Here we will highlight how to choose the right Career in a developing countries like Nigeria, Ghana and other parts of the world.
What is a Career?
A career is an occupation someone does for period of his life and with opportunities for progress. It is also something that a person thinks they are best capable of.
In business, this is usually a job that you may be exceptional good at or a service you can offer to clients. It can be an activity that lines up appropriately with your personality, skills, knowledge and endowments.
By having a career, you can satisfy the need of a certain person or market.
Why is it essential to develop a career?
It’s important to develop your career so you can work in a profession that makes you cheerful and motivated and relevant.
How to choose the Right career in Nigeria
Below are how you can make the best career choice in Nigeria;
1. Think about your passions and interests
The career you develop for yourself should be one you are so passionate about that you will likely continue in it over time.
You will possibly invest financially, emotionally and mentally into developing and sustaining your career, so consider the passions you have and your interests. Your career should be a combination of both.
For example; you may be passionate about journalism, but if you do not have an interest in writing, then a career in journalism may not be the best option for you.
Once you focus on what you are so passionate about, you would do the work without a paycheck, you’re probably on the right track.
2. Review your strengths
Just as your passions and interests are crucial when choosing your career, so are your strengths. Your strength can be your skills, talents, education, or knowledge.
Applying similar example, if you are passionate about and interested in writing, but it’s not one of your strengths; it is not what you can do with ease, it is advisable you reevaluate your position.
Think about what you have exceptional at in previous jobs and even in your personal life to see if you can translate that to a new career.
Consider inquiring from colleagues, friends and family members who are well informed about you what they think about your strengths are.
They might provide you with some inspiration and the external perception you need to arrive at a conclusion.
3. Research about the market and Competition
Conduct research to understand better market demands for your service or skill, as well as any gaps that presently exist in the market.
Check out the online search volume for what you’re offering and look up relevant groups to see what current users want more of.
You can also attend local trade shows or career fairs to see how others are selling the same services and what questions attendees have for them, or scroll through online forums and read through the discussions there.
To research your competition, do a simple online search for the focus keywords you want people to know you for.
Search engines will show you how many total search results there are for your search terms, which will give you a good idea of how many others are ploughing online for the same thing.
Click on some of the websites to view their content and check out their focus. If there is a lot of competition from people doing the same thing as you, you may want to polish your position a little more.
4. Decide on a focus within your profession
It’s important to focus your profession on a streamlined need or topic. Doing so will make it easier for you to excel and actually take joy in the work you do because you’ll attract the ideal people to work with.
For example, if your profession is writing, focus on the type of writing you’ll do or who you’ll be writing for. Instead of adopting a broad writing niche or sphere, think again about your passions.
Maybe you can develop your calling and focus on writing for a specific audience or about a certain topic.
5. Identify your target audience
In this step, take time to closely define your target audience. Develop your audience persona by answering the following questions:
Is my target audience online or in-person?
- What needs does my target audience have that I can help relieve?
- What are the precise interests of members of my target audience?
- Want kind of organization or individual do I want to work with?
- Whatare my proposed clients goals?
6. Evaluate and test your career
It’s important to assess you’re the viability proposed career to make sure you’re on the correct track toward developing one that will suit you and your target market audience.
Here are some ways you can assess the viability of your career before deciding on it:
- Reach out to focus groups to hear from your target audience firsthand.
- Attend local markets or fairs to market your credentials, service or products and weigh interest.
- Survey your audience via online surveys or within social media groups.
7. Develop your brand
Once you have chosen your career and feel confident it’s one that’ll be successful, start to develop your brand.
This is the step where you will highlight your difference from others in the same or seemingly similar career and will help you answer why a potential client can trust you above others.
Some items you should make note of include the work you do, the processes you use to complete your work and why you decided to pursue this work.
Brand development can include attending trade shows or networking with those in similar niches who you can form a mutually beneficial relationship with.
Branding can also involve creating a website, designing business cards, setting up social media channels and developing your brand colors, fonts and focus keywords.
9. Grow within your career
After you have found and formed your career, it’s important to consistently grow within it. Ensure you meet up with the ever evolving market demand and expectation. This can include attending seminars or working with a mentor.
It also could be the stage where you ask for business referrals from customers or form your own group of those in similar line of profession or business who can refer clients to each other.
This stage is also good for retesting your conviction about your chosen career to make sure you are on the right track and providing what people are looking for.
Finally, choosing and developing a career helps you discover your area of best fit in an organization, and in the society at large. It helps you channel adequately your strengths, services and products appropriately to the right target.