So, you think you’ve decided what you want to do in life – but what now? Knowing what your career will be is a fantastic start, but you’re going to need to do some more research into what your chosen career path actually pertains. Fun fact, 29% of college graduates end up completely changing their career field at some point in their life. So, don’t worry about having to pick a specific type of career that you will be stuck with forever.
With that said, we’re going to go over the top three best methods of learning more about a particular line of work. We recommend reading until the end of the article, as your career type may only apply to some of these tips.
Without further ado, let’s jump into the three best methods to learn more about your chosen career path.
- Talk To Experienced Individuals In Your Same Workfield
Probably one of the most underlooked methods of learning more about a particular line of work is to simply talk to people in that line of work! Each new person you talk to will have a unique outlook on their career path and will without a doubt have advice for you.
Now, if you don’t actually know anyone to talk to – that’s fine. There are plenty of online interviews available where professionals talk about their experiences in their career. Check out this interview with an established attorney at law for example.
- Look At Available Job Listings
No, not with the intention of actually applying for a job. Looking at job listings that are in your chosen career path is a great way of learning a little more about that path. To get started, head over to Indeed.com or the job listing site of your choosing. We recommend Indeed for both its simplicity and popularity. Once you’re at their website, you can use the job search to search for jobs.
So, let’s say your chosen career path is engineering. Type in “engineer” into the search field and then you will be directed to a page listing all engineering jobs that are close to your location. With this list, you can get a feel for some potential jobs you’ll have in the future.
- Research Specific Jobs
After looking at a few different job listings, pick out some job titles that sound interesting to you, and note them down. You’ll want to individually research each one of these jobs with a little more scrutiny than before.
Going off the engineering example from before, let’s say the job title “Project Engineer” stood out to you. You would then research this job and note down the types of tasks and responsibilities associated with it. In our research, we found this job description for a project engineer.
Thoroughly research a few specific job titles in your chosen career path, and then compare them afterward. This should give you a good idea about what kind of job you will want in your career.
Key Takeaways
We hope this article was able to shed some light on how to better research career paths. Choosing your career is a huge decision, so remember that you can always change your career later on. However, if you put in the time to research careers now, you might not have to change careers later on.
