Triton Mindset Blog
How Do I Figure Out What I Want To Do?
Submitted By: Mike Zucker - Associate Director of Career Development and Industry Engagement for the UC San Diego Career Center
Date: 12/7/2023
Key Take-Aways:
- There is a structure to the process
- History of career development theory
- How to develop direction
- Identify and navigate career planning stages
If you are a parent, if you work in Higher Education, if you have family friends with college-age children, if you have ever tried to plot your future, you have heard the – all too common gasp for help – “I am lost” or “I need to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life?” This is a very common question/concern that current and aspiring college students ponder – in a myriad of ways, at a myriad of times, resulting in a myriad of stressors.
As the role and shape of work in our society is under a microscope, it is not just current and transitioning college students that are tasked with coming up with answers to these pressing questions. It is career changers, it is individuals who are taking this opportunity to align work and purpose, it is people who have developed the courage to stand up and announce – “how I spend my time is about me, and working toward a fulfilling life, not simply role adherence or having a job!”
The “Great Resignation” has re-shaped how we view work. It has reshaped how we define work. With that, as previously illustrated, individuals at all points on the career timeline are trying to “figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives”. This blog post intends to help the reader understand the different approaches to answering these pressing questions over the years, and to hone in on common elements of these diverse approaches to ultimately reinforce – there is a mechanism and framework in place – that we can draw from – to effectively guide us in making these impactful career decisions.
To start, if you were to read up on the subject, you will see much attention given to the notion of design thinking, as that is a very tangible framework that allows us to move forward while preparing for the non-linear nature of career trajectory. You can plan while also not being “locked into” this plan allowing for a malleable approach to making your career transition. However, there are some traditional elements of that theory – ideation (figuring out why and what about YOU), prototyping (exploring by trying) that you will see sprinkled throughout most of the planning models highlighted over the years.
Another very popular career planning framework you encounter in this investigation is called Trait and Factor Theory. Our Armed Forces utilize(d) this approach to learn about a person’s traits (ASVAB), consider extenuating factors, and then find matches between job duties and skills/traits. While very outdated, there are pertinent elements of the approach that can be leveraged in helping us to answer these questions.
There is also a well-known career planning theory called Chaos theory – which postulates that it is hard to plan a linear career path, so we need to develop a plan that we can adjust and modify, in the direction of what is called “pendulum attractors”. If you like working with children but want to leverage skills related to say Mathematics – you can work toward the pendulum until you take on more experiences to assist with your decision-making.
At the UC San Diego Career Services Center, we use a comprehensive, tailored approach in helping students and alumni to answer this question. While we still focus on traditional career management, we have positioned Career and Life Design to serve as our primary theoretical foundation. Career and Life Design allows for learning and understanding how dysfunctional thinking holds you back while focusing on the notion that career design is a process – be curious, try stuff, reframe problems - in collaboration with a design team (the Triton Community offers so many resources).
These are the foundational elements of self-understanding and career decision-making, specific to Career and Life Design. Many careers thought leaders are leaning this way. At UC San Diego, Hassan Akmal, Executive Director of Career & Professional Development argues that it’s not just life design, but career + life, as they go hand-in-hand. This is something that distinguishes the UCSD Career Center from many others.
The list goes on and on regarding frameworks, models, and stages that can guide us as we navigate making these career planning decisions. The ultimate takeaway from this post is that regardless of the theoretical framework that you align with – Chaos, Career and Life Design, Trait and Factor, Career Life-Span, Planned Happenstance, there are common elements – that must be present – for us to make well informed, productive career decisions. I want to spend the remainder of our time together to address those common elements of effective career planning and development.
They are as follows:
- The foundation of each theory that I highlighted centers around the novel concept or notion that, and I cannot stress this enough – detailed Self-Assessment and Self Understanding are the foundations of any well-informed career decision and/or plan (who are you? what limiting beliefs/obstacles are you facing?)
- The literature in the field dictates that the traditional elements of what we need to know about ourselves are evolving. It used to be about a detailed assessment of our Career V.I.P.S. (Values – think motivators, Interests – think tasks of a job you enjoy, Personality Preferences – think to make decisions using logic or feeling, and Skills). Now, you will see more attention to culture, to identity as additional elements we need to know about ourselves to make career decisions
- Career Exploration – finding a match, within an occupation – that offers an outlet for “you” while understanding how to position/market yourself
- Engagement – test driving your interests in a more applied capacity – informational interviews, job shadowing, volunteerism, part-time jobs, internships, student org involvement
- Decision Making – the idea of committing to a direction can be very daunting for some
All frameworks, theories, approaches, tips, tricks, articles, and mentorship have the same general components. Effective career planning is connected to a detailed understanding of self, information gathering regarding the world of work, and applied experiences to test drive or prototype accordingly. This is where connecting with and utilizing the Career Center resources can help you embark on this journey of “figuring it out”, regardless of the framework, the steps of learning more about/reflecting on self, aligning/comparing with the world of work, and taking steps to test drive these areas will be consistent throughout. Career Centers all over the country are on the front lines of answering these questions, developing these tools, and guiding self-discoverers to their answers to these most pressing questions.
Mike Zucker: Associate Director of Career Development and Industry Engagement for the UC San Diego Career Center
Follow me on LinkedIn
Mike Zucker is a proud two-time graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Counseling. Mike is a dedicated and enthusiastic Career Services professional with over 18 years of experience working in a large public university serving college students to identify and address their career planning, experiential learning, and career readiness needs. In his spare time, Mike enjoys playing golf, is an avid swimmer, is a youth basketball coach, and has terrible luck in fantasy football. Mike began his time at the UC San Diego Career Center as an Associated Director in 2021.