A career choice led me to University of Benin, Nigeria, where I spent four years earning a certificate, but also gained a weight of depression. I was 22 at the time and hadn’t completely figured my path out yet. I had graduated with great grades but with a not so great accumulated sense of direction, it was tough. After I spent four years developing a passion, then worked to turn it into a sustainable career, seeking answers.

However, It took time, unlearning and relearning, to finally get my life on track and headed in the right direction.

Let’s face a fact; Most of us have face the challenge of determining our life’s direction at some point in our journey – whether we’re high school students working to define our academic path or college graduates taking charge of our future by exploring what’s next.

First of all, I believe you should make your career choice carefully, as they significantly impact your life. Take an active role, being aware, guided, realistic, and proactive. Parents, expose your kids to career exploration tools and experiences from a young age.

However, besides societal pressure, choosing a successful career pathway is now more complicated due to rapid technological growth and automation. It’s no longer just about following your passion, but applying it to global trends and realities

Tips for making a career choice;

• Know who you are
• Identify your skill sets
• Identify the people who inspire you most
• Seek professional career choice advice
• Be willing to take risk and try new things
• Be confident, patient, and resilient

Know Who You Are:

The first step I believe to choosing a pathway for your life is introducing “you” to “you”. Know your strengths, your weaknesses, your personality type, the kind of environments and people that help bring out the best in you, the kind of lifestyle you’d like to have and the kind of person you see yourself becoming.

Identify Your Skill Set:

Let’s start by identifying what versatile traits you possess, for example; Are you skilled at being technical and can easily fix things with your hands? Are you good with numbers? Are you good with designs?, or is it at organizing people? Identify your skills and interests to choose a suitable career path. If unsure, consider what skills you can learn and apply, and their financial relevance in the future, considering global realities.

Identify The People Who Inspire You Most:

Although this might be considered a bit inconsequential, but taking a list of the top ten people that inspire you the most and whose lives you wish you had, might just be a helping hand in deciding what career pathway suits you.  Picture those people in your mind’s eye and then ask yourself, ‘What are the particular traits in the lives of these people that make you like them?’ Answering this question might just be the launch you need to make a decision and what trainings you need to become a professional at it. I particularly know a couple of people this has worked for.

Seek Professional Career Choice Advice:

Another tool is seeking the help of a trusted career counselor who can help you with deciding what career would be best for you. This career counselor might also help you by giving you a few career assessment exercises with which to deduce what career path is great for you. If you are not privileged to a counselor, there are tons of websites on the internet that can help you with career assessments exercises for free.

Be Willing To Take Risks and Try New Things:

One key to success in life is flexibility, be a person that is willing to put themselves out there again and again. Be willing to take new shapes, try out different things and ultimately go out of your comfort zone to get what you want.

Be Confident, Patient, and Resilient:

Once you have made the decision of what particular career you want to pursue you have to be confident in going after it. Get the right training’s, the right resources and stay around the right people that would help you get there.  The road won’t be easy, you may have to build from the very scratch up; it would take a lot of doggedness, determination and hard work to hit the success mark.

In conclusion, there are no small jobs or careers, there are only small minds. However, this does not mean you should be unrealistic.

These are just few useful tips to help make the task of making a career choice easier.  Truth be told; there is no set way of making perfect full proof plans for the future- that is the beauty of life, surprises might spring up on you along the way or you may even discover new things about yourself along your journey, however, if you apply any of the tips provided above; it guarantees you considerable help in plotting a graph for your career path in the immediate future.