How do I choose a career that's best for me? - I

Deciding on a career can be one of the biggest and most daunting decisions we make. So, it’s important to use a methodology that helps you arrive at a sound decision, because, for many of us, our work is going to be the activity we do most of the time for a large proportion of our life.So here is my first rule:Do what you love & love what you do. My father said to me when I was 15, ‘Darren, you can do anything you want in life, as long as you’re a doctor, lawyer or an accountant!’ Being a teenager, I didn't think I cared about my father’s opinion, but little did I know the impact my father’s words would have on me until several months later, when I had to work out a career I wanted to pursue and select subjects that aligned to it, for my final two years at high school. And can you guess what career I landed on? Yes, you guessed it, an accountant! Here’s the scary part, when I made that decision, I had no idea that this was my father's voice in my head..I went on to do reasonably well in high school, got into university and luckily for me, secured a job at the largest accounting firm in the world at that time, KPMG. Everyone was proud.Twenty-six days later, I was wondering what I was doing at this accounting firm. I hated my job, wasn’t good with numbers and within a year, I was the worst performing graduate out of 117 taken in. I was the only graduate that didn’t get a pay rise or a promotion. I was stripped off of all the high-profile clients, was given menial tasks to do, my performance was under the microscope and my confidence went underground. Within two years I hit rock bottom, suffered from depression and quit. It was the worst experience of my working life.I found myself at the tender age of 23, with a wasted degree (because I decided I would never be an accountant), was a disappointment to my father and felt like a total and utter failure. It’s hard enough to work out what career you want to pursue in the first place, but it’s even harder when you have no self-esteem and have to start all over again..After feeling sorry for myself and blaming everyone and everything for what happened in my career, I decided to swallow the bitter pill of responsibility and realised, ‘That if it’s going to be, it’s up to me.’I had to rethink my whole life plan and here are a few things I learned that you might find useful when making decisions about your future career. To be continued..Darren Pereira, a long time CHYK and CSK, is the Founding Director of Success Integrated. For over 20 years, he has been running educational programmes to build resilience, mental health and help youth choose fulfilling careers. He’s impacted well over 650,000 youth, educators and parents during this time. He also runs productivity training and leadership seminars for corporates as well as conducts one-on-one transformational coaching.

How do I choose a career that's best for me? - I

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