It can be overwhelming when you’re trying to pick the occupation that’s right for you out of a long list of options. Here are some tips for comparing your saved occupations and ultimately narrowing your list down to a few you are particularly interested in.
Use the Compare Occupations Tool. This tool was built to help you compare your saved occupations side-by-side. You can compare three occupations at a time. Ask yourself questions like: Which occupations pays the most? How much education is needed for each occupation? Do the tasks and activities of one occupation sound better than those of another? As you go through the Compare Occupations tool, you’ll evaluate these questions, and your answers will be tallied at the bottom of the page. There, you’ll see an indicator of how interested you are in an occupation based on your answers.
Review your Occupation Library. Your occupation library is where all your saved occupations are stored. Visit your library to learn more about each occupation. Again, keep in mind things like wages, education requirements, future job openings, and other information. You can rank the occupations you’ve saved by moving them higher or lower in your library.
Share your saved occupations. After you’ve researched your saved occupations and made some notes, talk to a parent, teacher, or mentor about the occupations that seem the most interesting to you. Talking with others will help you really discover what’s important to you and help you narrow down your interests.
Explore outside the box. It’s time to branch out. Consider informational interviews, job shadowing, volunteering, and internships to learn about an occupation in person. These types of experiences will teach you quickly whether something is right for you or not. The next Career Exploration step (Step 5) has information on ways to really learn more about occupations in the “Other Resources” section.
Focus on what you’ll be doing in an occupation. It’s easy to just focus on how much money you’ll make or how much education you need. While those things are important and may drive your decision on which occupation to go into, it’s really important to learn about the tasks and activities you’ll be doing. Working takes up a significant part of your life, and you want to make sure you’ll enjoy what you’re doing.