the career decision-making process

STEP 1. Self-assessment

Knowing what you enjoy (your interests), what’s important to you (your values), what you are good at (your skills and abilities), and what you’re like as a person (personality traits) will help you determine potentially satisfying careers.

STEP 2. Career Exploration

Gathering accurate information about careers is the next important step in the decision process. You’ll need information about:

• How much training or education is required to enter and advance in this career?

• What is the environment for this work (indoors, outside, with others, alone)?

• Do jobs in this career area exist where I live? If not, where do they exist and can I move there?

• What are the skills, values, interests, and personal traits of the people who are successful in this career?

• What are the daily tasks involved in this work?

• Will the salary and benefits meet my needs?

You can gather the information you need in a variety of ways:

• VSAC’s Resource Library is full of books and periodicals
describing careers.

• The Vermont Department of Employment and Training operates Career Resource Centers in 12 locations around the state. These are also good places to find career information. (You can visit Vermont Department of Labor; its Web site has a wide array of job information.) College libraries and college career development offices are other sources.

• Computer technology offers numerous possibilities for obtaining career information. The software programs “Discover” and “Choices,” available at the VSAC Resource Library, contain much information that can be explored in a variety of ways. Outreach counselors throughout the state also have at least one software program available on a laptop computer, which you can arrange to use.

• Talk to people who do the work you want to do. “Informational interviewing” helps you discover skills needed for specific jobs, find out about training/education, and learn how people feel about their work.

• Volunteer, work part-time, or participate in an internship in your field of interest.

• Take a class. Community colleges, two- and four-year colleges, technical centers, and sometimes even private companies offer a wide variety of classes where you can test out a career interest.

• Job shadow. Spending a day or part of a day with a person in a career field that interests you can provide a lot of information about that career.

STEP 3. Decision-making

After gathering information about several career ideas, you need to decide which one to pursue. Taking this step — that is, making a decision about which possibility seems “right” for you — may be the most challenging part of the entire process.

You as a decision-maker bring a unique combination of personal characteristics — values, strengths, limitations, attitudes, and feelings — that shape the decision. You are also influenced by surrounding environmental forces — family and friends, social values, personal circumstances, and community and educational resources.