How To Choose A Career Path To Follow Or Choose Between Two Jobs

Most of us will be working for different companies at different times during our lives, that’s just the nature of the modern world that we find ourselves in. I’ve written before how company loyalty, and the whole “put your head down and work hard” mentality will not only NOT get you very far but could be a liability that destroys your career. Even for those of us that want to be entrepreneurs, we’ll still have to collect a paycheck at some point in our lives, if only to get our entrepreneurial dreams off the ground.

Work, and working for a corporation, are a basic facet of life for most of us. Which means things like dealing with office politics, which exist just as much in a body shop as they do in a skyscraper. And things like HR, politicking, and the like. Our paycheck will be tied to all sorts of factor, a small part which will be how good of a job we do. I don’t say this to be cynical, it is simply the reality of the world we live in.

So how do you choose the right career, even if it’s just to get you to make a leap to being an entrepreneur? How do you figure out what you can do, at least temporarily, to afford basic life necessities. Or how to you choose between two equally appealing offers of jobs? First you have to decide something…

What’s Your Goal?

What do you want? I ask this question a lot and that’s because it decides everything else. Everyone wants something different, or they want similar things but for different reasons. Because of this it’s hard to give overall advice that’s going to apply for everyone. Like we talked about above are you taking this job to become an entrepreneur, or are you taking this job so that you can have stability for a family? Or are you taking it so that you can live in a city with lots of income opportunities and excitement? And so on and so forth.

Before you can possible decide what is or is not the right job for you, you have to figure out what you do or do not want. What’s your end goal? And if you don’t have an end goal then I’d suggest getting what as fast as you can. Where do you want to be in ten years, what kind of life do you want to have and be living? What fulfills you? Makes you happy? What does ‘the best life’ look like to you?

Of course these things change as we grow and learn but it’s still good to think about them and have a general plan of where we want to go in the meantime. After a year working the job, or potential job, where do you see yourself? Is there a chance for promotion? For acquiring skill that’ll lead to more money. And so on and so forth.

Now that we’ve discussed that…

Other Factors To Consider

When deciding between career paths or jobs you have to two look at main factors, time commitment and income. Just because one job pays more than another does not mean that it’s necessarily a done deal. For example which job will take more of your time? More of your soul? Because trust me, every job is going to take some of your soul. Which one will you sleep better at night? Will one have you taking home stress and work each and every day? Will it have you shooting over all the country or keeping you in one place?

Will you ever truly be able to clock out? And so on and so forth. And then of course there’s money to consider. What is the income potential? Is there room for advancement and growth? Realistically? Because every company will say you can work up but that’s not always true. Is the company growing or shrinking? Because if its’ shrinking then good luck getting promoted unless you have so very good political skills or friends in high places.

Then you also have the culture of the place to think about. Some places are more relaxed but may lack professionalism and roads to advancement. Other places may be high pressure but high reward types of places. And so on and so forth. Again, what do you want. Also does going one path automatically close another? Are there ways you can keep multiple-paths open? For example if you go HR there are many HR jobs out there. If you go history teaching your employment options are much more limited, though not necessarily poor. Again, lots of factors to consider.

Regardless…

Of which career you chose there are certain things that will always help you out. First off always keep learning and growing. As soon as you stagnate you’re dead. That’s all there is to it. You can never stop learning, growing, and becoming more, ever. Remember stagnation equals death. Second, learn sales. Learn how to sell yourself, how to sell products/services, how to build rapport with people, and how to present things in the best light, it’ll take your further than being good at your job ever could. And third learn the politics and politicking. Read the book “Who Gets Promoted, Who Doesn’t, & Why” to get you started down that path.

And have a goal. Have something you’re striving towards and working for each and every day.

If anything I said here helped you I’d recommend checking my books out on Amazon.

-Charles Sledge