How to choose a profession: motives, vocation, expert advice

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Choosing a profession always starts with the right goal setting, and this task is fundamentally not easy. Especially if the graduate has not yet decided what he would like to do. Psychologists recommend thinking about choosing a profession long before 11th grade graduates hear the last bell.

Fork in the road

About how to choose a profession, schoolchildren think after the end of the ninth grade. At this time, it is necessary to decide which class to enter - humanitarian, natural science or physics and mathematics. For many students, this choice is already a huge challenge. Some do not know what area would be attractive to them; others like everything in a row - and literature, and mathematics, and physical education; others don't want to do anything at all.

When should you think about the future?

Ideally, the child's motives for choosing a profession should be found as early as possible. Talk aboutchoosing a profession must be carried out with the baby already at preschool age. After all, if already at this time you allow the baby to try himself in different activities (even in the game), it will be easier for him to navigate in the future in a huge variety of possible professions. In the event that a teenager cannot make a choice, if his interests are not yet manifested or there are too many of them, you can use various strategies to resolve this situation.

Define goals

Since choosing a profession is not an easy task, psychologists recommend approaching this issue from a purely practical part first. The vague and indefinite “I want” must take on a very concrete and tangible form. What should be the goals when choosing a profession?

• Specific (“I want to buy an apartment in New York”, “I want to host a talk show on a feminist TV channel”, “I want to become a more powerful businessman than my father’s friend”, etc.)
• Realistic. In other words, the goal should be related to the possibilities that the child has. On this account, there is a wonderful statement by Albert Einstein that every person is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, then the unfortunate woman will spend the rest of her life considering herself the stupidest creature on earth. How to choose a future profession, not taking into account your abilities and talents? This is completely impossible, so you need to take into account your physical, intellectual, age and financial capabilities.
• Limited intime. After all, the goal is a dream, the realization of which is limited in time.
• Positive. The goal should be for the benefit of other people, or at least be in line with the “do no harm” principle.

Capacity assessment

Parents whose children do not know how to choose a profession should discuss in detail with their children their opportunities. After all, the goal must always be supported by something, have a basis in the form of talents, inclinations, abilities, education. The mother or father may invite the child to answer the following questions:

• What level of education can I expect today, given today's school performance, as well as my intellectual abilities and skills? It can be higher or secondary specialized, as well as professional courses.
• What actions should a profession contain in order for it to arouse my interest?
• How much do I want to be paid for my work?
• Which way of life is more interesting to me - a stressful one, when you have to be fully involved in the labor process and sacrifice personal interests for the sake of work, or a more free one?
• Would I like to work close to home or is this issue not critical?

Correlation of desires, opportunities and needs

The choice can be considered the most optimal if "I want", "I can" and "should" match. This profession should be in demand in the modern labor market (“should”). Also, a young person must have a certain set ofcapabilities and abilities (“I can”). Since it is impossible to choose a future profession without taking into account your interests, you must also remember an important principle: work should not be a burden, but a joy (“I want”). Even if at first things do not work out very well, but there is a desire, the child will be able to acquire the necessary skills. If there is no interest, they are unlikely to be sufficiently developed.

The importance of inner striving

It often happens in life that these three criteria do not coincide at all. The possibilities of the child and parents are the same, the desires are different, and the requirements of the real world are completely different. How to decide on the choice of profession in this case? Psychologists believe that the most mobile of the three factors listed above is precisely desire, or "I want." For example, a boy asks his parents to buy him a dog because he wants to become a professional cynologist. Mother and father first proposed to “walk” a toy dog every day. It took three days for my son to understand that he was not ready to take responsibility and take care of an animal.

There is another example. The daughter wants to become a singer, but her parents, using her connections, organize her admission to the Faculty of Economics, as they believe that during her studies she will “change her mind”. Ultimately, the daughter drops out of school, leaves home and continues to sing. Sometimes parents think about what kind of working profession to choose for a child, not taking into account his interests. However, often the source of income for a young person is exactly the hobby that seemedparents completely ridiculous.

If the soul does not lie to anything

It also happens that a teenager declares that there is no hobby that would arouse his interest. In this case, do not panic. After all, interest does not appear immediately. However, for this you need not to sit still, but to try different activities, test yourself in different activities. In addition, you need to pay attention to your feelings: which activity you like more, which one you don’t quite like.

A teenager can also do creative work - play a musical instrument, draw, dance. Often, parents believe that such activities only take away precious time from him. However, this is not quite true. Creativity helps a person to gain inner freedom, to preserve himself as a person. With its help, it is easier to listen to yourself, to be able to find the kind of occupation on the basis of which it will be possible to build a career.

Navigate through the many options

From generation to generation, the question of who to go to study does not lose its relevance. The list of professions is truly huge. According to some sources, there are from 9 to 45 thousand of them. Here are just a few of them:

• orthopedist;
• English teacher;
• janitor;
• seller;
• lawyer;
• referee;
• tractor driver;
• caregiver;
• astronomer;
• archivist;
• fireman;
• image maker;
• cleaning lady;
• dancerballet.

You can find your profession in many ways. It is important for parents to remember the motives for choosing a profession that their child has. A young person should not only be “arranged” in life, but also receive joy from his work. No one wants their child to become a poor tailor, but adults forget that a talented tailor gets better than a useless lawyer.

Tests

Recently, a huge number of tests for choosing a profession have appeared. However, psychologists warn that you should not blindly trust them. For example, a test might show that a teenager should do computer science, while he himself is crazy about experiments in a chemical laboratory. Computer testing without consulting a psychologist can be especially misleading.

After all, in this case, many distortions can affect the result, ranging from insufficiently well-developed testing methodology to difficulties in the self-esteem of the youngest person. A competent psychologist who consults in the field of career guidance is able to build a conversation in such a way that the result becomes clear using a minimum number of techniques. As a rule, the psychologist is expected to have ready-made solutions, but his job is to start the process of internal search, thanks to which the person will be able to independently make the most optimal choice.

Why is career choice important?

When a person does what he loves, he will always be full of energy and inspiration, he will have the opportunity to enjoylife. Sometimes the question of how to choose a profession is asked by school graduates, and sometimes by people over forty. However, it is never too late to make your life more beautiful. Favorite business allows not only to realize your abilities and talents, but also to earn more.

Techniques to help you decide

After all, often a person who spends long days at an unloved job loses the main thing - career growth. He is not interested in work, and therefore other people who are more interested in this area get a promotion. Therefore, the question of how to choose the right profession is relevant for all ages. Let's look at a few practical recommendations that will help you make the right decision.

• Write on a large piece of paper at least 30 paragraphs that describe activities that bring pleasure. These things should give energy, joy and inspiration. You can also specify more items. After that, it is necessary to cross out those things that you do not want to do professionally, but would like to leave them as a hobby. After that, about ten more points remain. Now you need to cross out those that you would not want to do for the rest of your life. In this way, you can significantly narrow the circle of choosing a professional path.
• Write 10 of your greatest strengths, knowledge, skills, talents. These should be qualities that you can be proud of. After that, you can write down 5 professional areas in which these properties can be used, and then think about which job option isthe most real and inspiring.
• Also wondering how to choose the right profession, can imagine himself a real millionaire. It is necessary to imagine that he has already visited all possible countries of the world, tried all the entertainments - there is nothing more to wish for. Now it remains to choose what to do next - not for the sake of money, but for the soul. You need to write down at least 5 different options.

If there are many interests

Modern children are concerned about how to choose the right profession. As children, they are asked what they would like to be when they grow up. At first, it seems completely harmless, but over time it takes away peace and sleep. Many teenagers like several subjects and activities at the same time - they draw, and sing, and attend math classes with pleasure. In this case, it may seem that the young person is “scattering” or wants to avoid responsibility.

Psychologists in this case recommend asking yourself the following question: is it bad or abnormal to do different things? A vocation in a profession is not necessarily a single occupation. This idea comes from culture. Asking a child about what he will become in the future implies only one answer. However, at present there are many people who, at one stage of their life, were engaged in one thing, and in the future they radically changed their path or combined two activities at the same time. For example, the world-famous violinist Vanessa Mae has gained popularity with her musical experiments. However, few people know that she was included in the Thai national team.skiing.

Offspring punk rocker Dexter Holland holds a PhD in biology and is a graduate student at the Viral Oncology Lab in California. And the famous physician and missionary Albert Schweitzer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1952 for curing many patients in a Nigerian hospital, was one of the most famous European organists who revolutionized the performance of organ music.

However, if a young person considers himself a born specialist and wants to develop in one narrow area, this is also quite normal. It is believed that the most powerful teams are those that include both highly specialized professionals and people with different interests.

We considered the question of how to decide on the choice of profession. This is one of the most important decisions a person makes. Not always at a young age, a graduate can make this difficult choice. Having correctly assessed your desires, talents and abilities, you can make it the most optimal.