3.2: Choosing a Career That's Right for Me Video
Transcript:
Choosing a Career That's Right for Me
Agriculture feeds and clothes the world, so there will always be exciting and challenging opportunities for a career in agriculture. Over 22 million people are employed in agriculture, and there are over 8,000 job titles in the industry. So how do you decide which career might be right for you?
Choosing a gratifying career is not an easy task, but you can start to explore and form a plan on how to evaluate the possibilities.
To start your evaluation process, first, think about your personal interests. Do you like science? Communications? Computers? Designing things? Growing things? Make a list of subjects and identify potential jobs related to your interests.
Next, what are your individual talents? Identify and write down subjects you excel in at school, anything others have complimented you on, activities you do in your spare time or have enjoyed in the past, and any other experiences where you excel.
While job descriptions provide a good overview of a job, they might not tell you exactly what someone in a particular career does daily.
You may also want to interview someone working in the job area in which you are interested. Ask them questions about what they do, get their advice on how to plan for the career, and ask them about the challenges they experienced on the pathway to their career.
Compare the interview information with your own preferences. Do the daily requirements of the job sound appealing to you or do they describe a job you would not want to do?
Interviewing people about their careers is a great way to gain in-depth knowledge of a potential career choice.
Next get hands-on experience if you can! Find out if there are opportunities for you to job shadow in the position. Many times there are intern positions or part-time jobs available in the field of interest. Hands-on experience will give you insight to the things you do and don’t like about a potential career choice.
Keep track of the research you do on careers, the interviews you conduct, and hands-on job experiences in your record book. Career Exploration is an excellent idea for an Exploratory SAE, and paid or unpaid internships can qualify as Placement SAEs.
Early planning will allow you to prepare well for a career. You can take classes in high school and college to gain the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in a life-long career endeavor.