You found your purpose (Blog #4) and have made the decision on the career path to take. What’s next?
If you have time, before college or university starts, why not ‘sample’ your decision. Explore it in a practical manner. This will give you an opportunity of experiencing your selected job in various ways:
- Take an internship or volunteer as an apprentice in a profession of your choice. Use the time to ask, explore, inquire and experience your selection.
- Take a MOOC (Massive, Online, Open Courses). Register for one of the MOOC platforms with one or two courses in the field chosen, and start learning. This will give you an in-depth insight into the subject matter and motivation to pursue it further. (Should it convince you away from your selected path, you have saved time and money with registering with a full qualification. In addition, you acquired a skill or knowledge that may be useful in the future.)
Check out the following MOOC platforms:
https://www.coursera.org/
https://www.udemy.com/ - Join Social Media professional groups of your chosen profession and become a “fly on the wall” gaining insight through their experiences. In the process you may also extend your network and search for future mentors or even employers.
This sampling could be spent during your ‘gap year’ period and make this time a meaningful part of your career selection journey
