Career Planning and Salary
Discover Your Career Needs
Assessing your career needs
Taking the time to assess both yourself and your career needs will help you discover the right career path. It's important to understand how your skills and interests match up with potential careers, along with your personal and financial needs. Without enough planning and foresight, you might choose a profession that could leave you unhappy or even financially unstable.
Consider the two scenarios below to see the difference that a careful career assessment can make.
A lack of foresight: Tony
Tony, a former minor league baseball player, wanted to continue in a career with sports and fitness. He also wanted a career that gave him the chance to interact with people. Tony went back to school and then took a position as a physical education teacher, thinking it would meet his needs.
Unfortunately, Tony was miserable as a teacher. He was not able to relate to the kids as well as he related to adults. The stress and long work hours prevented him from keeping up with his own personal fitness goals, which made him unhappy. In addition, having to save for the summer and make student loan payments really cut into his paycheck, making it difficult to pay his bills.
While Tony was right to pursue his interest in sports, he was wrong in thinking he had the personality and skills for working with kids. He values having plenty of personal time for his pursuits outside of work, but he did not realize that the career he chose required long hours. He also did not fully understand his financial needs and the cost of additional education.
Reflection and success: Meral
After studying business in college, Meral wasn't sure what kind of career to pursue. She took a job as data analyst with a large company, but it never felt quite right. Even though the salary more than met her needs, she didn't like working for such a big corporation, and the job left her longing for interaction with other people.
Taking some time to assess herself, Meral reflected on her personality and skills. She realized that she needed a career that would allow her to engage with people directly while also expressing her creativity. After more research, Meral determined that she might be better suited to a career in marketing. Looking for a way to develop her new career path, Meral offered to volunteer at a friend's small business in her spare time. She discovered an interest in social media and soon found herself creating a brand identity for the business.
Meral was eventually able to use her volunteering experience to find a permanent position in marketing at another small company. Unlike Tony, Meral took the right approach when evaluating her career needs. She found a career that suited her skills and personality by networking with other people in her field. While her salary wasn't as large as before, she calculated that it was still enough to meet her financial needs.
