Finding Career Direction

Discover Yourself and Your Purpose

How long has it been since you asked yourself what you want to be when you grow up?

If you haven't considered the idea since high school, then you may have settled into a job that is not fulfilling your professional aspirations, or your purpose.

Each of us has particular talents that, when expressed or exercised, make the world a better place. Most likely you enjoy doing these things, and you find that people respond well to you when you do them. Perhaps they're things you gravitate towards during out-of-hours activities, and that people respect you for.

When you develop these talents as far as you can, you can make your greatest possible contribution to the world, and enjoy personal and professional satisfaction that goes along with this.

Your Career Direction Journey

The process of uncovering what you are meant to do, that is finding career direction, is a journey. It starts with discovering the essential "you": the person who truly resides behind the facades, defenses, and stresses of everyday life.

Once unmasked, your journey continues with specific career exploration and identification of a career that allows you to make good use of your talents. And it moves on with a focused job or career move, in which you identify the jobs you want and put yourself in the best possible position to get them. In fact, this journey never really ends because work itself is all about change, growth, development, and reinvention.

By taking a talent-based approach to your career search right from the start, you keep yourself heading toward the right career even when the actual direction shifts over time. This approach consists of sequentially answering three questions: 

1.     Who Am I?

2.     What Do I Want to Do?

3.     How Do I Get Hired?

1. Discovering Who You Really Are

The first question to answer is "Who am I?"

We'll take two approaches to answering this – firstly asking you to explore your talents, and secondly using psychometric tests to explore your preferences.

Exploring Your Talents
First of all, consider your answers to the following questions:

·         When have you been most committed, passionate and enthusiastic?

·         When have you been most creative?

·         When have you been most sure of yourself and your decisions?

·         What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?

·         When have other people considered you to be most successful?

·         When have you enjoyed your work most?

·         What talents were you relying on, and using, in these situations?

·         For what would you take a very strong stand?

·         What about the world puzzles or disturbs you that you could make an impact on?

·         What jobs do you like to do at work when you have a choice?

·         What activities are you drawn towards out of work?

·         If money were no concern, what would you be doing?

Brainstorm each of these questions, and then use your answers to identify the top 3 talents that you most use when you're successful. Rank these in order.

Source: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCDV_97.htm