Dos and don’ts before doing a career

Before you commit to a career, you need to have a clear picture of what you're getting

into. You need to get accurate information and evaluate it critically.

Start by reading about the careers that interest you. The Occupational Outlook Handbook

offers detailed descriptions of almost 300 careers. It covers much more than just their

outlook: Work activities, education and training required, and earnings, among other

topics, are all included. You can find the handbook online. The website CareerOneStop.org

is another excellent source of career information, including figures for local earnings and

outlooks. For many careers, it has links to informative videos.

Get a taste of certain careers

But there's a limit to how much anybody can learn about careers from reading. You also

should explore careers through experiences, which can be very vivid and can allow you to

explore the issues that matter most to you. Because experiences are time-consuming, you

generally want to use experiential learning after you have narrowed down your choices of

potential fields to work in.

A useful strategy is to do some kind of work in the same setting as the career you're

considering. If you can't get a regular job in that setting or don't have that much time to

invest, you still can experience the setting while working as a volunteer, part-timer, temp

worker, or intern. You'll learn what the work site looks, sounds, and smells like. You also

may do some work tasks related to the career you're exploring or at least see them being

done.

The next-best strategy is simply to observe a work site. Students sometimes have the

chance to do this as a "job shadowing" experience. If you're an older worker or such a

program is not available, you may be able to make arrangements through personal

contacts or by talking to the human resources department at your employer. In some

cases, insurance requirements or safety concerns may stand in your way. But if you do get

an appointment, be sure to ask what style of clothing is appropriate, and then dress

accordingly. Show up on time and take notes on what you see and hear. Don't burden the

workers with excessive questions, idle chatter, or the sound of your cell phone. Afterward,

send a hand-written thank you note, not an e-mail.

Talk to people in the know

If you can't actually visit a work site, you can at least talk to someone who works in a career

that interests you. This is called informational interviewing. People are often happy to talk

about their work. The conversation can also help you to build a network that will be

valuable when you hunt for jobs later. Schools and colleges often have networks of alumni

or other workers who are willing to talk to students or other alumni about their jobs. Take

notes on the conversation and be sure to ask how they prepared for their career. Again, a

hand-written thank you note is appropriate after such an alumni meeting.

Next, you need to evaluate the career. Consider the pluses and minuses of all important

aspects, not just the earnings. Make a list of the most important issues, such as the

suitability of the work tasks, your comfort level with the work site, and the amounts of

variety, opportunities to work with others, stress, responsibility, creativity, and other

factors. Set priorities, so trivial matters don't take on too much weight. As you evaluate the

career, try to find out what is actually typical. Be especially careful if you judge the career

on the basis of personal experience. Sometimes conditions at one work site are unusual

and give a mistaken impression of how the career feels to most workers.