What is the Perfect Career For Me? - Career Advice (2023)

Choose a job you love, you will never have to work a day in your life. While this may sound like a cliché, choosing the career that is best suited for you is probably one of the most critical decisions you will ever make in your life. It will not only determine your future financial success but will also affect your life satisfaction and happiness in the years to come.

For most people, choosing a career path can be an overwhelming and anxiety-riddled task. With tons of occupations to choose from, it becomes a challenge to pick one that will make you happy and suit you perfectly at the same time. In this article, we will give you a comprehensive guide on how to find the best job for you.

Landing the Best Job for Your Personality

After exploring and understanding your work personality, if you are still unsure which career options might beright for you, you can seek the help of a career development expert or a career counselor who canprovide coaching based on what you’ve learned about yourself.

For those who can’t afford to hire career development professionals, some public libraries or localagencies provide career planning and counseling. Most universities also have a career services officethat is open to those who are enrolled, the alumni of the university, or sometimes even other membersof the community. These can be valuable resources to utilize as you carefully plan your next step.

Identifying Your Work Style

The question: “What job should you have?” can be more specifically answered by identifying yourwork personality style. This is different from an assessment of your personality in general as it focusesspecifically on who you are at work and how you work best. This assessment can be particularly helpfulin identifying the right job that is in line with your strengths, determining areas of development, andultimately in helping you focus on a career that will suit you best.

Once you fully understand your own work style, you will be able to identify the type of workenvironment in which you will thrive, pinpoint your career needs, and discover options that would workfor you.

Take a Career Test

Taking acareer testis probably the easiest way to figure out the perfect job for you. There are a lot ofcareer assessments that are readily available online and are intended to guide you in choosing a careerpath. It is important you understand which type of career test you are taking.

There are interest tests(which help you identify careers you may be interested in, but do not necessarily assess if they are agood fit for you),

The best thing about taking a career test or quiz over the internet is that it is much more accessible andconvenient (compared to taking a traditional pen-and-paper career test that can only be taken underthe direction or administration of a career counselor or advisor).

These online assessments may be available at a low cost or even free of charge. When you take a freetest, you will be provided with the results in the form of a report together with an analysis that will pointyou toward the most suitable jobs for you.Online career assessments, coupled with professional guidance from a career development expert orcounselor, if necessary, will help you build a solid career roadmap.

The Best Time to Take a Career Test

There is no single answer to the question of when it’s time to take a career assessment. You may take itwhen you are deciding on what courses to take in college, thinking about your next move after yougraduate, or even when you are considering making a career change. However, it is best to take a careertest as soon as you can to eliminate any confusion you may be having about your career path.

Making a List of Possible Occupations

Your career assessment will most likely include several possible occupations that are suitable for you,depending on several factors such as your personality, work style, aptitude, or interests.

The good thing about career tests is that they not only help the test taker confirm career paths they may already be considering, but they may also offer suggestions of careers and jobs that may not have been consideredbut might be excellent choices. Hence, career assessments encourage greater flexibility of thought and help people have the courage to change jobs or move from one field to another suitable one with confidence. Doing a Job Search, as mentioned earlier, the results of your career test will provide you with a list of occupations that may be suitable for you. However, your journey in choosing tofind the perfect career doesn’t quite end there.

Some of these jobs may be a better fit for you compared to others on your list, so you should do a job search (or some job research) to get an idea of what each of these occupations entails. By doing some quick job research, you will get an idea of the demand for the job, the average salary, as well as the responsibilities and required education or training required for the job. With that knowledge, you will be better able to decide which career to pursue.

There is no better way to make an informed decision than going the extra mile researching theoccupations recommended to you during your career assessment and exploring the possible careerpaths to take. Even if you think you already know about a particular job, you should still research it andput aside your preconceived notions that may be inaccurate. Unless you have prior experience relatedto a particular job or someone you know has the same position, you should explore career research until you feel youhave a very good sense of what the job requires and what it would be like on a day-to-day basis.

The next step is to find out what you need to do in order to be qualified for these jobs.

Is your educationenough?

Do you need to pursue another degree, undergo more training, or take additional courses toincrease your chances of being considered for the position?

You also need to decide if you have the timeand resources to commit to the additional training or education required.

As part of exploring your career options, you should also look at a particular job’s demand. Before youdecide to invest money and time to be qualified for a position, it is practical to find out if there areenough opportunities available. Knowing from the start that there are only limited opportunities for aparticular job may redirect your career path, or conversely, if the demand is high, it may encourage youto pursue the career.

Pushing Yourself Towards Your Chosen Career

After you’ve discovered what you are truly passionate about, you must be ready to fully commit yourselfto it and not settle for less. Start bytaking the best career test to know which career direction point, takecourses to gain more knowledge in the field, get certifications, network with other people with the same interests, find someone in that career that will let you job shadow them for a day,build theperfectresume, and start heading toward your dream job. No matter how difficult it may be at first, you must be willing to movetoward your desired path relentlessly as this will be worth it in the end. Living a life that you would beproud of includes having a job that you love and at the same time, allows you to earn a decent living.Once you manage to balance passion and practicality, you will surely be able to achieve the highest levelof life satisfaction, happiness, and success.

Final Thoughts

While your job is not the only thing that matters in life, it is no secret that you will spend a huge part ofyour daily life working. Given this, it is incredibly important to find a job that fits you, fulfills you, andmeets your financial needs.

When choosing the perfect career, there are a lot of factors that you should consider, such as yourinterests, values, personality traits, competencies, skills, salary desires, the job’s duties andresponsibilities, and job demand. By taking acareer test, you will not only be able to make an informeddecision about which career path to choose, but you will also be able to learn a little bit more aboutyourself.