The first step is to find out what is out there – there are so many careers that you’ll have never heard of and that you could find interesting and inspiring. But how do you find them?
There are probably hundreds of ways and in this article I’ll give you a couple that are fun and easy.
Method One
First of all, check out A-Z sites – there are lots of them out there, sometimes aimed at different age groups or levels of qualification. All you have to do is type A-Z careers into the search engine and you will get the results in your country.
The sites have alphabetical lists and so you can scroll through until you find something that interests you. Then click on the link to get all the details – usually a description of the job, qualifications needed, pay and prospects. If you find careers that you think you might enjoy, use this as a starting point and go on to do further research.
I’m in the UK and these are a few of the sites that come up for me. The general information should be the same wherever you live, but there will obviously be some differences. So if you aren’t in the UK, you can start here, but be sure to follow up with local websites.
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-careers
This one, from the UK government, divides jobs into categories and then alphabetically within each category.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdqnxyc
This site is aimed at school children thinking about careers, but gives a good general background into the career.
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/career-z-list
This one is by the government in Northern Ireland and includes entry routes and opportunities for adults as well as the general information on qualifictations and job description.
https://www.planitplus.net/JobProfiles?letter=A
This one is for Scotland and the site also has informations on other topcis such as apprenticeships.
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles
Prospects is a site for graduates and lists jobs alphabetically and by sector and goes into a lot of detail about qualities and experience needed and also gives employers in the UK.
Method Two
Watch documentaries about topics that really interest you. I’ve often been watching something and thought, that sounds like a great career – I wish I’d known about that when I was younger. So if you are into the environment, travel, technology, animals, politics, economics etc, check out what’s on TV and listen out for job titles of presenters, interviewees and anyone else who appears on the programme.
News, magazine type programmes and even quizes can introduce you to more career ideas. Be a bit careful with drama as the way they represent jobs isn’t always entirely realistic. So if you do come across an interesting job in your favourite soap or cop drama, make sure you check out the actual job description on one of the A-Z sites.
This should get you started and I’ll also be writing my own A-Z of interesting careers.