Choosing a career can be difficult, after all, you can’t really know what a job will involve until you’ve actually done it. But if you need to spend years training before you can try the career, choosing one in the first place could be a problem.

So, how can you answer the question “What career is right for me?” before you embark on a long and possibly expensive training or degree course?

Career decisions are often made quickly, often without enough background information, simply because schools and colleges don’t focus on providing advice on a wide range of careers, and young people don’t know how to access this information themselves.

This pattern is often repeated later in life, when someone decides to change career. Decisions are often made due to factors such as salary, perks and the possibility of job security or promotion. Although these are all good points and need to be considered when making a career choice, they should not be the main considerations.

Job satisfaction is one of the most important aspects of anyone’s career. After all, you spend a lot of time at work: up to 40 hours a week, in some cases more, for around 40 years of your life.

However, job satisfaction means different things to different people and so one of the first steps in deciding which career is right for you, is to decide exactly what job satisfaction means to you.

What do you want most from your career? Do you want to work with people or with computers or with words or figures - or a combination of these? Or perhaps something totally different. Are you passionate about animals or self sufficiency?

What activities or feelings are essential for you to feel fulfilled at work? Would you like to use specific skills, such as languages or teamwork or writing? Do you feel good when you are helping people, learning new skills or teaching other people how to do something?

Once you’ve made a list of the most important skills and activities should be part of your job profile, you can then look for careers which fit. In some cases, the choices will be obvious, but many skills can be used in a vast range of different jobs and so you might be surprised at the range of possibilities open to you.