Welcome to part two of the article! Read part one.
In part one, I shared three steps to help identify career options if you are in a role mis-match. In part two, we’ll look at a decision-making process I call a feasibility/desirability matrix.
We’ll continue to use Mary to create an example. You’ll recall Mary identified financial planner, public tax accountant, and personal banker as top career choices from the 3-step exercise. Upon further reflection, and input from others, she adds lawyer to her list. How should she choose between these options?
First, she creates a simple table with three columns:
In the first column, Mary lists each job. In the second column, she writes the gap in qualifications she’ll need to close based on internet research (e.g. a particular degree, certification, exam, work experience, etc.) In the third column, Mary lists her feasibility of pursuing the qualification.
Things to consider when assessing feasibility are resources at your disposal, such as finances and time, and possessing needed prerequisites. You’ll also want to research if your choices are growing or retracting professions, since you’ll want to find employment when all is said and done. www.onetonline.org is a good resource to research future outlook on jobs (hint: occupation quick search in the upper right corner of the site).
Lastly, Mary ranks her choices by highest to lowest feasibility, and selects a feasible option that has the highest desirability for her. In this example, she chooses Financial Planner, because it has Medium-High feasibility, and is her number one career interest.
I hope you find this a helpful tool in simplifying potentially daunting decisions.
All the best to you!
Kristin A. Sherry 