How to Plan a Career 7: Putting it All Together

This continues our series on planning a career that bring satisfaction & happiness

Planning a career requires work. The longer you will work, the more time you should invest in planning a career that will provide adequate income, satisfactory responsibilities, and enjoyable experiences. First, you began the process by identifying the values, skills, and interests that are most important to you. Second, you researched occupations through the Occupational Outlook Handbook and O*NET. Now, we’ll put it all together to help you choose what you want to do.

Prepare a Description of What You Want from Your Career

Compile onto one page the information you gathered from the inventories and exercises you completed. List the following:

1. Values that appeared in the Always Valued column on the Occupational Values Test
2. Skills found in the Thoroughly Delight Using and Like Using rows of the Motivated Skills Test
3. The top three of Holland’s personality traits that apply to you
4. The nature of the work, environment, and location that you want in your career
5. The salary you want to make now and in five years
6. The values and skills listed in the Never Value and Strongly Dislike Using rows of the Occupational Values and Motivated Skills tests

Compare Occupations to Your Description

You may research potential occupations using the tools we described in previous posts. Compare your description to the information you find from the following sources:

1. Occupational Outlook Handbook especially the additional information section
2. O*NET Online especially the graphs showing the importance of each element
3. Interviews with people working in the occupations you found most interesting
4. Gaining work experience in the occupation that interest you most

Your research will help you better understand if certain occupations will satisfy your vocational passion. Thorough study will minimize dissatisfaction and potential earnings. Your research just begins your planning. You will need to prepare with training and education once you understand and select the career that is right for you.

Join me Wednesday for my series on how to gain the skills and education for your career