How To Choose A Career Based On Your Natural Gifts
Many people struggle with choosing a career. Even with the many helpful resources available on career choice, it is still a challenge. There are many considerations to make when choosing a career, and most people prioritise income, future growth, employment opportunities, work-life balance, and the quality of life outside work.
These are all very valid considerations when choosing a career. And yet, too many people are waking up and ditching their seemingly successful careers to chase their ‘passion’. It’s because people overlook the most important consideration – their natural inclinations or type of intelligence.
This article will share helpful tips on choosing a career that aligns with your intelligence type.
But what is my intelligence type?
I thought you’d never ask.
According to Havard Professor Howard Gardner, there are nine types of intelligence, and people fall into these categories based on their strengths and weaknesses.
Choosing a career should be less than a hassle when you understand your intelligence type and pick careers that complement your strengths.
But how can you do that? We’ve gathered some information to help you choose a career based on your natural inclinations.
Do A Self-Assessment Of Your Skills
Half the work in finding a career that aligns with your natural gifts is knowing yourself. Most people think they know themselves. They probably do. But when choosing a career this way, you’ll need to relearn things about yourself. It begins with a self-assessment test.
Your responses from this test articulate your skills (hard and soft skills included), your core values, your natural gifts, your personality, and your interests.
When carrying out this self-assessment test, ask leading questions designed to dig out the bare facts.
Take The Intelligence Type Test
Your self-assessment will reveal so much of who you are, but the intelligence type fast is equally as important. But not for the reasons you think.
Taking the intelligence type test provides you with a broader range of strengths, including those you haven’t had a chance to display yet. It’s like a bright light shining on all your strengths and weaknesses.
After the intelligence test, open a spreadsheet arranging the different intelligence categories you have strengths in, preferably from the most to the least. Match this information with the results of your self-assessment. They should have one or several meeting points.
We’re almost there! Next up, choose careers.
Make A List Of Careers That Fit Your Skills
Now that you know yourself and your natural gifts a lot better. It’s time to find careers that fit you. An easy way of doing this would be to use your strengths and weaknesses as positive and negative parameters when searching.
Maybe you have read the best communication skills books and now know everything about effective communication or you have a deep passion for learning about psychology. An honest assessment of your skills, interests and values will be useful when narrowing down your options. You should find a lot of careers that fit within the box.
Pro Tip: For improved accessibility, try to arrange these careers from most likely to least likely.
Take A Career Assessment
When you’re done with this list of careers, the next step is to take a career assessment. Why, you might ask? A career assessment will broaden your list. It also serves as a confirmation that you’re on the right track. If you’ve followed the other steps as judiciously, the results of the career assessment should closely match the results of the step above.
Final Thoughts
Too many people earn well but are unhappy with their jobs and have no job fulfilment. Choosing a career should be about where you can fully maximise your natural gifts and tendencies. By using this method to choose a career, you’re most likely to enjoy job satisfaction, higher fulfilment, and passion for your work.
