Choose the right career path

Choosing the right career path is one of the most crucial decisions that we make in our life. It is a really tough task to choose the right options. Youngsters are usually lost in a crowd of options and they simply choose the career of their parent’s choice or follow the path of their friends and seniors without giving it a thought whether it is the right option for them or not, is it going to suit their mental caliber or not? Do they have the attitude and aptitude to move forward on the road to success in the years to come?
Very few people are lucky enough to choose a career of their choice most of them just follow the path of others. It is very important to test your aptitude, mental caliber, interest and attitude before choosing your career line. Instead of giving priority to short-term goals think about your whole life. One hasty decision and your life will become a puzzle. Don’t ruin your life and career; choose your profession wisely and smartly fora peaceful and a prosperous life.
The craze of MBA is ruling the heart and head of fresh graduates and young professionals. An MBA degree from a reputed college is a doorway to success. It not only gives you the guarantee of a better job with a high salary package, but a better career growth as well. Every year millions of students appear in different MBA admission entrance tests to lay the first stone of their success, but unfortunately only few of them can turn their dream into reality.
Success is largely determined by aptitude and preparation. There are millions of candidates competing for the same seat. It is your preparation that determines your chance of success in a highly competitive environment. There are thousands of coaching centers claiming to prepare you for top business school, but it becomes a really tough task for the student to choose. The entrance exams like CAT, XLRI, GMAT are not easy to crack, it requires exhaustive preparation and strategic planning to clear the exam.
Courses like MBA, MCA prepare their entrance test paper with great care so that they can evaluate the attitude and aptitude of the candidate and choose the suitable candidates out of all the students. One can clear the entrance exam of CAT and other prestigious MBA entrance tests even without enrolling for coaching. Just follow the 3Ds-Dedication, Determination and Devotion and make your way easy.
To score better in your MBA entrance test start practicing verbal ability, quantitative analysis and data interpretation, some entrance exams like SNAP have an additional category of GK as well.  There is a lot of study material available in the market and on the internet, start exploring the available resources and get ready for the big day.
Verbal ability: This section is very crucial. This section involves reading comprehension, grammar and sentence correction. Start working on your vocabulary. Read English news-papers, listen to the words carefully while watching a movie or an advertisement, make a list of difficult words, find out the meaning and try to use it in your day to day conversations. You can find useful study material in the market as well. Practice with workbooks and give tests for better preparation.
Quantitative analysis (QA) is another deciding paper in an MBA entrance exam, though the level of complexity is not very high, it is the test of speed and accuracy. If you are preparing on your own start solving Maths book of class VI to class X. This section mainly includes problems on profit & loss, time, speed & distance, questions on analytical ability. To score well in QA paper practice regularly, solve the workbook for consistent practice.
Data Interpretation: This section involves questions based on charts, tables, and problems on logical reasoning. You can easily find study material for preparing DI paper. The more you practice, the better you score in your exam.
It is important to score well in all papers, institutes conducting MBA and other competitive exams choose candidates who score well in all papers, for ex:
QA 99.2% percentile
DI99.1% percentile
VA 98.8% percentile
Solving previous years entrance papers is the best way to judge your caliber; proper time management is a must to crack the MBA entrance exam.
It is not hard to clear an MBA entrance exam but it is meant for only those who have interest in Maths, numbers and have a good command over communication skills. It is important to know your attitude, aptitude and caliber before choosing your professional line and in short both capacity and capability for completing the competitive courses and thereafter as a successful executive in the functions assigned by the employer.

5 Questions to Help You Choose a Career

When we are children, our parents ask us, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
When you’re a child, the answer is simple—doctor, lawyer, astronaut, teacher, movie star. When you become an adult, that simple question can often be quite complicated. Here are 5 questions that should help you find the answer to that one complicated question.

1. Should your career be something you enjoy?

Ideally you should choose something you enjoy. You’re going to be spending a great portion of your time each day working in an occupation that utilizes your career choice. Why choose a career that doesn’t interest you or makes you unhappy? Job satisfaction is directly related to whether or not you enjoy working at the career you choose.

2. Should your career make you rich?

Choosing a career that pays well won’t necessarily lead to job satisfaction. The amount of money you make can never offset the pleasure you attain working in a career that you enjoy. However, you should always consider potential earnings as it applies to the cost of the education required to prepare you for that desired career. If you borrow money to finance that education and can’t secure employment to pay back your debt, it might not be the best career option.

3. Should you get advice from someone else about your career choice?

It doesn’t hurt to talk to career counselors, take personality tests and consult some experts in the field of the career you are interested in pursuing. But ultimately you will have to make the decision yourself. You are the only one that knows what interest you, what drives you and what you are passionate about. Parents dream of their kids being doctors and lawyers but not everyone is suited for those professions. Many adults have made bad career choices based on someone else’s dreams for them.

4. Is an occupation the same as a career?

When you choose a career path, there are often many occupations related to that career. For instance, if you choose law for your career, there are many different types of occupations where you might use that law degree: criminal law, corporate law, or even politics. Each career path has various occupation paths you can pursue. When choosing a career, research the various occupations related to that career and ask yourself if you can see yourself working in that occupation.

5. How do you know which career fits you best?

The simplest question to ask yourself when choosing a career path is, “What do I enjoy doing?” A hobby could turn into a career. If you like to write, you could work as a writer in any number of occupations. If you don’t enjoy math or science, you should not choose a medical career. The key to choosing the right career path is knowing what interests you and knowing what careers your personality is best suited for. Talk with people who are working in various careers and ask them why they chose them and what they enjoy most about their jobs.
How did you choose your career? Are you happy with your choice? What would you change about it if you had the opportunity? Tell us in the comments below!

How to Pick the Right Career Path

Picking the right track early in your career can go a long way towards assuring long term professional success. Deciding the right career can be a laborious and difficult process but unfortunately one many people do not take the time to assess.

In this article, we offer you an effective and proven framework to help you choose the career track that is ideal for you. They are a great way to begin the self-discovery process.


Research Yourself: Self-Assessment
To pick the right career for you, you need to understand yourself. You first need to record, understand and prioritize the following:


What are my professional interests?
Consider what aspects of the software, IT and Technology industries and profession most excite you. Determine the technologies and job responsibilities you find most compelling.


What are my skills?
Understand your skills by conducting a skills assessment inventory. Take the Online Certifications to gauge your aptitude.


What are my needs?
Understand your job needs and prioritize them. Common needs include: financial, emotional, time and location.


What are my values? What do I care about and most want from my job?
Understand your values by listing 10 or 15 values and prioritizing them.
Examples of values are: advancement, aesthetics, affiliation, artistic creativity, challenge, change and variety, community, competition, creativity, being on the cutting edge, diversity, wealth, excitement, friendships, helping others, independence, influence, intellectual recognition, job security, job tranquility, knowledge, authority, leadership, precision, self-expression, socio-economic status, stability, time freedom, and work/life balance.


What are my personal attributes?
Think about yourself and the sort of person you are to determine what words best describe your personality, who you are, and how you tend think and behave.
Examples include: your ability to deal with pressure, adaptability, charisma, confidence, commitment, commonsense, enthusiasm, flexibility, honesty, integrity, loyalty motivation, reliability, self esteem and sense of humor.
For some of you, these are easy questions. For others, these questions are much harder. Luckily, there are a range of tools available to help you answer these questions such as: professional testing, professional counseling, personal self-awareness techniques, peer-assessment surveys and self-assessment surveys. For those of you just embarking on your careers, the university career office is often a good first place to check for tools to research yourself. Review your skills  to see where your specific strengths may lie.

Research Career Paths
Using your understanding of yourself, start looking at occupations that you think best match your interests. To research how your interests match up with different occupations, head to the Internet, your career center and/or library. Many will have systems that match occupations to interests.


Eliminate what you do not like
Often, it is easiest to start by simply ruling out what you do not like. Work on eliminating occupations that are definitely not for you.


Prioritize what interests you
Take the list of occupations that match up with your interests and prioritize them as best you can. Try to get this list of occupations down to a manageable number. We recommend four or five. If your list comes out to ten, this just means you will have more areas to explore further.

Research Specific Career Paths
By now, you have narrowed the universe of possible career path options down to a manageable size. It is now time to get into the details of each career. Get on the Internet and collect information about responsibilities, job requirements and qualifications, salary and benefits, advancement opportunities, working conditions, location, training options, work atmosphere, and any other information that is especially important to you.
Once you have done this research, begin talking with friends, family, classmates, colleagues, professors, career counselors and others about the occupations on your list. By doing your internet research beforehand, you accomplish two key things:
First, since you already have a good sense of the basic details from your internet research you can use this opportunity to get a deeper sense and understanding of the occupation you are researching. Typically, people will be glad to talk about themselves with you.
Second, by talking with people about your prospective career choices you are marketing yourself. You never know – one of the people you talk with may offer you a job on the spot. To anyone with whom you speak, it will be readily apparent you are a well-organized, conscientious, clear-thinking professional who has worked to learn as much as possible on your own before talking with people. You will not need to ask obvious questions that are wasting both of your time – such as “Where is the office located?”


Eliminate what you do not like
After this research, you should again eliminate any options that your research has shown do not work for you.


Prioritize what interests you
You have now spent a lot of time researching and learning about different careers and occupations – take some time to re-prioritize the occupations and careers and you should come out to one or two good choices.

Tentatively Choose a Career Path

At this stage, knowing what you know about yourself and having learned about the different career paths that interest you, it is time to tentatively select an occupation to pursue. Do not worry! This is not your final decision. Make the best decision you can. The more research you have done, the better off you will be.

Test Your Choice
No matter how much research and self-assessment you do, there is sometimes no substitute for actual work experience. This does not mean you need to go take a job. Instead, try some related coursework, take an internship, volunteer in a related field, shadow a worker at a company for a day or take a part-time job.
Eliminate the career path if, after further investigation, the path does not turn out to be what you had hoped it would be. If so, do not worry; revisit the research you recorded in steps 2 and 3 and pick a new career path.

Decide on a Career Path
Finally, you have found the right career path. Take the time to review the requirements of this career path from your research and pursue any additional coursework, training, or certifications needed to prepare you. You are now ready to start the job search process in your chosen field.