communication with family

Changing your profession at 50 can plunge your family and friends into the deepest amazement. After all, not everyone at this age decides to make significant changes. People are used to judging everyone by themselves, so don’t be surprised that everyone will react with hostility to the news about a change of specialty. In this situation, it is important to gently but persistently explain your position and try to minimize all conflicts on this matter. It is important not to be led by other people’s opinions, but at the same time to conduct a dialogue, bringing convincing arguments and arguments. Most often, it is enough to simply explain to your loved ones that your previous job does not bring you joy, and you remain unhappy while continuing to work at it.

All doubts and negative statements from your friends will disappear immediately after you get the first results. But thorough preparation for change will help you make others more loyal to you. If your husband or wife is resistant to change, take the first part-time job and allow the situation to stabilize.

Tests

I remember how in the second half of my senior year we were forced to take numerous tests on pieces of paper with a bunch of questions. And this was done so often that there was no longer any desire to delve into them.

Nowadays, technology does not stand still, and if you want to take the test, you just need to go to the required website and answer a few questions. In the end, you don’t have to count the points and look for answers yourself. The program does everything for you.

I can recommend the following online resources:

1. Test "What suits you?" You answer 20 questions, and at the end you get the result - the field of activity that will be closest to you.
2. Test "Professional personality type". His task is to determine the profession that suits you best based on the answers to 30 questions.
3. Test "Motivation". The desire to work is of high importance. Without it, productivity drops and career growth is lacking. To ensure that you love your profession, I advise you to take this test and take note of its results.

Write down the results of each test on a piece of paper or in notes, and then summarize them.

Who is more decisive in this matter: men or women?

– In my opinion, men are more decisive. Women are more prone to reflection, and, accordingly, they are slower to make decisions.

The careers of men and women develop differently. At interviews, women are still asked questions about whether they are married and whether they have children. An interview is stressful: not only do you have to explain to the employer the reason for your career move, but also the presence of discriminatory questions is scary.

Men are not asked about this, although by law in Belarus any working family member is allowed to go on maternity leave. It doesn't even have to be mother or father.

What specialties will be in demand in the future?

Every day something new is introduced into our lives. The view on many specialties is changing, people are being replaced by technology, work at many enterprises is becoming more and more automated. How to understand whether the chosen profession will be relevant in a few years and whether it will disappear altogether? You need to carefully monitor the labor market, as I said above.

These professions will be in demand in a few years:

• Teachers and teachers. A low percentage of university graduates today go to work in schools or universities.
• Medical staff.
• Engineers.
• IT specialists.
• Specialists in the field of robotics and nanotechnology.
• Service industry workers.
• Online specialists.

Read more about this in the article “Which professions will be in high demand in the future: TOP 10 best Internet vacancies.”

What happens if you go to the wrong place?

It's OK.

According to statistics, almost half of people work outside their specialty (according to some sources even more), and about the same number are dissatisfied with their education. At the same time, 25% of respondents have never even tried to get a job “with a diploma.”

It turns out that if I don’t want to become a doctor or lawyer, then, most likely, I will study for 5 years, and then I will work in a completely different field and I will have to retrain. So what difference does it make where I go if my diploma is a coffee coaster?

“Doing the wrong thing” is not scary. For example, our developer Arseny received several specialties, and now works in a completely different one.

As a child, I wanted to become a military man, I entered the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, and then went to graduate school with a degree in Cultural Studies - I wanted to do science. But the prospects of being a scientist seemed less tempting over time, and I had already found a part-time job that developed into my main job. There were also attempts to change my profession to a related one - I entered the Faculty of Economics. But as soon as I received my diploma, I immediately ended up at Dodo Pizza, and my attempts to change my profession ended. Honestly, I'd rather study a foreign language instead. Arseny Melnikov, developer.

Advice to yourself . If after the first course you realized that this is not for you, then why bother? Yes, it’s clear that the money has been paid, a year has been lost, “mom and dad” will be upset, but if you study semiconductors according to a program from the 70s, then why do you need such knowledge? All the same, you will have to relearn and waste time. It seems that mom and dad will understand.

Professions that will disappear

Many employers are willing to outsource some jobs to robotics due to the fact that no special skills are required. These positions will most likely be filled by robots in the near future:

• librarian,
• postman,
• watchmen and elevator operators,
• secretaries,
• stuntmen,
• accountants,
• lawyers,
• economists,
• lower level managers.

When choosing your future job, take into account not only today in order to be sure of the prospects.

Understand how you would like to be remembered by people

Before choosing a new activity, try to understand how you would like to contribute to history. Someone, for example, wants to give people laughter, so they choose the profession of a comedian or actor. Another wants to improve the quality of life of others and prefers, for example, the technological field of developing innovative gadgets.

It may not be so easy at first to understand what benefit you want to bring to society. But through fruitful analysis and conversation with yourself, you will be able to realize the true motives of your future activities.

results

Type 1: Perfectionist or Reformer

Possible Careers : An office environment is great for your love of clear rules, organization, and attention to detail. Work where you need to improve business processes. The field of education would also be an ideal option for you.

Not the best choice : companies where the process has not yet been established (example: startup).

Type 2: Friend or Helper

Possible careers : Community-oriented service professionals - teaching, health care and counseling. Work in non-profit organizations and the service sector.

Not a good choice : Anything that could harm others (example: law enforcement).

Type 3: Reacher

Possible professions : management positions or something loud and public (example: project management, public relations, politics), project assignments where it is clear what result needs to be achieved and where there may be “challenging” tasks.

Not the best choice : lack of career growth - only rising to the top will satisfy your needs.

Type 4: Individualist

Possible professions : a career that allows you to express yourself and show your creativity, where you need to create a unique product, launch an unusual advertising campaign that will not leave people indifferent. Not every field provides such opportunities; most likely, these are writing, psychotherapy and professions where you can show your uniqueness.

Not the best choice : companies that do not develop a system of non-financial motivation. Working solely for money is not your approach.

Type 5: Observer or Thinker

Possible professions : creating a strategy and vision for the company's development, IT, scientific research.

Not the best choice : perhaps typical, “superficial” office work - there are too many distractions.

Type 6: Skeptic or Loyalist

Possible professions : you will appreciate the prospects for development in a large corporation, where you will be able to demonstrate your unique abilities in studying risks and calculating various options for further actions; excellent intelligence officers.

Not a good choice : Startup, small business, or any other company that loses out on the benefits of corporations.

Type 7: Optimist or Enthusiast

Possible professions : areas where you can see opportunities around you and brainstorm different ideas will suit you. For example, the tourism industry, the work of a photographer or writer, or a combination of all of the above.

Not the best choice : routine and endless paperwork are not your story.

Type 8: Boss or Leader

Possible professions : entrepreneur, politician, general manager in any field, areas where you can apply and demonstrate your leadership qualities

Not the best choice : companies where you cannot take responsibility, where there is no opportunity to achieve ambitious goals; places where you will feel total control.

Type 9: Peacemaker or Mediator

Possible professions : work with a measured pace and less stress. As an option, consider a career as a mediator, diplomat, or product testing. You will enjoy a place to work where you can create a family atmosphere and consider the views of all employees when making decisions.

Not the best choice : rate + bonuses for factorial or external indicators (example: sales, investment banking or consulting).

Of course, you can track manifestations of different types in your character and behavior. In particular, this is due to the fact that we grow up in certain conditions, communicating with different people. And the Enneagram does not force people into a “portrait framework” - on the contrary, it shows the path of personality development.