Three Most Important Factors To Consider When Choosing A Career Essays Examples

The choice of one's professional occupation is undoubtedly one of the hardest choices to make: the pressure is extremely high and there is always a danger of choosing something one likes at the age of seventeen and will hate at the age of thirty. There is hardly any complete guideline which can advise how to choose a career the way one will not regret this choice in the future. Young people are influenced by different circumstances in this regard: some follow their passion, some rely on their parents' advice, some succumb to the peer pressure. However, regardless of the circumstances, choosing one's career should not be taken lightly. The best way to assure that there will not be any regrets is to treat this issue logically and take into account various factors. Those factors can be many, but there are three that do not change: whether the job brings joy and suits one's passions, whether it is profitable, and whether there is a room for growth.
The financial factor is most likely to be put first, but I do not start with it on purpose. I consider that passion deserves to be considered first. One might object pointing out that many students-to-be rely on passion and eventually end up broke. French medieval poetry might be beautiful, but bills and the student's loan do not go anywhere. However, following the passion is as important as following a big paycheck. There are two simple reasons not to exclude passion from the drives of a career choice. First and foremost, when choosing one's career, one should understand that it is also the choice of the activity one will spend the majority of one's waking hours doing. One might be into literature, enroll into computer science, drudge through the four years of college, and end up doing the job he or she hates. To avoid stress and depression in the future, one should consider one's inclinations first. In the modern-day money-oriented world, passion is usually disregarded because it, supposedly, does not help to make a living. However, there is another good reason to listen to one's heart: passion motivates, and sometimes does it better than money or pressure. Putting it simply, in order to be successful in one's professional life, one should take his or her hobby and make it his or her job. Being passionate makes a person eager to discover something new and improve oneself, which, in turn, will make it easier to get promoted and build a successful career.
Passion is a good start, but a bit of even more down-to-earth approach will not hurt. The second important factor to think about when choosing one's career is money. All things considered, the primary reason why most people go to work is to make money in order to support themselves and their families. One might be idealistic and disregard money while he or she has parents to support him or her, but when one gets to pay for things, the perspective changes. When choosing a career, one should pay attention to the amount of salary and the perks people in the field get on average. The main pitfall here is not to get disappointed – not now, but in the future. One might choose a major that interests him or her, but then end up doing a low-paid job which is not even connected to their major simply because those qualifications are not needed. Moreover, one should not only study the current situation, but also think ahead. The rapid technological progress has changed the way people do business and go about their lives dramatically for the last several decades, hence it is a safe bet that the job market and career requirements will be changing. For example, one might choose a career that will not even be around in twenty years. There is no way to tell for sure, but it would be at least a good practice to do a little research before applying to a university.
The last but not the least, one should consider whether the career one wants to pursue has enough room for personal and professional growth. Simply speaking, no one wants to end up with a dead-end low-paid obsolete job in twenty years, but few actually think about preventing this kind of situation. First and foremost, a good job should be tied to a career ladder of some height – not necessarily in one company, but on the job market in general. This circumstance assures that a person gets a mentor when he or she is only starting out and has motivation to grow in order to get a better position. For instance, one might start one's career getting a job as an entry-level junior associate at a law firm, but eventually be promoted to partnership or start his or her own successful law firm. Needless to say, moving up a career ladder like this entails more financial benefits and motivates a person to challenge himself or herself instead of performing routine boring tasks everyday for the rest of his or her life. Secondly, one should research the future of the field and consider the ways he or she can improve professionally to be better at his or her job. In other words, a career one chooses should pose a great deal of challenges for a simple reason that, if something is not challenging, people tend to make little effort and get rusty. Thus, before choosing his or her major at a university, a person should think of transforming it into a job which will keep him or her on his or her toes for the rest of his or her days.
There is hardly a way to give a general piece of advice as to the career choice: people differ in many traits, including their inclinations, abilities, interests, and financial opportunities. It would not be a mistake to say that everyone would want an interesting, profitable and challenging career. The only problem is that not all career choices lead to this. The first thing to do is to decide what one really wants and follow the factors this decision unveils. No one wants a job he or she hates, so consider passion. No one wants to be a pauper, so consider the money. Finally, no one wants to be stuck in a rut, so consider the room for growth. The only good general advice that can be given regarding this matter is to avoid extremes: beware of getting lost either in idealism, or in cynicism, because both of them do no good.