Start Planning Now!

Figuring out what career you want to pursue out of high school can be one of the biggest and most important decisions of your life. Making this decision can be so hard because you are so young and inexperienced about the “real world”, and may have not given your future much thought. It is important to start looking into potential careers during the high school years. You want to have a plan and a specific goal when you graduate. Deciding a career can be scary because you may not be sure what interests you, which is why it’s important to start researching while in high school. There are many factors that can help you determine what career choice is best for you. Among those factors are salary, hours, and type of work, schooling requirements, and many more. There are also many things you can start doing now if you think you have found a career that interests you.

“How do I decide what career is best for me?”

            To determine what career you want you will need to figure out what you are interested in. No one wants to wake up every morning and go to a job they hate. You should be passionate about what you are doing. Think about factors like whether or not you enjoy working with people, do you like to work indoors, or do you prefer outdoors? What are you good at, and what subjects do you find most interesting in school? Once have an idea for your interests you should start researching careers that include your interests.

“How do I know if this career is right for me?”

            When you think you have an idea of what you want to do it’s important to get as much information about the career as possible. To do this you can go to the internet and simply search about the career type. The things you are going to want to know are, the job description and what it will entitle, the hours, benefits, salary, and education requirements. There are also other ways to get this information. You can set up a job shadow. A job shadow allows you to go into the job environment and watch someone in that profession do their job. This gives you a chance to see the work first hand and allows you to ask the person questions about the job. The information that you can get from a job shadowing is much more valuable than anything you can get from online because it’s first hand information from someone who has experience in the field you are interested in. Another thing you can do similar is set up an interview with the person. This similar to job shadowing except you doesn’t get a chance to see the work first hand.

            It’s important to research careers because once you find one you are going to need to know the education requirements to get into that field and you are going to need a plan for when you graduate high school. You will need to find a school that has the classes needed to fit your career. A good thing about college is it gives you a chance to explore different careers through different classes. A lot of college students decide that they want to change their major. This is totally fine. The career you pick in high school doesn’t have to be set in stone; however it is important to have a plan when you graduate. If you don’t have any goals what are you aiming for?