How to Choose the Right Career: 7 Key Criteria to Consider

Are you feeling stuck trying to choose the right career? Some of us have been there too. I know it can be quite challenging when trying to choose what to do your entire life because there are a ton of factors to consider. Sometimes, you want to consider doing what you’ve always wanted to do. Other times, you feel a little sway of society trying to tell you what to do.

Whichever way, it can be incredibly hard to choose the right career. While I list 7 key criteria to consider when choosing the right career in this post, I will attempt to offer some guidance into which criteria should hold more weight in your choice of a career.

But so we are on the same page, let’s see some standard definitions of a career and what it stands for.

What is a Career?

According to the Oxford Languages Google Dictionary, a career is “an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress.” It is a person’s professional journey including their jobs, roles, experiences, and achievements.

Wikipedia defines a career as an individual’s metaphorical “journey” through learning, work, and other aspects of life. It is seen as a sequence of related jobs, usually pursued within a single sector or industry. For example, a career in medicine, a career in education, etc.

Every career usually requires special training and the acquisition of special skills, which can occur throughout a person’s working life. While some career skills are acquired in the formal setting, others may involve informal learning methods and self-learning. But the primary objective of pursuing any career is so that you can rise to the top of the career during one’s lifetime.

Societal Influences Affecting the Choice of Career

In choosing a career, people go through different stages each with their respective challenges. First, one has to come face-to-face with parental decisions regarding one’s career. Second, we have to deal with deciding for or against which careers society considers lucrative and satisfying. And lastly, we have to face the restrictions educational qualifications might pose.

1. Parental Influence

Out of their goodwill, parents sometimes make professional choices for their children who are believed to be naíve and inexperienced. Depending on the parental influence, this can eventually affect the child’s career choice in the future.

2. Societal Pressures

Now and then, society labels a certain group of professions with the highest perception of success or life satisfaction. This can create an influx of people into such professions. For example, Ben Carson inspired interest in becoming a physician or surgeon.

3. Educational Requirements

Even when you want to pursue a career in a given field, educational requirements can stand as an obstacle if required. This is often due to professional restrictions, entry qualification criteria, and issuance of licenses to only a few qualified individuals.

Key Criteria to Consider When Choosing the Right Career

The right career is one that aligns with one’s skills, interests, values, and long-term goals. It not only provides financial stability but also personal satisfaction, personal growth, and a sense of purpose. The choice must be based on personal preferences and desires if it is to meet all these needs.

External factors also influence our choice of a career but making the right decision is something we must consider deeply by ourselves. Here are some of the key criteria to consider when choosing the right career for you.

1. Your passion and interests

You are more likely to make the right career decision if you consider your inherent passion and interests. This ensures you do what you truly love and have always wanted for your life. You are also more likely to be successful all-round if you pursue a career that strongly satisfies your passion and interests because of the determination and strength these bring.

For example, someone who has always loved drawing, painting, and creating digital artwork from a young age would more appropriately choose a career related to art than becoming a medical doctor. While factors like perceived lucrativeness may affect people’s choice of a career, you can achieve great wealth doing whatever you love doing as long as you are open to finding more opportunities related to it.

2. Your life’s purpose

Passion alone will not give you the satisfaction you desire in your life. Finding your life’s purpose is what would complement it. While passion involves what you love doing, your life’s purpose is the positive change you passionately dream to contribute to the world. Thankfully, we all have a life’s purpose embedded in each of us.

Finding your life’s purpose will give you additional motivation when you feel like giving up. Thus, it is highly important to choose a career that not only aligns with your passion but helps you fulfill your life’s purpose.

3. Potential earning

When choosing the right career, it is also important to consider how much you can potentially earn from doing what you do. This is important because not only does money give you some satisfaction and motivation, but it can also help you cater to your financial needs, achieve your most important goals, or fulfill your life’s passion largely.

Results of a meta-analysis on the correlation between pay level and measures of pay and job satisfaction showed that pay level was significantly correlated with job satisfaction.^[1]The relationship between pay and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of the literature – ResearchGate This was corroborated by another study on pay satisfaction, job satisfaction, and employee turnover, which showed that there was a positive association between pay satisfaction and job satisfaction.^[2]Asekun, W.A. Survey of Pay Satisfaction, Job Satisfaction, and Employee Turnover in Selected Business Organizations in Lagos, Nigeria. 2011

However, another study examining career satisfaction among biomedical scientists showed that persons 5-9 or ≥10 years in their current position reported lower levels of career satisfaction.^[3]Faupel-Badger JM, Nelson DE, Izmirlian G. Career Satisfaction and Perceived Salary Competitiveness among Individuals Who Completed Postdoctoral Research Training in Cancer Prevention. PLoS One. 2017

Thus, the choice of the ‘right career’ should be based on something you can potentially grow, with a commensurably scalable earning as you grow, especially without having to exert so much effort or keep you in one place your entire life.

4. Educational qualifications

Your educational qualification is another important criterion for choosing a career, but choosing the right career does not necessarily have to be based on it. We have seen many people who pursued careers in areas unrelated to their educational qualifications, which showed that finding a career that gives you both financial and psychological satisfaction does not have to be based solely on one’s educational degree.

Generation Z has been reported to be the most educated age group in the United States but only 30% of Gen Z employees said they were very satisfied with how well their education has prepared them for the workforce. In particular, 49% of surveyed respondents said they would want to receive leadership training at work, while 47% said they wanted to receive training in mental health.^[4]Why Gen Z would quit their jobs U.S. 2022 – Statista These shows that many people desire growth, rather than being too fixated on their educational qualification.

5. Work-life balance

According to Statista in the survey above, 42% said they would quit if the job caused burnout and lacked work-life balance; 30% also reported that they would quit if there were no remote work options available.^[4]Ibid. Statista These show that many people are beginning to prioritize work-life balance in the choice of a job or career.

Having a good work-life balance helps one to get satisfaction in other areas of life outside work. And of course, the right career is the one that gives you fulfillment and satisfaction across the important aspects of one’s life.

6. Inborn talents

In contrast to passion, interests are discovered, while passions are developed. You can build your passion around any activity of your choice; could be around your interests or just anything else you like. Inborn talents are like interests, you inherently possess them since you can remember, and this is an important criterion you may consider in your career choice.

Doing something you are naturally good at can fuel your motivation to keep going. This is why, in the absence of special educational qualifications or specialized training, one’s innate talents can be a great place to start.

7. Scalability

I emphasized the importance of scalability when discussing the importance of earning in choosing a career. Scalability is the quality of being able to up-regulate your returns over time without having to exert more effort.

In an organizational setting, scalability might be related to ‘promotion’ but the key difference is that while promotion comes with new responsibilities and higher pay, scalability does not require any proportional increase in effort or resources.

Of note is the fact that jobs and careers in the digital/passion economy are generally more scalable than those in the traditional career model. For example, a software developer who creates an app can earn millions if or when the app goes viral with no income ceiling, but a senior manager’s income may be limited by the company’s pay structure, demonstrating the importance of scalability.

Tips for Choosing the Right Career

After considering the above factors and what you have at your disposal, here are some tips on choosing the right career.

1. Understand what you truly want

Choosing the right career for you requires you to understand your inner wants and desires. Understanding your interests, passion, and life’s purpose is one of the most important criteria in choosing a career that befits you and gives you the greatest fulfillment.

2. Consider your education and skills

No matter what stage you are, once you have understood what you want from a future career, it is important to see how your education and skills hold up against what available job openings require. You might need to go back to school or up-skill until you are ready for the job.

For example, if you want to become an applied behavioral analysis specialist, say at ABA Jobs, for children with children with autism, you may need to possess some qualifications in psychology and education. While strong creative skills may be required if you want to enter into the creative arts.

3. Identify your values

It is practically impossible to be fully satisfied if one is working against one’s core values and ideologies, making it important to consider your values when choosing a career. Common values that may affect one’s career decision include courage compassion, or curiosity, in which cases an adventurous career, a charitable vocation, or a tech-related career, respectively, will be most appropriate.

4. Keep an open mind while selecting

After you have figured out your career wants, skills, and values, browse through possible career options while keeping an open mind. Also, make sure to learn about all required skills and educational qualifications for each career. This helps you know how the career fits into what things you love, and thus, helps you decide if that is the right career for you.

5. Study the job market

The previous steps will help you make a list of potential career options. Thereafter, you can research each of the potential options against the job market to see which job offers are available for your professional profile. You can also check an employer review platform to find companies that might be a good fit for you, making it possible to choose a career and find a job in your career.

6. Speak to family and friends

Even after you have made up your mind about your future career, you may still need to gather opinions from people ahead of you in your chosen field. Talking with trusted friends and family members can provide you more insights into the career you would ultimately choose, and turn your dreams into a reality.

7. Ask for advice online

To further broaden your understanding of your career options, also seek professional advice from people outside your social circle. There are several social media platforms where you can easily connect with people who are successful in your career areas of interest. This gives you a larger sample size to carry out personal research and make an informed decision.

8. Discuss with professionals

If you still feel a bit skeptical about your career choice after taking the steps above, you can reach out to a career coaching service to help you determine which professional path might be right for you. There is no harm in wanting to be absolutely sure you are making the right decision for your career.

Final words

Choosing a lucrative career is not easy but choosing the right career is even more difficult. With the above steps, you should be able to discover a career that helps you find professional and personal satisfaction throughout your life. Career satisfaction can also increase your likelihood of achieving a deserving success without feeling like you are a part of a never-ending rat race of life.

Frequently Asked Questions