The first step that students can use to choose the career that is right for them is to take a career test. One of the most popular of these tests is known as the Holland Scale. It has six different category areas that students are attracted to such as investigative, social, or artistic. Based on these different areas, students can explore careers based on their interests (Joanna Saison).
Evaluate Strengths and Skills
When a student has figured out the general idea of his or her career path, the next step in the process is for them to evaluate and find out what their strengths and skills are. These are known as transferable skills (Joanna Saison)[1]. Examples of some of these skills are management and leadership skills, oral and written communication, public speaking or computer literacy (Joanna Saison)[2].
Develop Skills and Experience
The authors in the article cited above also mention that if a person discovers that they lack the skills and experience needed for their chosen career field, there are several steps that they can take to gain the skills and experience necessary. First of all, a person who is employed can investigate to find out if they can get trained on the job. They can also look to find out if there are ways to be involved in projects that help to develop skills (Joanna Saison). Students also have access to resources in their community to develop their skills and experience. Chambers of Commerce in their area or state job development programs is a few of the resources that are available (Joanna Saison).
Students are also able to increase their skills and experience by being involved with volunteer work or internships. The benefit of an internship is that you are able to work with people in your chosen career field (Joanna Saison). Some fields or industries have specific educational requirements and skills. An example of this would be that if a student is planning on getting into the education field, an education degree