How to Choose A Career: There are a lot of careers in Ghana, but you have to know which one suits you. A lot of factors go into the choice of the perfect career.

When you get buried in your work, one thing is certain: It begins to define every part of you. Simply put, your career not only dictates to a certain aspect of your life, but to some extent what happens in the life of others around you. Making a career choice in Ghana has never been easy.  Some people stumble into certain professions whilst others are given the shove. Some people will tell you that their career choice was the biggest mistake they ever made in life. Others know that it was a step in the right direction. If you still have the chance, and whatever you do, you should try to have as much control as possible over your choice of career. The following points have been proven by experts to be timeless in helping people make the big decision should help you on your way.

Personality and Preferences: My uncle wanted to be a soldier. But quit two months later not because of the sickening training and drills but he just couldn’t stand other people controlling his life and constantly telling him what to do. And the worst part was that he couldn’t protest. All he had to do was respond with a “Yes Sir!” followed by a stomping of the feet and a salute. If he had carefully analysed his personality traits and compared it with what goes on in the army perhaps his time would not have been wasted. Consider you temperament, your general enthusiasm for work, your cravings, and maybe even your sleeping pattern. Do you easily get home sick? Are you quick tempered? Would you consider yourself have spontaneous reaction to situations or are you methodical bout everything?  Do you enjoy being in the company of others or like to keep to yourself? How do you cope with pressure? Make sure you ask all these questions. After having done that, ask yourself whether you are ready to make changes to your personality. The answers that follow will determine what is left for you to negotiate with and what is off the table. I tried this tool and it was helpful letting me know a little more about myself. Maybe you should try it.

Values: Values are one of the most important things that a person should consider when making a choice of a career. Let’s say you value honesty and promoting the truth at all costs. That’s actually a good match for the legal profession, which is all about truth-seeking, at least in the purest sense. Or, let’s say you value the idea of helping people who are hurting, in which case it makes sense to find a career in the medical field or in social work. If you are drawn to marketing, you should determine if you like the idea of convincing people of intrinsic value. You should be motivated to explain to people how a product or service meets a need. You should be a problem solver. Being happy in a career often does not depend on pay, or on having amazing co-workers, or on whether the boss is impossible or not. It often has more to do with whether the core values of that career match your own core values. . It’s more than just a sense of fulfilment and purpose. You can find those outside of work. But your personal values will resonate through all of your thinking, all of your emotions, and all of your preferences. And if the contrast between your values and those of your chosen career, no matter how talented you might as well be a square peg in a round hole.

Talent: Have you identified your talent yet? Not everyone has the crowd pulling and ‘’fancy’’ entertainment or sport talent like your favourite R&B stars and the soccer players. But if you know that intrinsic and inborn ability that enables you to do something better than a lot of other people ,then you should definitely consider a career opportunity in that direction. Because most talents do not require efforts and does not strain you out. You definitely enjoy doing it not for the money. The fulfillment that comes with it  is sometimes not enough and not the only thing to keep you going. I think I need to remind you that considering utility tariffs keep on increasing you should definitely think of how you can use your talent to generate income because you are definitely going to pay some bills. One of the greatest feelings is to enjoy doing something and getting paid for it.

Money: Some people may find this point a bit wanting when they subject it to their own scrutiny and personal biases on the background of whether money should influence the choice of career.  Look at it from my point of view. There are lot of people who want to have holidays on cruise ships and buy sports cars and buy Rolex watches. There’s that desire to “binge” spend. It’s not wrong to want to be rich or have fun with money. But if you are this type then you’d agree with me that you have no business making a career choice where your annual earning is relatively meagre. I’d be very happy if my liberal views on this matter is not misconstrued to be misleading and to mean that everyone should pursue a career that generate millions . I personally believe that most of our politicians who keep looting state funds should have gotten this advice earlier so they determine whether they want to spend millions every month or they want to be of service to their nation and whether the compensation our country gives them will be enough.

The Importance Of Work-Life Balance: Consider the role that your career will play in your life and the life of others. When do you want to start a family? How long can you manage to be away from your children? If you consider yourself a family man, then you ought to consider how your choice of career can affect your children, when you want to get married. Are you ready to relocate to another country?

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How to Identify New Career Opportunities and Prepare to Meet the Requirement

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