Eight Mistakes People Make that Lead to Unsatisfying Work

A new tool, based on years of research, could make a difference for anyone trying to decide, What should I do when I grow up? For students choosing a course of study or for those considering what kind of work will stand the test of time, Crown Financial Ministries spent more than 10 years developing and fine tuning the newly re-launched Career Direct, which uses psychometric testing and measurement to help job seekers and prospective students.
 
So far, more than 120,000 adults and students worldwide have gone through the program. The tools asks users who are you? before telling them how to spend the roughly 100,000 hours of working life. And with that much science and personal testing behind it, Crown says it has learned that some career mistakes can be avoided, beginning with too little time spent in considering one's best skills and talents.
 
Finding our your unique skills should be the first thing any job seeker or student does before changing your life for your job or investing your hard-earned, even borrowed, money in education, said Crown's President Robert Dickie III.

In an article featured on Fox News (www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/19/8-mistakes-make-that-lead-to-unsatisfying-work)  recently, Dickie said, More than half of all students change majors at least once, and a recent survey found that the average American man changes jobs every four and one-half years, the average woman every three years. The model of employee and employer forming a lifelong relationship no longer fits.
 
Today choosing a career is generally not a one-time decision; it's a series of decisions, made through different stages of life, experience, and responsibility. But with more than 60 percent of Americans saying they are not satisfied with their current jobs, it seems obvious that it's time to consider new patterns for choosing a profession.
 
Career Direct provides personal analysis, testing and counseling to identify skills for a successful career. The company identified eight common errors people make when taking a job and when trying to find a satisfying career. Those mistakes are:

1. Choosing the first or easiest job you can get. To choose a job based on its ease is not being a good steward of your talents and abilities. The goal should be to move into areas in which we use our strengths.
 
2. Choosing a job based on salary. This error is so established in our culture that it'll take a strong commitment to a larger vision to choose a job based on talents, rather than on money alone. And if that high-paying job disappears, your resume advertises you with skills in a profession you may hate.
 
3. Choosing a job because it provides a good title. Doing what you're good at and what you enjoy is far more important in choosing a career than selecting a title and doing the work that accompanies it. You are not your title.
 
4. Taking a job just because management offers it. Discuss your work-related attributes with your employer to indicate the areas that will be the best fit for you. You may be better off expanding your area of responsibility in your present job, instead of moving away from your skills and area of expertise.
 
5. Choosing a job because that's what your parents do. While it is fine to follow in your parents' footsteps, make sure that you share their skill sets and passion. Don't choose a career track because that's what your parents do. Discover your gifts and develop your career plans around those.
 
6. Choosing a job to fulfill your parents' unfulfilled dream. Parents must be careful not to steer their children toward something the parents would like alone. Rather, children should be encouraged to follow a career path that best suits them.
 
7. Choosing a job just because you have the minimum ability to do it. There are many jobs we can do, but a job that involves our strongest skills, our personalities, and our motivations will take us farther and last longer.
 
8.  Choosing a job or major without any serious study of yourself. Evaluation tools, such as Career Direct and others exist to provide a roadmap so that people can avoid becoming lost in pursuits that don't satisfy without knowing why. Before investing years of your life or possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in education, take time to reflect on your skills and interest. Don't spend more time researching the next car you'll buy than you do researching a prospective career.
 
 To learn more about Career Direct, visit www.careerdirectonline.org.
 
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Crown, a non-profit, helps people and businesses integrate their values into business practices, debt reduction, and financial decision-making. For more than 35 years, Crown has been offering economic analysis and advice based on timeless truths. For more information, visit www.crown.org or call 800-722-1976.