Now I’m going to be straight with you, finding what you want to do in the future isn’t a science. Not everyone knows when they want to and not everything that people tell you to do is for you. It’s hard knowing what you want to do in the future and to be honest, you don’t have to have a full-blown plan.

However, before you start trying to plan I would try and learn more about yourself. What are your likes and dislikes? What do you find fascinating? What are hobbies that you are consistent with and how would that affect what you want to do in the future?

Step 1: What are some hobbies that you want to carry into your career?

I know that it’s hard enough to think about careers that you want to possibly pursue but something that would make it easier is figuring out some of your consistent hobbies/interests. 

Are you an avid reader or writer? Do you like to debate with people in your spare time? Take nature shots or shoots for a wedding?

All of those questions about your consistent hobbies and interests pull together a subtle list of careers that may be the most enjoyable for you. Now that may not be the perfect career list but that’s perfectly fine. The idea is that you know what is most interesting to you and what you think you might be interested in.

Step 2: Personality tests

No matter who you are at this school you’ve taken at least one personality test in the past. You are definitely not immune. From middle school till now, personality tests are done almost every year.

Unfortunately, whether I would like to admit it or not, taking personality tests are helpful in making a clearer path to the career that you want to pursue. Ashley Stahl, a writer for Forbes, even said that “the right career assessment can actually be an incredibly useful tool in discovering your path.”

So with that being said, take a Myers Briggs test and write down the traits of your personality and jobs that are better suited to that personality. Look at your list of jobs that you came up with from your interest and hobbies and match those up with the ones given to you by the test. Are there any similarities?

Step 3: Narrowing down the list and networking

Promptly look into those jobs and write down a pro and con list about them. If they have too many cons, take them off the list of jobs that are suited to you. This list should be tailored to if you would enjoy them, not how much money you would be making. However, it’s not really my list so do whatever you want.

Try to structure this list by job requirements (age, education, experience, average work hours, etc.), how much you enjoy the job on a scale of one to ten, then finally how much the jobs pay. Go to the website of whatever college you’ve decided to attend and look at the education map for the careers. It should give you the breakdown of what is required and what major you have to take.

By this point, if you’ve already chosen your career look for places that have the same goals/ideals as you and find a potential mentor. In other words, start networking within your chosen field of interest.

“Networking allows you to identify mentors and allows you to develop close friends and relationships,” said Lauren Hearon in the video ‘Importance of Networking.’

 It’s important to start networking as soon as possible. When you get out of college you could position yourself to have a job lined up already. Not only that but you build experiences, friends, possibly in-school internships, and more. 

Now, I’m not an expert in finding the perfect career. A lot of these things I went through and did myself, others I learned from friends and family who started college before me. 

Finding a career for you is trial and error, there is no perfect way. But this should help you out just a little and that’s all I really want to do.