5. Steps in Choosing a Career...

To make a good career choice, start with yourself. You need to consider your interests, abilities, preferences and then plan your career choices accordingly.

There are five steps that you can follow:

1. Identify careers related to your interests, abilities and preferences

Planning your career depends on the quality of career information available to you.

As you begin to explore your career options, consider the following resources and strategies:

• Ask the librarian or the school career office about books and pamphlets on careers.
• Join a club that undertakes activities in the line of what you want to be. For example, wildlife club can be a good entry into agricultural and environmental sciences.
• Visit a place where people do the kind of work you are interested in.
• Use the Internet to research for fields of your interest.
• Try out a hobby or volunteer to work in areas related to the kind of careers you are interested in.
• Contact professional groups such as the Law Society of Kenya, Association of Kenyan Insurers, and Architectural Association of Kenya etc for more career information.

Narrow down your choices to a few careers for further exploration

As you narrow down your list of potential careers, think of the following questions:

• What careers are likely to provide me with short-term and long-term satisfaction?
• Are there careers that seem to reflect my interests, abilities and preferences better than others?
• What is the future of the careers that I am considering?
• Am I willing to get the education background and training to get into the careers I am interested in?
• What are the positive and negative factors associated with each career that I am considering?

2. Get the right preparation for your career

Consider now how to get the right preparation to your dream career. Preparation includes choosing the right subjects at form three that institutions of higher education require to train you in a particular career. Some jobs require apprenticeship, vocational technical training, two-year college training or four years at university. These are in addition to the KCSE level of education.

3. Increasing demand for specialization

It is important to realize that some jobs are on the decline as you make your career choices. For example, clerical and other secretarial jobs are fading away fast as a result of computerization. From the traditional ‘’specialized professions ”like doctors, and accountants, information technology and engineering, business management and consultancy are the professions in demand now.

4. Universal skills

Irrespective of the career you choose, there are universal skills and qualities that you need. And the earlier you develop them the better. These are:

• Computer literacy
• Presentation skills (written & oral)
• English language skills
• Basic mathematics and numeracy skills
• Intelligence
• Self confidence
• Willingness to accept responsibility
• Innovation- can you bring new ideas and suggestions?
• Inter-personal skills- can you get along with other people?
• Ability to handle conflict.
• Honesty
• Organisation
• Career ambition
• Persuasiveness

From the foregoing, your career choice is a process, not an event. It takes time and many amendments and reconsideration.

5. Your Career choice is an Individual choice

It is you alone who will live with your desired career and not other people. But other people can be of great help to you.

They include:

• Your career teachers who can guide you and give you information.
• Your parents who can help you make up your mind and introduce you to career.
• People in the fields you desire to join.
• At times you can be wrong and your teachers and parents right.