Figuring out what you want to do for a Living
Some people never figure out what they want to do for a living and simply take any job that will help them to pay the bills. They may not enjoy their job, but they do not have the luxury to pick and choose, particularly if their training and experience are limited. It is therefore a good idea to start thinking about potential careers early on, so that you will be fully informed about what qualifications and experience you will need. Once you are fully trained and have a certain about of experience under your belt, the world will be your oyster.If you don't particularly enjoy school you can find yourself becoming fixated on getting out of there as soon as possible without considering the impact this will have on your future prospects. To get anywhere you need to have at least a basic education and since employers are getting evermore stringent when hunting for potential employees, you often need to have a college education as well. You therefore have to consider what you enjoy studying and where your strengths and weaknesses lie, so that you can get yourself on the right track.Seeing as though you will be spending the majority of your adult life at work, it is worth paying serious consideration to the person you are. As a teenager you're still finding yourself and you don't have enough knowledge or experience of the world to come to any comprehensive conclusions. However, you know which subjects you actually rather enjoy and the ones which you dread. You know which subjects you get good grades in and which ones you don't. This is obviously a good starting point when trying to figure out what to do for a living.After considering what you enjoy at school and in your home life, you can start doing some research online and you may decide to pay a visit to a careers counsellor. There are plenty of websites where you can type in your strengths, weaknesses and interests and that will come up with a list of potential jobs which may suit you. Some might appeal to you, others might not, but at least you will have some idea of what different kinds of jobs involve. You can then see if there are any opportunities to volunteer, so that you will be able to gain experience of a particular career before deciding if it is something you would like to pursue.There are no guarantees that the career you decide upon as a youngster will be the career you end up with as an adult. You may go to college and realise that you don't really enjoy the subject you're studying and that you would prefer to take a different course; you may train to do something only to find that there are no jobs available in that field; or you may get a job but discover that you don't really like it. The main thing is that you are self-aware, since this will enable you to make the right decisions for you. Even if you don't make the best decisions straightaway, you will be in a position to rectify any mistakes and build a fulfilling career for yourself, rather than simply earning a living.
