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.

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.

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.

You’ve very likely heard of someone who is making a good living as a medical transcriptionist. He or she might even be working from the comfort of their home. And you’ve probably asked yourself if this might be a career option for you.

It may well be. Let’s take a look at the facts.

What exactly is medical transcription? In the course of their work, doctors and other healthcare professionals make dictated recordings of various things including physical examination observations, patient history, operative reports, referral letters, discharge summaries, observations regarding imaging data and so on.

A medical transcriptionist listens to these recordings and transcribes them into medical reports, correspondence, etc. She listens to a segment of recording, pauses the playback and keys in what is said before moving on to the next segment. She may do some editing for better grammar and clarity.

The transcribed document is sent back to the health care provider who then reviews it for accuracy and gets it signed. These documents become part of the patient’s medical history records and perhaps insurance records.

To be effective at this job, you should understand medical terminology well. That includes anatomy, pharmacology, diagnostic procedures, treatment assessments and more.

Many distance education programs, colleges and vocational schools offer post-secondary training in medical transcription. Having a degree is not essential. With a home-study course, you can usually pick up the necessary knowledge within a year, often in less than nine months.

You can find work in hospitals, laboratories, physician’s offices, firms offering transcription services, government medical facilities and so on. Working from home is also a possibility and many employers offer work-at-home options for transcriptionists. Apart from that, many individuals work as independent contractors.

With experience, it is possible to move into supervisory positions, which include editing work, teaching, consulting, etc.

What equipment would you need, if you wanted to do medical transcription at home? Not very much — a computer with a medical spellchecker, printer, a transcriber and reference books are about all you need. To help you save on the actual typing, a word expander utility might help. If you are on a tight budget, buy second hand equipment will do just as well.

Medical transcription work does call for certain skills and mindset. Apart from basic computer skills, you must be detail oriented. If detail work bores you to tears, this might not be the career for you.

You must know typing, although speed will come with practice. You should also have excellent listening skills and grammar skills.

If you’re planning to work from home, it is essential to be comfortable with working alone and meeting deadlines. You must be a self-starter who can work consistently without being driven by a boss.

Given the growth in health practices and hospitals and the need for standardization of records, the demand for medical transcription services is likely to keep growing. You should carefully analyze the pros and cons of this field before venturing into it. Medical transcription provides a rewarding and fulfilling career for many people and it can do the same for you too.

In any type of businesses, an accountant is needed. You have to consider that accounting is basically the language in business and having enough knowledge about accountancy is essential for businessmen and women to know how their business is doing. This is why accounting professionals are very much in demand today. And, a lot of certified accountants have become quite successful in their field and some have even started their own business.

The great thing about this career is that it will enable you to interact with all levels of business and you will also learn a lot from it.

So, just what does it take to become an accountant and follow this career?

First of all, you need to know about the eligibility in becoming an accountant.

You need to be a graduate in a 4 year bachelor’s degree in accountancy or any related field. Aside from this, an accountant should be able to have good analytical and technical expertise in business systems. Good mathematical aptitude is also a must-have for accountants. And, because computers are now one of the most used medium in computing, you should also have knowledge and the operating skills of a computer.

Another requirement is that you will need a bachelor’s degree with a minor in another subject. This should be taken from an accredited college or university in order for you to apply for Master’s in accounting.

You can also pursue this career if you had your course in accounting over distance learning programs or through the internet.

Also, you will need an accreditation or license of certain organization, such as being a CPA should have a license by the STA or the State Board of Accountancy.

Most companies also require that you should complete a number of semester hours as well as work hours, which are considered for a 4-year bachelor’s degree. If you become a public accountant, you will be taken as a trainee. You will usually start your career as a junior internal auditor or as cost accountant.

It is recommended that you should have a master’s degree in business administration or an MBA because it is preferred by more companies who are looking for accountants as part of their employees

The great thing about pursuing accountancy as a career is that it presents a lot of career opportunities. For example, you can get a job as auditors or accountants in government offices or in private companies even if you do not have any license.

During the course of your career, you can even get promoted to a position, such as the chief financial officer position which presents a lot more great opportunities for your career.

You can also work in the legal office. You can work as an auditor, a financial officer, a budget analyst, a management accountant, and even as a tax accountant. Most companies that are looking for tax accountants will prefer accountants with legal background.

Forensic accounting is another promising career for accountants. Here, you will investigate crimes, such as fraud in company’s finances.

If you have a knack for teaching, you can teach a subject related to accountancy in college. This is a great career option and many accountants feel that this job is really fulfilling.

Just remember that in this profession, you have to start slow. If you are just beginning a career as an accountant, try to start as a trainee and work your way up to the career path that you want to take.

Accounting or accountancy career is a very promising career that presents a lot of great opportunities. You can be sure that you will find the right career that you want if you take this type of career.