As more of our millennial generation prepares to enter and become the dominant generation in the workforce, many continuously wonder what direction to take their career. Even after a four-year college education, career choices aren’t as clear as they may have been in generations past. With more jobs and career paths available than ever before, this new generation in the workforce has the desire to make a real lasting impact on the world while also finding sustainable and long-term happiness. We ask ourselves, how exactly do we find the perfect career to make us happy and really have an effect on the world around us?
One thing that may make it difficult for the younger generations to determine what their career goals are is that many people have multiple areas of interest. A lot of us have multiple passions in multiple different fields, multiple things that catch our interest, and this makes it extremely difficult to settle on one particular field to go into. It’s not a bad thing to have so many interests, but unfortunately it is extremely difficult to juggle multiple careers in life (I won’t say impossible because there are some people who can do it). You need to seek out what passion appeals to you the most, and why. What can you imagine yourself doing long-term as a career? You can always practice certain hobbies outside of the career goal you choose.
As for how you decide which passion to follow, that is up to each individual and their own means of self-discovery. Everyone will have to determine what is most important to them through their own journey. It's important to remember that your passions don't always equate to the right career choice. You should look for areas of interest that have job opportunities that allow you to maximize your natural strengths. Pursuing a passion that results in jobs that do anything other than maximize your strengths and minimize your weakness, likely will not lead to long-term fulfillment as you are not set-up for success from the very start.
Many people struggle with the thought process involved in making the best short-term career choices, and understanding how they fit into their long-term career plan. Career choices involve mindful thought, but you really can’t depend on thought alone to determine your short and long-term career goals.
In one moment you may know you want to follow a certain career path, but until you experience it to a certain extent, how can you know for sure? Real experience is the best way to determine what you do and don’t want to do with your life. That doesn’t mean choosing a career path on a whim, but working through some internships, workshops, or similar experience-based learning can help determine which passions you can devote your time and energy to as a career, and making sure that you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses and not ignoring those as you navigate this on-the-job experience.
Finding mentors can be another way to help streamline the thought process behind making career decisions. Speaking with mentors who you trust and value their opinions and feedback can give you a sense of what certain career paths entail without having to physically experience it on your own. It’s a way of looking into the future.
In the end, there is no step by step guide to tell you what career is right for you. Finding the ideal career is something personal to everyone, and that means that the methods of determining that perfect path to a happier life, and the life you desire, is unique to each individual. Experiment with your passions, experience as much as you can, identify your strengths, and prioritize your hobbies and passions to determine which ones you want to pursue as a career and which are better suited to be hobbies.
