Have you ever felt stuck in your day-to-day job? Burn out from your job can be devastating to your personal life. Naturally, just like everyone else, you probably commute and stay at work for a great part of a single day. In my opinion, that’s a very long time to be unhappy.
If you genuinely feel stuck, here are 6 great ways to find your ideal career:
Write on paper – Take a pad of paper and write down at the top your objective in question form. And then next, just list as many answers as you can. As an example, you could write “What should I be doing with my time and life?” And then stay seated for a half hour to an hour compiling a list of answers to the question . This is an exercise that you may very well perform repeatedly, perhaps once a day, till you get a satisfactory answer.
Discuss with friends and relatives – Sometimes our friends and relatives know us in ways we’re not able to for ourselves. When hanging out with a close friend, mention you are at a crossroads in your life and career. Ask their advice on what they think you enjoy doing. You might be surprised at how easily they can narrow down what gives you pleasure and come up with a good suggestion.
Ask your boss and coworkers – Sometimes, just like friends, people you work with see you in a different light. Think about this for a second, people at work are likely most familiar with your strengths and weaknesses in the work environment. Look at the list of answers and see if there are any common threads you can explore.
Call a headhunter – Professional men and women maintain resumes, sometimes, up-to-date. Sometimes you’ll be able to get a hold of a headhunter or recruiter during their slow times and speak to them about your skills and expertise. I’ve done this a few times before and the people seem open to talking with people. The result are usually good.
Take a career assessment test – Let’s get this straight: all professions require different career paths. Easy to illustrate, benefits of nursing career have a different set of skills from a railroad engineer. There are several sites on the Internet that you might be able to take one of these tests for a fee. Also keep in mind that, from above, a lot of job placement agencies where headhunters work own a career testing program and will most likely let you complete the test in their facility. These are simple tests asking you to provide multiple choice answers regarding your professional expertise and goals. Again, this is another place to see some new exciting areas to explore in your life.
Keep a journal – Do you keep a journal? If so, read through, looking for past observation of what you did right or made you smile. Look out for common themes. Keep in mind that finding things you don’t like is almost as important as finding what you do like. By way of example, if you hate an overwhelming boss, you’d probably like a self-directed position.
Understanding your career goals is the most important decision you can make. We spend 1/3 or more of waking hours working. Hence, its worthwhile to figure it out.