3. Decision Making

After you gather information about your personal preferences and occupations, you should have a good idea of the things that you want in your career, the amount of education you need, whether you will have to move out of your community for education or a job, and the occupations that will give you what you want. Now you are ready for the next step, making a decision about your career.

After completing steps 1 and 2, you should be able to make some decisions on your long-term and short-term goals. But first a few words about the decision-making process itself. There is a saying that a person spends much more time choosing a car than a career. Because of the importance of making the right choice in a job, do the following steps, as described in the Career Development Manual.

1. Define the decision to be made (eg. Should take university classes?)
2. Consider the choices and think about the results of each (eg. What careers are available with or without university education?)
3. Compare and prioritize alternatives (eg. I could be a be a carpenter without university, but not a teacher. I like doing carpentry work but I would rather be a teacher because I really like working with kids)
4. Select and outline a realistic plan (eg. I would rather be a teacher than a carpenter, so I will try to go to university)
5. Evaluate the results (eg. Being a teacher means I have to get accepted by a university or NORTEP. If I don't get accepted this year, I could work as a carpenter. If I do get accepted I could work as a carpenter in the summer as well as study to be a shop teacher)

A number of web sites provide guidance for career decision making. Check out these links:

Career Development Manual

Sask Net Work

Colorado College

Florida State University Career Center