Identifying Your Career Interests

The first step in finding the work that's right for you is to know yourself.

Ask yourself:

• What are your interests? What automatically gets your attention? When you watch television or look at a newspaper, what programs or stories draw your attention? Why?

• What are your values? What do you think is most important in life? Who are your heroes? In real life, which people do you respect, and why?

• What is your personality? How would a close friend describe you? How would someone meeting you for the first time describe you?

• What are your skills? What can you do better than most people can? What do people ask you for help with? What do you enjoy winning recognition for?

• What do you like to do with your free time? What do you do on the weekend? What do you do on a week's vacation? If you won the lottery and didn't have to work for a year, what would you spend that time doing?

Step 1: Getting started

Step 2: Identify your career interests

Step 3: Look beyond money

Step 4: Evaluate your career choices