High school is a great time to think about careers. All your life, you must’ve been asked what you want to do when you grow up. High school is the time to work towards making that happen.

Many high schoolers don’t yet know what they want to do. If you’re still in high school, you may not be sure of your vocation. But you can still start thinking about—and planning for—your future before graduation. Remember that settling on just one occupation in high school isn’t necessary, but looking into the types of careers you might like can help set you up for success.

Careers start well before the first day of a new job. That’s why parents and teachers need to help high school, homeschool, and distance learning students pick a career and prepare for the future. 

Most people need some preparation before they’re ready for the workforce, and planning should begin long before it’s time to start a career. This could include taking technical courses during high school or, after graduating, attending a college or university to earn a certificate or a degree. Knowing what type of career preparation you need begins with thinking about what type of career you want.

However, of course, finding your right career won't happen overnight, and it may take time to find the right trajectory for you. Luckily, we have been there, and we're here to help!

Here are some steps to help you find the answer to “what career is best for me?”

Learn about yourself

Understanding what you enjoy, what you’re good at, and what motivates you is the first step in exploring careers. 

The entire purpose of thinking about careers is so that when you join the workforce, you wake up in the morning and look forward to going to work.

So, it is very important to think about what you like to do.

InternMart can help you get started. 

An exclusive career discovery platform for high school students, InternMart helps them discover and identify their natural strengths and correlate the same with various career occupations to gain better visibility and focus.

Visit our website to explore a wide range of career opportunities, read resourceful blogs, get one-on-one consultations, and learn from leaders.

You can also take the Free Career Aptitude Test, and we will do the math to help you figure out your personality traits and how they relate to the career pathways you can explore and pursue. The Career Assessment Test is interesting, easy to score, and beneficial for self-analysis. With the accurate self-scoring results format, the career aptitude test also provides interesting information for those trying to decide on a career choice.

Identify viable careers

Once you’ve thought about the subjects and activities you like best, the next step is to look for careers that put those interests to use.

If you like traveling, for example, you might consider a career in the aviation industry, hospitality industry, or tours and travel sector. If you like math, a career as a cost estimator, accountant, or budget analyst might be a good fit.

But those aren’t the only options for people interested in traveling or math. There are hundreds of occupations, and most of them involve more than one skill area.

Focus on education

Getting a solid education is an important foundation for any career. Workers in many occupations use problem-solving, communication, research, and other skills that they first learned in high school. By doing well in classes and taking part in career training or college preparation programs, you demonstrate that you’re ready to put these skills into action.    

Plan and achieve. Make sure your high school course plan prepares you for entering the next phase of training or education in your desired career. 

Do your research

After identifying possible occupations, you’ll want to learn more about them. Many resources - available online and offline - can help you get started. 

A great way to do your research is by talking to professionals working in a similar field and getting information about what they do.

If you don't know workers in occupations that interest you, career-day programs, mentoring, and opportunities offered through schools may be of help.

However, to find out if you'll really like an occupation, there's nothing better than getting firsthand experience.

Get experience through internships

If internet research can give you a taste of what an occupation is like, imagine how helpful getting experience could be. Students can begin getting career-related experiences in high school through internships, employment, and other activities.

Completing an internship is an excellent way to get experience. Internships are temporary, supervised assignments designed to give students or recent graduates practical job training. Sometimes, internships or other experiential learning positions are built into educational programs, and students receive academic credit for completing them. 

Don't Make a Decision Right Away

It's possible that through exploring your strengths and interests a career will present itself right away. Perhaps you do realize you want to become a doctor, a nurse, an engineer, a teacher, a computer developer, a writer, or an entrepreneur.

That's great! You can now go about choosing the education to help you meet your goals.

However, it's more likely that you still don't know exactly what to do. Even if you've identified your strengths and areas of interest, it may take you several years to determine exactly what your career should be. That's OK! As we said before, you probably have to go out and explore in order to really find out what you want to do.

Follow your dream

Everyone’s career path is unique, and there is no right way to start a career.

Whatever career you choose, remember that you can change your mind at any time. There’s always the flexibility to shift course.

The important thing is to have the confidence to work toward your ideal career, even if it seems out of reach.