HCI Blog

The choice of a career path is typically a big question mark in the professional lives of many people. Doubts may surface as to whether continue on a current job or seek a new path. It is important to certify that the job that you do is truly something for which you have passion for.

Once entering college, you typically may have a slight idea of what you may want to follow in the future, but you cannot most certainly pinpoint exactly where your true passion is directed. It is actually common for the opposite to happen; you choose an area of study and work which you later on find out you dislike.

In all true fairness, how are you expected to know what you like if you never actually done anything related to the job previously? So if you can’t rely on an actual concrete experience to know what you like, where can you find guidance?

So if passion can’t guide you, what can? Well, begin by choosing a career that fits well with your skills and values. Since you actually have some sense of what those are (hopefully), this is a good starting place.

A second way to choose a job is basing yourself on your ambitions. You can opt for a promotion focus, where you advance as quick as possible, seeking rewards, recognition and achievements. Instead, you could select a prevention focus, where you seek to hold on to what you already achieved and work slowly, securing your personal space.

To better understand each of these focuses, here are some characteristics of each different profile:

Promotion- focused people excel at:

• Creativity & innovation
• Seizing opportunities to get ahead
• Embracing risk
• Working quickly
• Generating lots of options and alternatives
• Abstract thinking

(Unfortunately, they are also more error-prone, overly-optimistic, and more likely to take risks that land them in hot water)

Prevention-focused people excel at:

• Thoroughness and being detail-oriented
• Analytical thinking and reasoning
• Planning
• Accuracy (working flawlessly)
• Reliability
• Anticipating problems

(Unfortunately, they are also wary of change or taking chances, rigid, and work more slowly. Diligence takes time.)

In other words, Promotion-focused individuals seek risks, fast growth and ever-changing work environments and markets. Typically, you enjoy spearheading projects and lead teams. And the Prevention-focused individuals prefer to carefully plan their next move based on a complex analysis of all factors involved, as well as having an eye for detail.

The job market has space for both types. All in all, it is important for you to know yourself! Don’t be in a hurry to jump into the first job offer you get. Instead, reflect about what you want for yourself and where you want to reach!

Based on: Forbes