The Career Search

Career searching. We’ve all been there. However, it isn't easy. It’s hard to nail down what you want to do with your life—unless you’re one of those "I’ve wanted this my whole life" type of humans. Normally though, it's hard to decide what to spend your life doing. If you need schooling for whatever you pick, and graduate for it, then decide you picked the wrong one, being over thousands of dollars in debt—this is for you. The best advice I can give is finding tests and soul-searching.

A little information about myself before we go along. I actually fit in the category of knowing what I've wanted. However, writing isn't seen as a "stable" career so I've been conned into the idea of needing a fall back career. Hence why I've done a lot of research to try and figure out what I want... but my heart is set on writing... so here I am.

Anyways...

I've tried a few places to track down my ideal career. Sites like Sonaku, PrincetonReview, and YourFreeCareerTest, plus a few more. I have even had the "pleasure" to take the ACT (testing High Schoolers take that helps with placing them into college classes—honestly isn't the best, in my opinion, other states take the SAT) and a few other career guiding tests through college classes. A lot of them came up with the same results; Sonaku actually gives a huge, broad spectrum of ideas.

The problem: a lot of the ideas that came about were not appealing. Or I'm just super picky.

Honestly, go try these out. I prefer Sonaku and even YourFreeCareerTest (YFCT). Sonaku gives a huge spectrum of ideas and that's why I love it. YFCT gives you percentages based on how you answered each question and those percentages suggest how it fits you. Like I got a 66.67 percent on The Arts, and I am a very creative person so hey, I think that's a very accurate percentage. (The website says if it's a 60 percent or higher then it's a good fit).

I do not like Princeton Review mainly because it appeared to be all business based careers (or my answers just gave me business ones).

Finally, I would recommend not only trying these sites—and whatever other ones you can find—but also try personality tests. Figure out whether you're artsier and would want to design/create something or if you'd rather work on something sciencey or be a math person. Find out if you're an introvert or an extrovert—these two words will help you find a basis (or for me it has. I'm introverted, so a job where I'm forced to interact with a lot of people would drain me quickly). The more you know yourself, the better you'll be at picking the job that's right for you. A good site to try is 16Personalities. It has many questions that, if you answer honestly, will provide some of the best results. Getting to know yourself is really key to finding the best career choice.

Finding a career to grow in is scary. Especially if you think you want to be a nurse, go into debt, and then you change your mind upon graduation. (Or, like me, you're stuck in school for longer than you want to be). However, never fear because as long as you research careers and get to know yourself, you will eventually find the right fit.