Choosing a career path is a deeply personal decision that depends on your interests, skills, values, and long-term goals. Here are a few steps you can take to determine the career path that may be a good fit for you:
Self-Assessment: Start by assessing your interests, strengths, and skills. What subjects or activities do you enjoy? What are you naturally good at? Consider your values and what you find meaningful in work. Reflecting on these aspects will help you identify potential career paths that align with your interests and abilities.
Research: Once you have a general idea of your interests, research various career options that align with those interests. Look into the job responsibilities, required qualifications, potential career progression, work environment, and salary prospects for different fields. Consider talking to professionals in those fields or reaching out to careers advisors for more insights.
Explore Your Options: If you have a few potential career paths in mind, try to gain practical experience or exposure to those fields. You can volunteer, intern, shadow professionals, or take on part-time jobs related to your areas of interest. This hands-on experience will help you understand the day-to-day realities of different careers and determine if they are a good fit for you.
Skill Development: Identify the skills and qualifications required for the careers you are considering. Determine if you have those skills or if you need to develop them further. You can take courses, pursue higher education, attend workshops, or gain certifications to enhance your skillset and make yourself more competitive in your chosen field.
Networking: Build connections with professionals in your desired field. Attend industry events, join relevant professional organisations, and engage with online communities. Networking can provide valuable insights, mentorship opportunities, and potential job leads.
Experimentation and Adaptability: Remember that your career path may not be a linear journey. It's okay to explore multiple options and make changes along the way. Be open to new opportunities and adapt as you discover more about yourself and the evolving job market.
Ultimately, the ideal career path for you will depend on a combination of your interests, skills, values, and the opportunities available in the job market. Take your time, be patient with yourself, and trust that with thorough exploration and self-reflection, you can make an informed decision about the career path that aligns with your goals and aspirations.
Tahatū - New Zealand's newest Careers website, hosting over 800 different career profiles. Use the 'Inspire Me' quiz to match your interests to career ideas.
Making Career Decision - lots of tips and guidance.
Making Career Decision - lots of tips and guidance.
Making Career Decision - lots of tips and guidance.
Take the quiz to find out what jobs are a match to your skills.
A really quick personality quiz - Take the Buzz test to find out which animal you are, what you are like and what you could do!
Check out the Green Buzz test too...
Check out the Green Buzz test too...
UK website with lots of great tools, quizzes and careers toolkit.
Take the personality test and see how freakishly close the results are to your personality. This will give you an idea of your strengths for use in job applications.
Search for courses across New Zealand (be aware some of this is out of date so always double check directly on the providers website).
Use this helpful Action Plan from Careers NZ to help choose school subjects.
A good way to research about an industry is to speak to someone working in that industry. This is a resource to help you to ask useful questions and record them.
UK based site but has lots of awesome career profiles on
Allied Health careers quiz including all info on each role and information on scholarships. Great tool to look at a range of careers in the health sector.
Interactive ICT Careers roles. Australian based but still very useful.
Links all of the Professional Bodies in New Zealand
Info on warehouse and logistics careers
Primary ITO You tube channel - lots of videos on Agriculture and Horticulture.
Careers within the Defence Forces (Army, Air Force, Navy)
Police careers - how to become a cop
Real Police officers answering questions before applying into the Police force.
The Crown Research Institutes in New Zealand
Virtual Reality apps to experience roles in Aviation, Tourism, Retail and Hospitality
Geography - Is Geography your favourite subject? take the quiz or check out these industries where Geography is useful.
Tourism and Aviation Careers
Pilot - 2 x turboprop pilots for Air New Zealand talking about their roles
Enjoy Maths? - take a look at the careers that use maths. A different career for every letter of the alphabet.