How to Choose a Career: 7 Ways to Clarify What You Want

Choosing a career isn't just about finding a job—it's about discovering a path that aligns with your unique combination of skills, interests, and values. And that path no longer needs to follow a straight line, with many professionals starting in one type of work and then eventually ending up in another.

Understanding your options and taking thoughtful steps toward your career goals can transform what might feel like an overwhelming decision into an exciting opportunity for personal and professional growth. Learn more about how to choose a career and how to research career options. Afterward, keep exploring with a Coursera Plus subscription, where you'll get access to over 10,000 courses across a range of in-demand careers.

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How to choose a career: 7 ways to explore your options

The average person spends around one-third of their life working, so it’s no surprise that many people want to find a career that will be a good fit. Choosing a career first means learning about yourself, your goals, and the larger context of how you'd like to work. Use the list below to help you begin that process.

1. Reflect on your values and passions.  

What you enjoy doing and what you value can be helpful indicators of how you’d like to spend your working time. This doesn’t mean finding and following your passion—that approach tends to be misleading and confusing. But it’s common to want to feel energized and even excited about what you do. Think over the following questions about your interests, values, and traits, and consider how you might answer them: 

Interest-based questions: 

• What do you enjoy learning about?

• How do you like to spend your time? 

• Do you enjoy manual labor or mental labor? 

• Do you enjoy working outside or inside? 

Value-based questions: 

• What is most important in your life? 

• What are your priorities in life? 

• Where do you find meaning? 

• What change would you like to be a part of?  

Trait-based questions:

• What does success mean to you? 

• What do you want more of?

• Which of your strengths do you enjoy the most?

• Which of your skills are you most proud of?   

2. Reflect on your motivations. 

Once you’ve put together a list about yourself, turn to your motivations for working. Perhaps you want a career that will pay a higher entry-level salary than comparable occupations or one that promises more flexibility so you can work from anywhere. Most careers won’t feature everything you’d like, so it’s important to understand your priorities. 

Consider the sample priorities list below. Think over what you’d include on your list and how you’d organize your priorities in order of importance. Note any potential dealbreakers, meaning that you won't consider careers that cannot offer what you need.  

• Salary  

• Benefits

• Autonomy

• Work-life balance

• Flexibility  

• Career growth

• Company culture  

3. Think about your long-term goals. 

What does your most perfect life look like? Make a list of your long-term goals, both personal and professional, to help you understand what it might take to reach them. For example, Do you want to rise past the managerial ranks and advance to the C-suite of a company? Do you want to own a house? Do you want to travel—and how often? 

The list you put together can also help you approach a job search more specifically. For example, if you want to work in the same industry 10 years from now, research which industries look to continue growing over the next decade and which you may want to avoid due to increasing automation or other factors. 

4. Take different self-assessment tests.

There are a number of career tests you can take to evaluate everything from your personality to your strengths—and even what career might be a good fit. But tests can be overly prescriptive, meaning they tend to impose categories on you.

Rather than rely on them for a definitive answer, use them to continue learning more about yourself and your underlying motivations. If they present helpful answers, fold that knowledge into the larger picture you’re compiling.

5. Explore sectors. 

Learning more about each sector and its respective goals may help you determine where you’d be a strong fit. Think about which goals sound most interesting to you.  

Private: You’ll be employed through a privately owned company or corporation, which typically aims to increase growth and revenue. 

• Benefit: Greater potential for growth 

Public: You’ll be employed through a local, state, or federal government, which aims to keep public programs and institutions operating.   

• Benefit: Greater potential stability

Non-profit: You’ll be employed through an organization not associated with private or public sectors, which is dedicated to addressing or fulfilling a public need. While it does not aim to make revenue the way private businesses do, it must earn enough to achieve its mission and cover overhead.

• Benefit: Greater potential for meaning

6. Explore industries. 

Along with sectors, researching different industries may help you identify a few that could be a good fit. Search for established industries to see if any seem worth investigating further. (In the US, common industries include construction, health care, manufacturing, retail, and technology. ) Make a list of any that sound interesting and conduct additional research to find out about major roles, career trajectories, and projected growth.  

7. Seek out professional resources. 

In addition to thinking through the areas mentioned above on your own, you can also turn to various career resources for more guided help.

College career center: If you attend college, take advantage of the career resources your college or university may offer. You may be able to meet with a counselor or advisor trained to help you transition from college to a career. 

Career coach: You can find a career coach trained to help clients learn more about what kinds of work would best suit them. Career coaches are an additional expense, so make sure to research credentials, experience, and background to find one that will be a good fit for your needs. 

Researching career options 

You’ve likely gathered a lot of information by now. Once you have a bigger picture of yourself, start to conduct research on various career possibilities. You can use the list you made regarding your interests, values, and traits, combined with your top motivations, to begin looking for careers or industries that might be a good fit. 

For example, do you really like drawing? Look at careers or industries requiring that talent to some extent. Are you interested in the issue of income inequality? Research organizations that work to improve that issue and browse their job openings site. Is one of your biggest strengths creative problem-solving? Look for careers and industries that need your skill set. 

Write down each option that sounds interesting, and pay attention to the results that will help you achieve your biggest priorities. For example, if flexibility is important to you then focus on remote roles rather than ones that require you to be in an office. 

How do I find the career I want? 

Finding the right career path or making a career change involves several key steps of self-discovery and research. Consider low-risk exploration, such as taking an online course or pursuing a certificate or certification to learn more about different career options.

Explore career options on your list 

Once you’ve come up with some interesting career ideas, follow the next steps to help you explore each option. 

1. Use job search sites dedicated to posting job openings, such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and Monster. As you peruse roles available in your area, read more about the responsibilities for each

one. Highlight the job titles that sound like a good fit. 

Helpful questions: 

• Does the job meet my needs and many of my preferences? 

• Does this career align with my values? 

• Will I accomplish one of my short-term or long-term goals with it? 

• What does it feel like to think about these career options?

2. Cross-reference company reviews. Use Glassdoor or other sites to learn more about a particular company you’re considering or conduct more general research on the industry in which they’re situated. Pay attention to any current issues being discussed in that industry. 

3. Set up informational interviews. If you’ve found a role at a specific company that sounds interesting, look to see if you have any connections you can ask for an informational interview. If you want to find more general information about a role, look for any connections you have—or connections of connections—who are currently doing that work. Asking about a career before you pursue one can help you gather useful information. 

Explore different career paths on Coursera 

Develop or advance your skill set in a range of careers by learning from industry leaders, like Google, IBM, and Microsoft, and esteemed university partners. There are many different ways to learn a new skill, strengthen an existing one, get comfortable with a new technology, or even invest in a personal passion. Join for free to get personalized recommendations about how to keep growing. 

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