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Your Options Affect Your Choices So Choose What’s Really Important to You

Options and Choices Set You Free For Your Career Change

Your options will always be determined by the things that are important to you and how those important items affect other people in your life. If you are a single man, when deciding whether to relocate to another part of the country and take up a new job, your options and career choices are different from someone who has a family with responsibilities in a specific location.

However, the basic decision making process about what type of job, or the suitability of a certain job offer will need to consider these factors which have been proven to be important to many people.

Work Out Your Career Options

Your acreer is in your own hands so you should ask yourself these questions:

What does your job or career mean to you?
What sort of person are you?
What do you want from a job?
What would having a good job get you?
How would you know you have got the job you really want?
Who else is affected by your decisions?
Why can't you get the job you want?
Are you prepared to put in the effort required to gain something you really want?
What career options are now open to you?

Why not take a free personality test to help you work out your preferred options?

Let's say your career options include oil and gas industry jobs. What would you need to think about?

Take a good look at this list to help you decide when you choose your options.

These are the conditions or qualities that make you feel satisfied with your own situation and most often the absence of this quality has a negative effect on your satisfaction level. For example: if you are happiest being able to set your own pace and make your own decisions without close supervision, then 'Autonomy' would rank highly on the list of your options. Your career choices would be heavily influenced by this factor.

Achievement

To accomplish things I feel are important
To reach the highest position in my field or organisation

Affection

To receive and share warmth, caring, companionship with my family, or with my friends and co-workers

Affiliation

To be liked by others and invited to join in with groups
To work closely alongside others; or be part of a team

Autonomy

To be able to act in accordance with my own rules and priorities To be free of close organisational supervision

Challenge

To be engaged in interesting, challenging work

Competence

To be respected for my competence, to have my abilities recognisedby others

Expertise

To become a respected authority in what I do
To achieve the highest excellence in my work

Family

To spend time with my family; to have harmonious family relationships
To contribute to the development of my children

Personal Growth

To develop my full potential; become a better and more rounded person; seeking to learn, change and develop myself

Health

Physical health, fitness, diet

Integrity

To be honest; to stand up for my beliefs

Leadership

To exert influence by example, to direct the efforts of others

Location

To live where and how I want to

Money

To be financially secure

Pleasure

To have fun; to enjoy my life and my work
Recognition

To have status; to earn the respect and recognition of others

Service

To help other people; to feel that I am making a contribution to thewell-being of others and improve society

Spirituality

Inner harmony; to be at peace with myself; to live by my religious beliefs

These will be important in different ways to different people, but if you consider what they mean to you and you alone, you will be able to choose your options on the basis of what's important to you.

Now you have decided what is important you need to add in how you can contribute to a new role and the decision about your options becomes so much easier.

Keeping Your Options Open

You can easily avoid the disappointment and frustration of seeing your dream job slip through your fingers by getting the best job search and career change information you can.

Because it only takes one slip-up when the competition for new jobs is so fierce, you owe it to yourself to learn the job winning techniques that are proven to work, just as they have for many people before you.

Self-marketing, or 'selling' yourself; writing cover letters and great resumes / CVs are all skills that most people could do better with the right information. When it comes to interview skills, too many people are prepared to 'fly by the seat of their pants'. Don't let yourself down and leave it to chance like that, get the latest and most complete job search information and you'll feel the difference when you approach each step of your career change more confidently - knowing you have what it takes!

Go back to learn more about your other Career Options

Return to Your Career Change home page.

You might also want to visit Career Management

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