Maybe you have always known what you wanted to do as a career, or maybe you have never known. Either way, for some reason, when you attend college you start to question whether or not your chosen degree path is actually right for you. And that can lead you to wonder if you’re making a mistake. So let’s talk about how to choose the right career field.
One of the most important things to keep in mind when choosing what you want to do is time. There is a lot of it. If you just started college at eighteen, you have all the time in the world, and you do not need to know what you want to do. If all you know is that you want to get a degree, then just do your general education courses, and decide later down the line what degree you want. But if you are older, have been in college for a while, or are struggling with the degree you have chosen for yourself, then it is time to move forward and narrow down your choices with some questions for yourself.
An important place to start is with some serious self-reflection. Who are you? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Are you extroverted or introverted? Do you know yourself or do you know others better? What are you interested in? What would you do even if you were not getting paid for it (ie what would you go out of your way to do)? What inspires you? Do you have any talents, or hobbies? You can ask yourself these questions, but you could also take some of these assessments, and reflect on the results. See if the results truly fit you, and if you feel that they do, then ask yourself what they mean and how it affects your choice in regards to finding the right career field.
In the Bible, there are a lot of mentions of spiritual gifts. What gifts has God given you? If you do not know yet, you can take this test. Make sure to write your results down and read about them. Then you can start to figure out how to use the gifts that God has given you to both your and His advantage.
One of the best things to do in order to figure out your career field is to know yourself. Two really good tests to help you know yourself more is the Myers Briggs test, and the Enneagram test. However, make sure that when you take the Myers Briggs test you compare your results with the cognitive functions to make sure it’s as accurate as possible to your personality.
It is also very important to know that everyone is smart in their own way. What I mean by this is there are different types of intelligence. There is spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, existential, linguistic, etc. In order to learn what types of intelligence you are stronger in, take this test.
A good quote that I have kept in mind over the last four years is this one by Albert Einstein: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” So while it may be hard to get through college, remember that everyone has their own strengths and learns things differently. And that directly translates to what job and career field you should be in. Try to play to your strengths, not your weaknesses, and if what you are passionate about/inspired by is more aligned with your weaknesses, then build them up and make them strengths.