How to Find the Right Education Program for You

Whether you’re about to complete high school, are new to the country, or just looking for a change in your life, there’s never a bad time to find the right educational program for you. While you may be certain that you want to try something new, it can be hard to narrow down what you might truly want to do. 

When we enroll in a program, we want to be sure that we’re not wasting our time, money, and efforts on something that won’t be worth our while. In this blog, we’ll go over the most important tips to consider and actions you can take on how to find the perfect program that will get you on a new and exciting career path. 

Where do you envision yourself? 

Think about what kind of work you want to do and where you envision yourself. This is important because workplaces and their culture can vary significantly, and you want to find something that you can match with. For some people, the idea of working in an office environment and figuring out complexities on the computer is intriguing. For others, they may want something that’s more hands-on, interactive, and social. It’s all about identifying what you work well with the most. 

When you envision that you don’t want to work in your current job or industry anymore, you take the first step in improving your life by finding something that’s meaningful and fulfilling to you. Check out the video below on how Edwin decided to take an education assistant diploma to turn his life around: 

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What are your personality traits? 

Introspection is necessary to understand what you really want to do. Ideally, you want to look for a program or career that aligns with some skills or personality traits that you already have. For example, do you like to work with people, follow instructions, or have creative talents? Based on that, you can narrow down your options. 

The Canadian Work Preference Inventory (CPWI) has developed five interest areas to measure what kind of job would be a good fit in just 15 to 20 minutes. It’s helpful for all kinds of people including young adults who want to select a career, employed people looking for an alternative career, and unemployed people trying to find something that suits them. The interest areas are Directive, Innovative, Methodical, Social, and Objective. 

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These interests are not mutually exclusive. Usually, careers can emphasize up to three of these traits. For example, as a massage therapist, you need to be social, objective, and methodical. Some of these can be seen as opposites, but in fact, can work together. For example, to be a cybersecurity professional, you need to be innovative, directive, and methodical. 

You can also browse government websites such as ALIS that allow you to explore careers that match your interests and skills. 

Identify what you don’t like 

There could be aspects of particular jobs that will help you narrow down your search. Take some time to reflect upon what you enjoy and what you don’t. For example, you may love to interact with people during the day and would like to do that for most of your job. In that case, you can omit the jobs where you think you would have to work alone most of the time. 

Recognizing what you dislike may be more important than knowing what you like. We don’t always know which areas or industries we could thrive in unless we try it out, but we tend to be very familiar with the things that don’t work out for us or that we don’t enjoy. Finding something that you are satisfied with will improve your quality of life and make you happier, rather than being stuck with something you have an aversion to. 

Final thoughts 

There are many options out there in terms of what you can do, and you don’t necessarily have to dedicate years to learning and getting a degree. Many institutions such as career colleges offer courses that are only one year long. 

Remember that you’re not alone in trying to find a new career path. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people began to re-evaluate their work and the lifestyle they want, looking for something fresh in their lives. Many of them went back to school. 

Don’t be afraid of trying something new, or worrying about what other people might say about your chosen field of study or training. If you find that you don’t like what you’re studying, you can always switch. Everything in life is a learning experience. 

Online courses that have a practicum in their curriculum are a great way of being able to make money while you study, offering flexibility in your schedule, and you finish fast. 

We hope this blog was helpful to you with your search. If you’re undecided, ABM College has a wide variety of courses and programs in health, business, and technology for you to browse through and find what’s interesting to you. You can find more education and employment tips on our blog.