What Are Your Interests and How to Pursue Them in Your Career

When job hunting, you need to ask yourself what your interests are. It would help if you answered this, It involves learning how to assess yourself.

You can't just go through life blindly, hoping you'll end up somewhere that makes you happy—that would be the risky route. That's why it's important to know yourself and determine personal interests to guide you before you make any big decisions.

Identify Your Interests

There are various interests that you can pursue. The endless possibilities, from medicine to sports, make it quite difficult to choose a path. So how do you do it? In this section, you'll learn to identify your personal interests and how to pursue them in your career.

1. What makes you smile

   If helping people interests you, you could be a doctor, teacher, or social worker. If you enjoy working on cars, you could be an auto mechanic or a carpenter. If you love animals, then maybe you could be a veterinarian.

   Other things can make people smile, like playing sports, drawing, writing, and building items. The point is that whatever makes you smile is what you should use as inspiration when choosing a career path.

2. What makes you laugh

   If you're trying to figure out what career path would make you happiest, think about what makes you laugh and what makes your heart sing.

   It would be best if you were happy and at ease at work. When you're in a job that doesn't fit your personal interests, it can be hard to get up in the morning.

3. What makes you cry

   You can't expect yourself to be passionate about something if it makes you cry and doesn't make you feel anything. If you don't like working with children, maybe teaching in a preschool isn't your calling.

4. What makes you sad

   The best-case scenario is that you'll do something you love daily. While knowing what love is important, knowing what you don't love is just as crucial. You'll be unnecessarily stressed if your tasks don't mean anything to you.

   A key part of identifying what career you want to pursue is understanding the tasks that make you sad. By knowing what makes you miserable at work, you'll know what kind of career path to avoid.

5. What makes you mad

   If you want to choose a career path that fits your personal interests, it's important to figure out what makes you mad. Stress can lead to sadness or anger, making it almost impossible for you to perform your job well. Why? You don't want to feel stressed every day from nuisances you know you could've avoided.

How to Pursue Your Interests in Your Career

1. List down the things you like and don't like

   A classic strategy to help you determine your career path is to list things you like and don't like. It seems so simple, but that's precisely why it's effective. Having them jotted down on a paper or document can help you see what can work for you and what won't.

2. Prioritize items in each list

   After making the lists, the next step is to prioritize the items in the list by ranking. Ranking what you like the most or having three top choices will narrow your career paths, and the same goes for the careers you don't want to pursue.

3. Know your skills

   As part of understanding your personal interests, knowing your strengths and weaknesses helps you choose which career might be best for you. You want to be in an industry where you at least have the basic knowledge of how things work, making your job hunt easier.

4. Consider your values

   Your values also play an important role because you want a job where you feel that your actions are meaningful and in line with your beliefs. Doing something for the sake of the job can lead to burnout and mundane life.

The Path You Choose

Choosing the right career path based on personal interests isn't easy and takes time. The process can be arduous, but self-assessing and identifying what makes you happy in life allows you to see the bigger picture of where you want to be in the future.

If you're looking for your next job, Career.com is the place you want to visit. We have over 50,000 job openings and can provide job opportunities in specific locations.