Your Step-by-Step Guide to Choosing a Career

At this point, you'll be thrilled you managed to narrow your list down to only 10 to 20 options. Now you can get some basic information about each of the occupations on your list. 

• Find job descriptions and educational, training, and licensing requirements in published sources.
• Learn about advancement opportunities.
• Use government-produced labor market information to get data about earnings and job outlook.

Based on what you learned from your research so far, begin eliminating the careers you don't want to pursue any further. You should end up with two to five occupations on your "short list."

• If your reasons for finding a career unacceptable are non-negotiable, cross it off your list.
• Remove everything with duties that don't appeal to you.
• Eliminate careers that have weak job outlooks .
• Get rid of any occupation if you are unable or unwilling to fulfill the educational or other requirements, or if you lack some of the soft skills necessary to succeed in it.

When you have only a few occupations left on your list, start doing more in-depth research. Arrange to meet with people who work in the occupations in which you are interested. They can provide firsthand knowledge about the careers on your short list. 

Access your network , including LinkedIn, to find people with whom to have these informational interviews.

Finally, after doing all your research, you are probably ready to make your choice. Pick the occupation that you think will bring you the most satisfaction based on all the information you have gathered.

Realize that you are allowed do-overs if you change your mind about your choice at any point in your life. Many people change their careers at least a few times.

Once you make a decision, identify your long- and short-term goals . This helps to chart a course toward eventually landing work in your chosen field.

• Long-term goals typically take about three to five years to reach, while you can usually fulfill a short-term goal in six months to three years.

Let the research you did about required education and training be your guide. If you don't have all the details, do some more research. Once you have all the information you need, set your goals.

Put together a career action plan, a written document that lays out all the steps you will have to take to reach your goals. Think of it as a road map that will take you from point A to B, then to C and D.

Write down all your short- and long-term goals and the steps you will have to take to reach each one. Include any anticipated barriers that could get in the way of achieving your goals—and the ways you can overcome them.