Research the work you’ve chosen

When it comes to career decisions, a feeling of certainty can be elusive. Is this the right career to pursue? Will the culture be a fit? Is the industry stable?

While there’s no certain antidote for doubt, conducting adequate research will give you more confidence in your decision while also providing a blueprint for moving forward.

I tend to think of career research in three levels or stages: Broad-scale general research, person-to-person inquiry, and experiential discovery. To get the most efficiency from the process, it helps to conduct the steps in that order, starting with the most general research before progressing to more refined, personalized inquiry.

You’ll understand why the order matters if you think in terms of a funnel or upside-down triangle. The widest part of the funnel is where you “enter” the generalized research process, and this is where you have the most data to sort.

Once you’ve answered some questions on your own, or eliminated some options, you can bring a more strategized set of questions to a limited number of individuals in the person-to-person stage. Then, based on their advice, you can sift further so that only one or two options reach the more intensive level of experiential discovery before you make your final decision.

With that overview in mind, here are some tips for each of the three stages.

General Research.

Thanks to the internet, this is the quickest and easiest research step. If you don’t have a clue about what your next work will be, you can start by visiting sites that are organized around helping you translate your skills into job titles, such as ONetOnline.org. Or, if you have some job titles in mind, you can check out what the government says about the conditions and prospects for that work by heading to sites such as bls.gov.

Plugging job titles into general search engines can also be surprisingly helpful. Suppose you’ve heard about actuarial careers and have looked up government statistics – now simply type “actuarial careers” into a search engine and see what happens. You will likely find a selection of articles from a variety of publications, as well as a link to one or more professional associations for the field. Job board listings and college classes will also appear, which might be helpful later in your process.

As a warning, don’t be surprised if you are more confused, not less, during this stage of research. You will soon be awash in data, so I’d advise researching only one job area at a time and tracking your results by bookmarking or printing key pages for later review.

Person-to-person Inquiry. Now that you have an initial understanding about a particular field, you’re ready to ask higherlevel questions of someone who understands the work well – perhaps a supervisor in the field, or an instructor for related coursework. Commonly called informational interviews, these conversations are frequently 30-60 minutes of questionand-answer with the job seeker leading the discussion.

To make best use of your time, you’ll want to prepare your questions and come ready with the industry information you gathered online. Two common ways of finding prospects for these sessions are by connecting with people through LinkedIn or contacting members of a related professional association.

Experiential Discovery. Not everyone will need this stage, as the information gathered from people in the field may provide enough data to make a decision. That said, some careers really must be experienced to be understood. A classic example is teaching. It’s one thing to read about managing a classroom full of teenagers and quite another to actually do it. Waiting until the student teaching phase of a degree or licensure program is too late for this research – by that point, you’re almost too far in to turn back. Better to visit a variety of classrooms and volunteer to lead after-school tutorials before you sign up for training. Then you’ll know if the work suits you, and you’ll have a better idea of how to prepare for the career.

Remember that it is possible to over-do this step. Since it’s hard to know when you have enough data, consider limiting the process by time rather than by quantity. Give yourself a defined period to gather information, with a specific date for moving forward with what you know.

I can help you choose that date: The next article in this series of five job search steps will appear in midJuly. That’s when I’ll focus on the issue of skills and training, to ensure you are prepared for the jobs you are about to go for. Meet me back here then and we’ll keep this process moving.