You are fresh out of high school and fast approaching your twenties. You think you might go to college and earn a degree. Or maybe going to work is smarter. Either way, the decisions you make in those first few months will likely shape your career path.
Coming to grips with that reality could have you wondering how to choose a career path that will lead to a fulfilling and productive 40+ years in the workplace. On the one hand, there is no perfect answer that guarantees success for everyone. On the other hand, there are plenty of things you can do to increase your chances of plotting a career path you will be more than satisfied with.
We are going to let you in on some of those things in this post. As you read, bear in mind that ProTrain is an online school offering laser-focused certification training in dozens of industries and job categories.
Look at Your Interests and Talents
The first thing you are going to want to do is sit down and give some thought to your interests and talents. What types of things get you excited? What kinds of things do you find yourself frequently thinking about? And most importantly, what types of things are you good at?
It is quite likely that your interests and talents have already played a significant role in shaping who you are as a person. Perhaps you’re really interested in health and wellness and have a knack for helping people who struggle to do things on their own. You could be an ideal candidate for one of our Home Health Aid courses.
Learn About and Cultivate Transferable Skills
The modern workplace is very high on transferable skills. What are they? They are skills and abilities that can be transferred across various jobs in a variety of industries. For example, so many modern jobs require at least a basic skill set in the office-related software space.
Even if you don’t know the direction your career path should take right now, you can start learning mainstream software skills. Learning how to use the most popular business software – like Microsoft 365 – will put you in a good position whether you ultimately choose to be a bookkeeping administrator, a tax professional, or even an IT specialist. The more transferable skills you have, the more employable you will be.
Practical Steps You Can Take
Looking at interests and talents and learning about transferable skills gets you ready to take the next steps toward choosing your career. All these steps are practical. Here they are:
- Assess the current job market
- Define your career goals
- Explore different education and training pathways
- Seek out internships, volunteer opportunities, etc.
Note that you don’t have to immediately decide on a career path. You can put all these other things in play while you’re trying to figure it out. And in fact, that might be the best way for you to get on the right path the first time.
Take Advantage of Career Counseling
Finally, we recommend you take advantage of career counseling. We offer it here at ProTrain. If you think you might know what you want to do but don’t know how to get started, our career counselors can point you in the right direction with the online certification training that will get you set up for a bright future.
Call us on (844) 292-8641 to speak with a career counselor. And if you already have some courses in mind, feel free to send us a message at info@protrain.edu.
