How to Choose the Right Career Path in High School
Imagine this…
You’re sitting in the Guidance Counselors office filling out a multiple-choice questionnaire which will tell you what you should do when you grow up.
You finish the form, hand it in, and your Guidance Counselor says:
“According to the results, it looks like you’d be great doing something in the agriculture industry or Pharmaceutical industry.”
You leave the office a little confused and unsure, tell your friends and maybe your parents when you get home, but have more important things to worry about like playing Minecraft and studying for a test.
This was how my “career assessment” went when I was in high school. (Minus the playing Minecraft part because I lived during a time when there was something called Nintendo 64).
It was impersonal, confusing, and frank, not something anyone took very seriously.
The experience of choosing your career should be something more impactful, so if you’re looking for advice on how to choose the right career, you’re in the right place. Regardless of whether or not you get any help from your school, after reading this, you’ll have all the tools you’ll need to succeed.
What You’ll Learn After Reading This Article:
· When is the right time to start thinking about your career?
· Steps on how to choose the right career path.
· I frequently ask questions about choosing a career in high school.
When Should You start Thinking About Your Career?
The short answer here is the sooner the better.
Let me be clear though. You don’t need to have all the answers when you’re a freshman…. or even a senior. The idea is just to start thinking about what you want to do as soon as you can.
As a high school student, it might be hard to do this because you are busy with school work, sports, extracurricular activities and trying to think about college, but spending some time thinking will help guide you in the other decisions you have to make, like planning for college.
If you’re reading this and you’re a senior in high school and starting to panic, don’t worry, there’s always time to plan for your career. There are 37-year-old parents that still don’t really know what they want to do, so if you’re at least reading this now as high school student, you’re ahead of a lot of people.
With that said, let’s get into how you can choose the right career path in high school.
How to Choose the Right Career Path in High School
Step 1: Identify Your Interests, Strengths, and Passions
Before worrying about the pay, the hours, the vacation, the location or anything else about a potential career, you should first spend some time thinking about these questions:
1. What do you love to do?
2. What are you good at doing?
Once you can answer these two questions, you’ll be on your way to choosing a career path.
It’s important to realize that the answer to these questions can lead you down two different paths, and that’s okay. As a high school student, having a few different options to choose from is a good thing.
Let me explain.
If I were to ask myself these two questions when I was in high school, here’s how I would have answered.
1. I love to play sports.
2. I’m good at creating content for videos.
Those answers would have led me down two different paths:
- Trying to play sports professionally (spoiler alert I failed at that)
- Pursuing a career in television, film, content creation, etc.
These questions can help to steer you on what paths to try. You might not stay on them your entire life, but they are great starting points.
So, before you do anything, spend however long it takes to answer these questions as honestly as you can. I’d also suggest not asking anyone for help first. Once you get the answers it’s perfectly fine to run them by someone close to you to see what they think.
Once you’re set on this step, then you can move on.
*Note, you should revisit these questions throughout your life, because as you grow, the answers to these questions should change slightly…. or sometimes dramatically
Step 2: Explore Career Options and Research Different Fields
Now that you have a couple career paths to choose from after coming up with your answers in Step 1, you can move into the research phase.
In the world we live in today, you should be thankful at how easy it is to research potential career paths.
Do you want to know the easiest way to do it?
Talk to ChatGPT (or whatever GenAI you like using).
*A side note here, this should not take the place of talking to parents, advisors, teachers…Career Coaches…ahem…etc., but I’m referring to the initial phase where you’re still trying to formulate a plan.
I recommend using ChatGPT in your research phase because it can answer just about any question you throw at it on a certain career or industry you’re thinking about pursuing. The great thing is that you can get pretty specific with your questions.
Here are just a few questions you can ask to get the convo started with ChatGPT:
1. "What skills or qualifications are most important to succeed in this field?"
2. "What opportunities are there to gain hands-on experience, like internships or job shadowing?"
3. "What is the typical career path for someone starting in this profession?"
*Pro Tip: Prompt ChatGPT by telling it that it is going to take the persona of an expert Career Counselor, Psychologist and Guidance Counselor with 30 years of experience in your field.
Once you’ve gathered all the information you need from ChatGPT, you should talk with someone who your close with to see if you can get more answers to your questions.
Once you’ve done this, then you can move to Step 3.
Step 3: Gain Hands-On Experience Through Internships or Job Shadowing
One of the best things about thinking about your career path in high school is that you have the ability to trade time for knowledge. Here’s why:
As a 15-year-old, you should hopefully not have a family to support, so you can get away with working for little to no pay. That sentence may sound extreme, but I’m not saying you should work for free for the rest of your life, just for a little while. Here’s an example:
Let’s say one of the career paths you’re thinking about is becoming a Physical Therapist. You have the ability to email/call/walk-in to a Physical Therapy office and offer to help out for free, and who doesn’t want free help. This is something a 50-year-old with a family to support doesn’t have the ability to do.
If that office doesn’t need help, you can move on to the next one and offer your services for free again. Whether it’s sorting mail, sweeping floors or scanning paperwork, if you can get a role, you’ll be able to eventually shadow a Physical Therapist to see what they do on a daily basis.
To summarize this into a few easy steps, here’s what to do:
1. Identify the companies/businesses who have the careers you are interested in that are close to where you live.
2. Email or call to see if they’d be willing to bring you on to help out for free.
3. Once you get hired, start shadowing the person in your potential career path.
Now that you’ve gotten a taste for your potential career path, you can move on to Step 4.
Step 4: Set Goals and Consider Educational Pathways for Your Chosen Career
This isn’t a popular thing to say to high school students, but I’ll say it anyway:
You don’t have to go to college to be successful in your career. Sure, it’s great to have a college degree and if you look at job postings on the internet, it seems like 90% of them want someone with a college degree.
But, if you’ve figured out the right career path in high school and have been successful in Step 3 and it’s a career that doesn’t require a specialized degree like a doctor or teacher, you might not have to go to college.
Here’s an example.
Let’s say you’ve been shadowing the General Manager at Big John’s Gym throughout high school, and you’ve found your passion and are great at what you’ve been doing. Rather than going to college, it might be worth saving $200,000 on a degree and pursue certifications that could help you in the gym world.
There are a number of career paths you can take where going to college won’t necessarily guarantee you the job. Especially in the world we’re in now, learning has been disrupted by technology. It’s important to really put thought into whether or not college is the right path to take.
Once you’ve decided on how you’re going to approach your education for your career path, you can plan out your college decision and beyond.
You may still have some questions on choosing your career path, so let’s take a look at some common questions that people in your shoes have been asking.
Frequently Asked Questions About How to Choose the Right Career Path in High School:
Q: How do I figure out what career is right for me?
A: Start by identifying your interests, strengths, and values. Take career aptitude tests, explore hobbies, and talk to professionals in fields that intrigue you. Understanding what excites you and aligns with your abilities can point you in the right direction.
Q: Should I focus on my passion or choose a career with good job prospects?
A: Ideally, aim for a balance between passion and practicality. A career you're passionate about can be fulfilling, but it's also important to consider job stability and earning potential. Look for fields where your interests and market demand overlap.
Q: What classes or activities should I take in high school to prepare for my career?
A: Choose classes that align with your career goals, like STEM courses for engineering or art for design. Participate in extracurricular activities, internships, or volunteer work related to your interests to gain valuable experience and insights.
More Help with Choosing the Right Career Path
If you haven’t realized it by now, choosing the right career path should take you a lot of time, thought and effort.
Surrounding yourself with people who want to help you is essential to this process. If you find yourself needing more guidance, expert advice and someone who wants to listen and see you succeed, you and your parents should check out a Career Coach at Your Career Strategy. I can promise you; that’s a decision that you won’t regret.
Good luck!