How does one decide one’s career? How does one decide and take a decision that may shape the life excellently or doom it forever? It is not as if nobody has the right or opportunity to choose their own vocations. Circumstances decide the way things will go. But it is true that many people when asked, will say that they would prefer a different job or career of their own taste and liking.

Most people now have a formal education before they step in the real world where each one is to his own. Careers start at a very junior level. There are very few people who actually start at the top. They either inherit or are extremely brilliant. You may consider artists. Art is considered by most of us as a hobby. Very few venture from the beginning to become artists for a living, since it is well known that an artist might take years before his work is recognized and gets some value. Till then they are non-entities and have to depend on some other vocation for their living.

May times careers are decided by an individuals belief in his/her capability. Bill Gates left Harvard to co-found Microsoft.  If he had continued at Harvard, he might not have reached where he is today. He might have gone the conventional way of taking up the best job offering a good salary. Instead he pursued his natural talent in software. I needn’t talk further about him. People actually take up jobs and see how they cope up with the same. It has been seen in many cases, where executives keep on flitting between different jobs and departments and ultimately take up something else which is very
different from what they started with. Its this experimentation which helps them discover their natural talent. People learn about their own temperament with experience. They slowly move towards their goal. Very few are able to transform their avocations into their vocations.

People with determination try and succeed wonderfully in their own interest and work. Kalpana Chawla, the astronaut on the ill fated Columbia, nursed a wish to fly into space and become an astronaut. Scientists like Einstein, Edison with their independent thinking and research reached a position which is unrivaled. Abraham Lincoln chose politics and social work as his line and after numerous failures, became one of the most revered Presidents of the US. Gandhi and Martin Luther King chose the path of social change. They pursued their hearts and achieved their goals.

The opportunity for pursuing one’s natural talent always exists. Its how one recognizes the same and then pursues the instinct that decides one’s fate.

Licensed Practical Nurses provide the most amount of direct patient care within the nursing category of healthcare. If you’re interested in a healthcare career dealing directly with patients, becoming an LPN is a rewarding opportunity.

Licensed Practical Nurses are mainly responsible for direct patient care. Nurses’ aides and others assist LPNs in some of the duties they perform. LPNs take their direction from doctors and registered nurses (RNs) and nurse managers. Typically, an LPN is responsible for taking vitals signs, administering injections, application of bandages and dressings, and the monitoring of patients. Work duties can also include feeding patients, collecting samples and providing patient hygiene. LPNs work in a variety of settings like hospitals, outpatient facilities, long-term care facilities, clinics and home care. LPNs with many years of experience may supervise nursing aides and assistants.

Nursing jobs are generally in high demand across the country, but LPN positions in hospitals are declining. LPN positions in long term care facilities however, are in as much demand as other nursing categories. Home healthcare is also another area were LPN’s are in great demand. According to the U.S. Department of Labor ( http://www.bls.gov/ ) the median income for LPNs as $31,440 in 2002. The range was $22,860 to $44,040 based on geographic setting and job knowledge. Contract LPNs made the most money, while doctor’s office nurses made the least on average at $28,710. Nursing jobs offer not only good pay, but also flexible schedules. Nurses often work only three 12-hour shifts, which allow them four days off. Nursing candidates are also offered tuition reimbursement and signing bonuses.

How to become a nurse? You will need education and a nursing license. Graduates must complete a state approved practical nursing program and pass a licensing examination. An LPN certificate can be accomplished in less than a year. Some RN students become LPNs after finishing their first year of study. Course work in the LPN program includes physiology, chemistry, obstetrics, pediatrics nutrition, biology, anatomy, first aid and nursing classes. Becoming an LPN is the fastest path to a nursing career. If you have the qualities required to be a nurse and want a well paying job, getting an LPN degree in nursing is a great way to secure your professional future.

Bobby Ventura, a lanky 6’2” blonde-haired blue-eyed high school junior, is a self described home mechanic who enjoys tinkering with his screaming yellow ’97 Mustang at every opportunity he can get. Having an uncle who runs a garage helped him to land his first car several months before he obtained his driver’s license.

“I’m not much for studying, but auto shop has kept me focused. I plan on working for my uncle when I graduate from school and I’ll take night classes at Tech to get my AAS in Automotive Systems Technology. Cars have changed a lot over the years and my uncle wants someone who can not only turn a wrench, but be able to read a computer. Today’s cars have much more diagnostic stuff to figure out and that is what I am going to learn at Tech,” Bobby quipped.

Cars have changed and the market for new mechanics has changed as well. As older mechanics retire, they will need to be replaced by professionals who not only know cars from bumper to bumper but can also understand computer software. Installing a K&N cold air intake is still a necessary skill, but many repair shops now want students who can understand and fix global positioning systems, such as OnStar, which are found on many vehicles today.

Indeed, new cars such as the BMW 7 Series come equipped with fiber optic cables which connect the navigation system, cellular service, radio, and CD player. Hybrid cars, too, have introduced a whole new area of specialty and with the hopeful introduction of hydrogen powered vehicles in a decade or two another area of expertise will also open up.

Bobby’s guidance counselor, Ted Winslow, is pleased with his career choice. “Bobby identifies with fixing things and he is quite good at what he does. I can’t see him sitting behind some desk when I know that he is much more interested in working underneath the hood of a car, installing a cold air intake, replacing a radiator, or swapping out a heater core. Besides, if he does really well someone like BMW may hire and train him and their mechanics can make over 100K per year.”

If the student in your home is contemplating his or her career choices, exploring the automotive technology field is worth a look. A general shortage of highly skilled mechanics ensures that the brightest students will find work and be paid quite well. Bobby Ventura is starting his career off right by attending technical school where an AAS degree in Automotive Systems Technology is certain to point him in the right direction.

Advising others to change career sounds very simple and a workable proposition. When it comes to us, it becomes one of the toughest decisions to implement. A career change needs lot of mental preparation. If you have a family, that may get disrupted by your career change. The income may stop for some time. The decision itself may turn out to be a wrong one. It needs mental strength to change career. Let us see what it requires.
A change of career shifts us from a comfort zone to a zone full of discomfort in the beginning. For a full time production engineer, a change to a career as human resources consultant may need a total about turn, back to school and learning new skills for the new job. Some people change careers so totally that it looks incredible. Let us talk about changes that can be done more smoothly. I am talking about learning about a new career along with the old one and then shifting to the new career slowly. This process also requires mental strength, because it needs lot of extra work.

The first barrier that one encounters while thinking of career change is- how did I get into a wrong career? What if my new decision also turns out to be wrong? What if I continue with my present career? Why should I change my career? Some of these questions need head to answer and some questions are for the heart such as asking why did I chose the wrong career to begin with, may involve damage to self esteem, and acceptance of failure.

Before thinking of changing career, one needs to do analysis of life goals, and deciding about how the present career does not satisfy those goals. Only after deciding that something drastic needs to be done can one think about changing career. One has to develop mental and emotional strength to undergo these changes and emerge a winner again.

A career placement test can strike fear into the heart of even the most confident employee.  Think of the TV show, The Apprentice and you start to think about the extremes of career placement tests, but there are various career tests now in regular use.  But many job candidates are unaware of why these tests are used.

The main purpose behind a career placement test is to assess your suitability for a position.  It may well be that your qualifications are excellent and that you outshine all the other candidates on paper, but when you are in the ‘real world’, how do you cope then?  This can be assessed using the placement test.

Employers are becoming ever more choosy as more and more well qualified candidates are trying for fewer and fewer jobs.  How do you sort out who is really good and who isn’t?

Employers are also keen to assess qualities that often cannot be qualified at an interview alone.  How do you cope with stress and pressure?  Are you emotionally intelligent as well as academically intelligent?  How can you relate to people?  Are you a member of a team?  Are you trustworthy?

All these questions can be answered with a career placement test, but they cannot really be assessed by employers in any other way.  People will always say that they cope well with pressure, that they are hard working and trustworthy, a real ‘team player’ etc, yet in reality they may be out purely for themselves and about as trustworthy as a snake, hence the need for a career placement test.

These tests are also beneficial to candidates because they allow candidates an insight into what the job is really like.  Then they can decide if they want the job, or if it really is not as good as it was advertised as.  So they can benefit the potential employee and not just the employer and as such should be viewed as a mutual assessment rather than just a one way appraisal.