Choosing a career path can seem daunting. At CalAgJobs, we have gathered some tips and ideas to make this choice a bit easier for you.

A great first place to start is with Dr. John Holland’s Career Interest Game. Dr. Holland’s game states that there are six main career interests, those being realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. In his game you read descriptions of groups of people who fall in each of these categories and rate which ones you would be most likely to approach first. Your top three become the “Holland code” that describes your career interests. The University of Missouri has crafted a list of career’s with these codes attached to the descriptions. You then match up your code to the careers that share it and read more about what steps you need to take to reach that career. Check out more information here: https://career.missouri.edu/career-interest-game/

Another way to decide upon what path to take in your career journey is to consider the lifestyle you hope to live in your future. Start by answering the following questions.

• work from home, in the office, hybrid, in the field, other?
• part-time, full-time, seasonal?
• flexible hours, strict and structured hours, somewhere in the middle ground?
• independent work, team work, and how much managerial supervision fits you best with either option?
• be the one being managed or the one doing the managing?
• travel often, travel occasionally, never travel?
• work weekdays, work weekends, mixture of both?
• focus on creative work, technical and routine work?
• doing the same thing every day or a variety of work that changes often?

You can add or subtract from this list to best fit your wants and needs in a career. Once you have your answers you can start matching up what you’ve chosen to jobs that fit those categories. You may have to give and take until you find something that fits the majority of what you’d like, but this method will help ensure your chosen career gives you a work and life balance that you enjoy.

Don’t know what opportunities are out there? Start at www.calagjobs.com/jobs/ to see what we currently have available. Then navigate to our social media sites on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to view the postings for past roles. You can learn more about agriculture careers here https://calagjobs.com/resources/agricultural-career-options/. By seeing what opportunities exist for you in California within the agriculture industry you can begin planning what fits your goals and work towards choosing a career path.