How to find a Career that’s a good fit
How to find a Career that’s a good fit
The decisions we make about what industry to pursue and what career to take are monumental. Mark Twain said “The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why.” According to a 2023 Business Insider article the average person spends over 90,000 hours of their life working. Statistics like these can make career decisions seem overwhelming. But in reality, every step you take will enable you to gain new skills and help others in ways you may not have imagined.
We're made in God's image and called to use the gifts and talents given to us to make a positive and Christlike impact on the world. Since each of us is unique, how we make a better world will also be unique. Unearthing our gifts and figuring out how to use them is a process that can take years! It involves:
•Understanding who you are, what interests you, and what's important to you.
•Discerning how your unique talents, skills, and experience can contribute to a better world.
•Gaining experience that helps you understand what you are – and are not – suited for.
While some of us will serve God through what we do – perhaps in churches, missions, or ministries, others will serve God through how we do what we do, pursuing excellence and reflecting Christ's character in the workplace. Jobs, roles, and careers may change over the course of your life, but what you are called to do will likely remain constant. In his book, Garden City, John Mark Comer suggests, “For most of us, our sense of calling starts out vague and unclear – more of a feeling and a desire than a five-year plan – but over time it comes into focus.” To discern what you are being drawn to, ask yourself: What gets me excited? What do my circumstances allow? What are my limitations? How has my experience and background prepared me for a specific type of work? What kind of environment fits how I like to work? What am I good at? What kind of impact will my work have on the world? What motivates me? The answers to these questions will help focus you in a direction that will help you flourish as you meet the needs of your community and world.
Assessments help you understand who you are, what interests you, and what you value. They provide words to describe things you probably already know about yourself but may have a hard time communicating. For most of us, this is a process, not an event, and it can take years! This is why assessments are such helpful tools, particularly at inflection points in our career journeys. They help us uncover and understand our natural strengths, motivations, and preferences. We all have specific preferences in the way we construe our experiences, and these preferences underpin our interests, needs, and values.
Arthur Miller Jr. has done research in the area of motivations and encourages people to write down three achievement stories that represent instances when the individual felt they accomplished something well that brought them great satisfaction. Think about things you did that you believe or others have told you – you did well, that you found satisfying, or when you achieved or accomplished something. From these stories, it’s possible to observe motivational themes. The Clifton Strengths Finder can uncover the top Strengths that you can bring to a team. The Myers Briggs can help you understand how you perceive the world and make decisions based on your preferences. The Strong Interest Inventory/Myers Briggs Type Inventory assessment duo predicts careers that might be a good fit based on your interests and preferences, giving you insight into how they manifest in the way you like to work, learn, and lead. Not only will these assessments help you find what sorts of environments you might want to work in, but they will also help you articulate your strengths and what you could bring to a team as you prepare for future interviews. Try not to focus on one specific assessment but rather take a variety to better understand how you’re wired, your gifts, how you interact with others, and what drives you.
Keep in mind that there is no perfect job. With all jobs, you will likely have to do things that are challenging or not fun. However, when we find work that aligns with our natural abilities and interests, there is a sense of accomplishment and deep contentment that results. If you find that most of your day is boring, dull, draining, and unfulfilling then you might be stuck in a career that isn’t a good fit. Arthur Miller describes “When someone does the thing he or she was born to do, there is an instinctive experience of fulfillment.” Many people have the aptitude to be successful at a lot of things, but if what you’re doing is not aligned with interests, motivations, and strengths you’ll most likely be unfulfilled.
Keep in mind finding a career shouldn’t just be about our own self-fulfillment and self-satisfaction, but also about impacting others and the world. Frederick Buechner said, “The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Dorothy Sayers sees our work as a gift to be offered: “Work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God.”
10 Questions to consider:
· Does your current role, or your dream job, align with trends in your achievement stories and interests?
· What types of activities, topics of conversation, or hobbies do you "light up" when talking about? Can some or all of these be applied to a career?
· When was the last time you lost track of time doing something you really enjoyed? Is this an activity that exists in a certain type of career?
· What type of work or school environments have you enjoyed being a part of most?
· Do you prefer to work alone, with others, or both? What is it about this environment that you enjoy?
· Do you have people in your life who can help you think through your career path with your best interest at heart?
· Have you reached out to people who are doing what you want to do to learn more about their work?
· How important is salary and reputation to me? Am I placing too much value on these things at the expense of other factors related to my career?
· What kind of an impact do I want to have on my community?
· If I’m stuck in a career that isn’t a good fit, are there things I can do to change this? What are my reasons for staying?
As an Alum you have FREE Access to Westmont’s career resources for life. If you find yourself curious about a job transition, reach out to Lori Ann Banez at lbanez@westmont.edu for help with the appointment types below:
o Personality & Interests Assessment
o Values & Skills Exercises
o Resume/ Cover Letter Review & Interview Preparation
o Job/Internship Search & LinkedIn
o Mock Interview