How to choose a profession: motives, vocation, expert advice

The choice of a profession always begins with the correct goal setting, and this task is fundamentally not an easy one. Especially if the graduate has not yet decided what he would like to do. Psychologists recommend thinking about choosing a profession long before 11th grade graduates hear the last bell.

Fork in the way

Pupils think about how to choose a profession after the end of the ninth grade. At this time, it is necessary to decide which class to enter - humanitarian, natural-scientific or physical-mathematical. For many students, this choice already presents enormous difficulties. Some do not know which sphere would be attractive to them; others like everything in a row - and literature, and mathematics, and physical education; still others do not want to do anything.

When to think about the future?

Ideally, the motives for choosing a profession in a child should be found as early as possible. Talk about choosing a profession must be carried out with the baby already in preschool age. After all, if already at this time you allow the baby to test himself in different activities (at least in the game), it will be easier for him to navigate in the future with a huge variety of possible professions. In the event that a teenager cannot make a choice, if his interests are not yet manifested or if there are too many of them, you can use various strategies to resolve this situation.

Define Goals

Since choosing a profession is not an easy task, psychologists recommend starting with approaching this issue from a purely practical part. The vague and vague “want” must take on a very concrete and tangible form. What should be the goals when choosing a profession?

• Specific (“I want to buy an apartment in New York,” “I want to conduct a talk show on a TV channel for feminists,” “I want to become a more influential businessman than my father’s friend,” etc.).
• Realistic. In other words, the goal should be correlated with the opportunities that the child has. There is a wonderful statement by Albert Einstein on this subject that every person is a genius, however, judging by the fish by its ability to climb a tree, the unfortunate remainder of life will be spent, considering itself a stupid creature on earth. How to choose a future profession, not taking into account their abilities and talents? This is completely impossible, so you need to take into account your physical, intellectual, age and financial capabilities.
• Limited in time. After all, the goal is a dream, the implementation of which is limited in time.
• Positive. The goal should be beneficial to other people, or at least comply with the principle of "do no harm."

Opportunity Assessment

Parents whose children do not know how to choose a profession should discuss their possibilities in detail with their children. After all, the goal should always be supported by something, have a foundation in the form of talents, inclinations, abilities, and education. The mother or father may invite the child to answer the following questions:

• What level of education can I count on today, given today's school performance, as well as my intellectual abilities and skills? This can be a higher or secondary special, as well as professional courses.
• What actions should a profession contain in order for it to arouse my interest?
• How much do I want to get for my work?
• What lifestyle is more interesting to me - stressful, when you have to be completely involved in the labor process and sacrifice personal interests for the sake of work, or is it more free?
• Would I like to work near the house or is this issue not critical?

Correlation of desires, opportunities and necessity

The choice can be considered the most optimal if the “I want”, “I can” and “necessary” coincide. This profession should be in demand in the modern labor market (“necessary”). Also, a young man must have for this a certain set of opportunities and abilities (“I can”). Since it is impossible to choose a future profession without taking into account your interests, you must remember an important principle: work should not be a burden, but a joy (“I want”). Even if at first the business is not very good, but there is a desire, the child will be able to acquire the necessary skills. If there is no interest, they are unlikely to be sufficiently developed.

The Importance of Inner Aspiration

It often happens in life that these three criteria do not coincide at all. The possibilities for the child and parents are one, desires are different, and the requirements of the real world are completely different. How to choose a profession in this case? Psychologists believe that the most moving of the three factors listed above is precisely desire, or "want." For example, a boy asks his parents to buy him a dog, because he wants to become a professional dog handler. To begin with, mother and father suggested every day “walking” a toy dog. The son had three days to understand - he was not ready to take responsibility and care for the animal.

There is another example. The daughter wants to become a singer, however, parents, using connections, organize her admission to the Faculty of Economics, as they believe that during her studies she will “change her mind”. Ultimately, the daughter quits school, leaves home and continues to practice singing. Sometimes parents think about what kind of work profession to choose for the child, not taking into account their interests. However, it is often a hobby that seemed completely ridiculous to parents as a source of income for a young man.

If the soul doesn’t lie to anything

It also happens that a teenager declares that there is no hobby that would arouse his interest. In this case, do not panic. After all, interest does not appear immediately. However, for this you need not to sit still, but to try various activities, to test yourself in different types of activities. In addition, you need to pay attention to your feelings: which lesson you like more, which - not really.

A teenager can also go in for creativity - play a musical instrument, draw, dance. Often, parents believe that such activities only take away his valuable time. However, this is not quite true. Creativity helps a person gain inner freedom, preserve himself as a person. With its help it is easier to listen to yourself, to be able to find the occupation on the basis of which you can build a career.

Navigate a lot of options

From generation to generation, the question of who to go to study does not lose its relevance. The list of professions is truly huge. According to some sources, there are from 9 to 45 thousand. Here are just a few of them:

• orthopedist;
• English teacher;
• janitor;
• seller;
• lawyer;
• referee;
• tractor driver;
• educator;
• astronomer;
• archivist;
• fireman;
• image maker;
• cleaning lady;
• ballet dancer.

You can find your profession using various methods. It is important for parents to remember the motives for choosing a profession that their child has. A young man should not only be “arranged” in life, but also receive joy from his work. Nobody wants his child to become a poor tailor, but adults forget that a talented tailor gets better than a useless lawyer.

Tests

Recently, a huge number of tests for choosing a profession have appeared. However, psychologists warn that you should not blindly trust them. For example, a test can show that a teenager should do computer science, while he himself is crazy about experiments in a chemistry lab. Computer testing can be particularly misleading without consulting a psychologist.

Indeed, in this case, the result can be affected by a lot of distortions, starting from an insufficiently well-developed testing methodology and ending with difficulties in self-assessment of the youngest person. A competent psychologist advising in the field of career guidance is able to build a conversation in such a way that the result becomes clear with a minimum number of techniques. As a rule, ready-made solutions are expected from a psychologist, but his job is to start the process of internal search, thanks to which a person will be able to independently make the most optimal choice.

Why is career choice important?

When a person does what he loves, he will always be full of energy and inspiration, he will have the opportunity to enjoy life. Sometimes the question of how to choose a profession is asked by school graduates, and sometimes people over forty. However, it’s never too late to make your life more beautiful. Favorite business allows not only to realize their abilities and talents, but also to earn more.

Methods to help determine

Indeed, often a person who spends long days at an unloved job loses the main thing - career growth. He does not have an interest in work, and therefore other people who are more interested in this field receive an increase. Therefore, the question of how to choose the right profession is relevant for all ages. Consider a few practical recommendations that will make the right decision.

• Write down at least 30 paragraphs on a large piece of paper, which will describe activities that bring pleasure. These things should give energy, joy and inspiration. You can specify a larger number of points. After this, it is necessary to cross out those matters that there is no desire to do professionally, but I would like to leave them as a hobby. After this, about ten points will remain. Now you need to cross out those that I would not want to do until the end of my life. So you can significantly narrow the range of choice of a professional path.
• Write 10 of your greatest strengths, knowledge, skills, and talents. These should be those qualities that can be proud of. After that, you can write down 5 professional areas in which these properties can be used, and then think about which option is the most real and inspiring.
• Also wondering how to choose the right profession, can imagine himself a real millionaire. It is necessary to imagine that he has already visited all the possible countries of the world, tried out all the entertainments - there is nothing more to wish for. Now it remains to choose what to do next - not for the sake of money, but for the soul. You need to record at least 5 different options.

If there are many interests

Modern children are concerned about how to choose the right profession. In childhood, they are asked about who they would like to become when they grow up. At first it seems completely harmless, but over time it takes peace and sleep. Many teenagers like several subjects and classes at the same time - they both draw, sing, and attend math classes with pleasure. In this case, it may seem that the young man is "scattered" or wants to avoid responsibility.

Psychologists in this case recommend asking themselves the following question: is it bad or abnormal to do different things? Vocation in the profession is not necessarily a single occupation. This idea comes from culture. A child’s question about who he will become in the future implies only one answer. However, at present, there are many people who at one point in their life were engaged in one thing, and later radically changed their path or at the same time combined two classes. For example, the world-famous violinist Vanessa May gained popularity with her musical experiments. However, few people know that she was included in the Thai national ski team.

Offspring punk rocker Dexter Holland holds a biology degree and is a graduate student in the California Virus Oncology Laboratory. And the famous doctor and missionary Albert Schweitzer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1952 for healing many patients in a Nigerian hospital, was one of the most famous European organists who made a real revolution in organ music.

However, if a young man considers himself a born specialist and wants to develop in one narrow area, this is also quite normal. It is believed that the most powerful teams are those in which there are highly specialized professionals and people with various interests.

We examined the question of how to decide on the choice of a profession. This is one of the most important decisions a person makes. Not always at a young age a graduate can decide on this difficult choice. By correctly evaluating your desires, talents and abilities, you can make it the most optimal.