What Factors and Values Influence Your Career Decision?
There are so many ways to approach the discussion of “factors and values” that influence your career decision. As we all know, there are many things that influence the choices we make regarding our career directions. For your everyday job, this may be simple. But as you start to grow it becomes really critical. We’ve gone through the exercise of listing the things we value, and think to be influential in making these decisions so now let’s talk about it.
Career decisions can be influenced by so many things, from familial standing and cultural backgrounds, to personal interests and previous experiences. I recently read a story on linkedin where a recruiter offered a job candidate a position higher than the one they currently occupied, but accepting this new position would mean he had to leave his current company and job, and the candidate turned the offer down. His reason for declining the offer is the whole point of this anecdote, he said he was at the top of his career. According to the recruiter, he wasn’t anywhere near the top but why did he say that? Well to him he had reached the pinnacle of his career, because he was doing a job he loved at a company he was valued, living comfortably with his family. He was working with people who treated him well, and in his position he still had time to go to his kid’s games and recitals and to him, that is the height of his career.
The point of this is to showcase just how impactful your values can be. For this one person, family time is significantly valuable to him and make him satisfied with his career position, for some others they may value income and see the promotional opportunity as a better career choice. These factors tend to pave the way for the choices we make along our career path and influence the decisions that translate into our quality of living as a whole. So, read through your list and read it again because these decisions matter, and although you have the freedom to change your career along the way it never hurts to know what you want to do.
A good way to start practicing and thinking about this issue is with your everyday job while you are in school. If you think about it deeply, you always find ways to balance work opportunities with school and being near your family. So think of your everyday job as a way to help you know what is important to you and how to use those experiences in dealing with big career decisions. If you need an everyday job to get started on this, head on to MoreWithUs — Everyday Jobs. Your career decision may start there!
