I knew I wanted a career in a medical field, but I had no idea which one was right for me. Many people have the same issue and wonder, medical career is right for me?
Choosing a new occupation is difficult. It requires research, knowledge about yourself, and finding a profession that offers advancement and fits with your skills and interests.
Thats a tall order. However, there are resources and tools available to help you. I will explain techniques I used, which may provide guidance to your question, which healthcare career is right for me?
What kind of person are you?
There are many tests that you can take to determine your personality. Your personality, then, can be matched up to a careers, which, in theory, youd be happy with. I have taken three.
These tests survey your personality and interests at any given time. Remember: Adults are less likely to have wild changes, but youngsters, who dont have a lot of experience, may shift a lot.
One of these reports can be beneficial if you have no idea where to start.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
I have taken a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator twice. This test can provide insight into your personality traits and can be a starting ground for your new medical career.
Occupations will list the type of character traits associated with the position. If you have that data into your character, you will have an easier time determining if might be a good fit in a position.
Many high school and college students take this test in a career planning course. You could take it a counselors office, though.
Campbell Interest and Skill Inventory
The Campbell Interest and Skill Inventory is detail oriented It determines your basic character attributes and applies them to different positions that may fit you.
When a position is listed, it scores your fit and notes whether you should pursue, develop, explore or avoid the career path.
Career Assessment Inventory by Pearson
The Career Assessment Inventory by Pearson is a good survey, I think. It scores your interests and matches it to positions that fall under different basic themes, such as investigative and social.
As an example, the survey notes that someone who scores high under an investigative theme may find greater satisfaction as a physician than a nurse who falls under the social theme.
Remember these assessments and survey are not an indicator of your success in the position.
Best test to find out what medical field is right for you: Get on the job
You may not need to take a survey or assessment. Although I took these, I found the greatest aid in my search to be the Occupational Outlook Handbook and interviewing people in that career and shadowing.
The OOH is a massive database of occupations, which an be used to explore different medical careers with ease. It provides education requirements, skills, characteristics, descriptions, and expected growth. It includes medical and non-medical administrative positions.
For example: if you are thinking about being a nurse, you can view that nursing is in high demand and expected to grow as a position.
But you can also see that nursing has a lot of advancement opportunities. The same holds true from medical imaging. You may start your career as a nurse or as an ultrasound technician but move into different specialties or administrative positions. Without researching in this database, you will limit your potential growth.
Once you find a career you might be interested in, I found that interviewing current workers in the field to be beneficial, as well.
You will meet people who are happy with their career choice and dissatisfied with it. Listening to both will provide you with a well-rounded idea of what the career is like.
If you can shadow, then that provides an excellent opportunity to see what the position is really like. You may be able to visualize yourself in that position.
I hope this article has provided some guidance to your question, what medical career is right for me?