Choosing a Direction after High School
We know you must be extremely excited about graduating—as you should be. But, we also know you might feel a bit anxious (and even a little stressed-out) about what you’re going to do once you’re done.
There’s no 12-step formula for choosing a career direction, but there are several things you can do to help you make some educated choices.
Here are some tips to help you choose your career direction:
Self-Evaluation
Before picking any career path, you need to evaluate yourself. Ask yourself the following questions:
What do you do well?
What do you enjoy doing?
What do others tell you to pursue?
What energizes you?
What would you enjoy doing for the rest of your life?
What makes you feel the best about yourself?
If you knew you would succeed in a certain career, what type of work would you do?
Think about your answers to these types of questions. And consider take a personality test to find out about potential career fields you might be suited for.
Research
After thinking about what career fields you might interest in, it’s time to start researching the career field. Find out about the working conditions, responsibilities, job hours, physical demands of the job, level of stress, job growth outlook, and type of education and training needed to begin a career in that field.
Setting Your Goals
You can’t just set any goal—you have to set an achievable goal.
If you set your goals too high or low, you’ll probably be disappointed. So spend some time thinking about a realistic goal, and get ready to tackle it. Write down your goal on paper, and begin mapping out the steps it will take to accomplish it.
And set a realistic time-frame on when each step will be accomplished. Some goals might take six-months—other goals might take several years. No matter how long it will take, it’s important to set a time-line and stick to it
Make each step small enough so you know you can accomplish each one. For some people, it’s important to share their goals with others. By sharing our goals, we get others to help encourage us and keep us accountable. This is also a way for others to “play a role” in helping us become successful.
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