How to Find a Career That Suits You: A Practical Method
“What do you want to do?” is a hard question to answer in the abstract. It gets easier when you break it into four smaller questions you can actually test: what interests you, what you are good at, what matters to you, and what holds up when you try it in real life. This article gives you a method to answer each one and combine the answers into a shortlist.
Why gut feeling is not enough
Most people choose careers by accident: a subject they did well in at school, a job a parent suggested, the first offer after graduation. Gut feeling has its place, but on its own it overweights what you already know. Many good-fit careers are ones people have never heard of, such as clinical data manager, quantity surveyor, UX researcher or supply chain planner.
A structured method widens your options before narrowing them, and replaces guesswork with evidence. It is complementary to our broader guide on how to choose the right career path, which covers the overall decision process. Here we focus on the practical tools.
Part 1: Interests, using the RIASEC model
The most widely used framework for career interests is the RIASEC model, developed by the psychologist John Holland. It groups interests into six types:
- Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
- Investigative: analysing, researching, solving complex problems
- Artistic: creating, designing, writing, performing
- Social: helping, teaching, caring, advising
- Enterprising: leading, persuading, selling, starting things
- Conventional: organising, working with data, following clear processes
Most people have two or three dominant types, which together form a code such as “SEC” or “IAR”.
How to do it: take a free interest inventory. In the US, the Department of Labor’s My Next Move site offers the ONET Interest Profiler at no cost. It scores you on the six RIASEC areas and links your results to careers in the ONET database, which covers more than 900 occupations, with information on tasks, skills, pay and the level of preparation each needs. The tool is US-based, but the interest types and job descriptions are useful wherever you live.
Write down your top three types and five to ten suggested careers that catch your attention.
Part 2: Aptitudes, what you are good at
Interest without ability leads to frustration. Ability without interest leads to boredom. You need some of both.
Aptitudes come in two kinds:
- Reasoning abilities: numerical, verbal, abstract and logical reasoning. Many employers measure these with aptitude tests during recruitment, and they are a good guide to how quickly you learn certain kinds of work. Someone strong in numerical reasoning often does well in finance, analytics and engineering; strong verbal reasoning helps in law, communications and policy.
- Practical skills: what you have proven through work, study or hobbies, such as managing a team, fixing things, teaching, writing or selling.
How to do it: take a few short reasoning tests to see your relative strengths. You can start with our free practice tests to get a first impression of your reasoning strengths. Then list five things people regularly ask your help with, and five achievements you are proud of. Look for patterns. Our guide on career assessment tests explains what each type of test measures and how much weight to give it.
Part 3: Values, what matters to you
Two people with identical interests and skills can thrive in very different careers because they value different things. Common work values include:
- Income and financial security
- Flexibility and work-life balance
- Helping others or contributing to society
- Status and recognition
- Independence and autonomy
- Variety and new challenges
- Stability and clear structure
- Working with a close team
How to do it: pick your top five values and rank them. A career values test can help if you find it hard to choose. Be honest. If income matters more to you than you would like to admit, it still matters.
Part 4: The energy audit
Tests tell you about yourself in theory. The energy audit tells you about yourself in practice.
For two weeks, at the end of each day, note:
- Two activities that gave you energy at work, study or home
- Two activities that drained you
Be specific. “Meetings” is too vague; “explaining a new process to two colleagues” or “sitting in a two-hour status meeting” is useful. After two weeks, the patterns are usually clear, and they often confirm or challenge your test results.
Putting it together: the scoring grid
Take the five to ten careers from your list and score each from 1 (poor fit) to 5 (strong fit) on four criteria:
| Career | Interests | Aptitudes | Values | Practical fit* | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Option A | |||||
| Option B | |||||
| Option C |
*Practical fit: training required, pay, job availability in your area and how realistic the route is from your current position.
Your top two or three totals are your shortlist. The grid is not a formula that decides for you; it is a way to see trade-offs clearly.
Part 5: Test your shortlist in the real world
Before committing to a course or a job change, test each option cheaply:
- Read ten job ads for each role. Do the requirements excite you or bore you?
- Have three conversations with people who do the job. Ask what a normal day looks like and what they find hardest.
- Try a task. A short online course, a volunteer shift, a weekend project or a day of job shadowing.
After each test, rescore the career in your grid. Options that excited you on paper sometimes lose their appeal, while others become more attractive once you see them up close.
Worked example
Sofia, 24, studied business in Pune and works in a bank’s back-office operations team. She feels capable but uninspired.
Interests: Her Interest Profiler result was Investigative, Social, Conventional (ISC). Suggested careers that caught her attention: market research analyst, HR analyst, health services manager, training and development specialist.
Aptitudes: Practice tests showed strong numerical reasoning and above-average verbal reasoning. People at work ask her to check spreadsheets and explain processes to new joiners.
Values (ranked): 1. Helping people, 2. Learning and variety, 3. Financial stability, 4. Flexibility, 5. Working in a team.
Energy audit: Energy from explaining things to colleagues and finding errors in data. Drained by repetitive data entry and long periods without human contact.
Scoring grid:
| Career | Interests | Aptitudes | Values | Practical fit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HR analyst | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 17 |
| Training specialist | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 17 |
| Market research analyst | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 16 |
| Health services manager | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
Real-world tests: She spoke to an HR analyst and a learning and development specialist at her own bank, took a short online course in people analytics and volunteered to help run onboarding sessions for new hires.
Result: HR analyst rose to the top because it combined her data skills with a people focus, and her bank had an internal route into the HR team. She set a 12-month goal to move internally and built the next steps into a five-year career plan.
Common mistakes
- Choosing based on job titles. Look at the daily tasks instead.
- Taking one test as the final word. Tests are input, not instructions.
- Ignoring practical constraints. A great-fit career that needs seven years of training may not suit your situation right now; a related role might.
- Waiting for certainty. You will never be 100 per cent sure. Aim for a well-tested next step, then adjust.
Checklist
- Interest inventory done; top three RIASEC types noted
- Reasoning tests taken; strengths and weaker areas noted
- Top five values ranked
- Two-week energy audit completed
- Five to ten careers scored in the grid
- Top two or three tested with job ads, conversations and a practical task
- Next step written down with a date
Frequently asked questions
Is there a test that tells me which career suits me?
No single test can decide for you, but several give useful input. Interest inventories based on the RIASEC model, such as the free O*NET Interest Profiler on My Next Move, suggest fields that match your interests. Aptitude tests show where your reasoning strengths are. Combine them with your values and real-world experience.
What does RIASEC mean?
RIASEC stands for six broad interest types: Realistic (hands-on), Investigative (analysing and researching), Artistic (creating), Social (helping and teaching), Enterprising (leading and persuading) and Conventional (organising and working with data). Most people have two or three dominant types.
How long does it take to find the right career?
The self-assessment part can be done in a few weeks. Testing options in the real world, through conversations, shadowing, courses or projects, usually takes a few months. Expect to refine your direction over time rather than find a final answer in one go.
Should I follow my passion?
Interest matters, but passion often grows from becoming good at something and seeing its impact. Look for overlap between what interests you, what you are good at or can become good at, and what employers will pay for.
What if none of the suggested careers appeal to me?
Look at the work tasks rather than the job titles. Identify which activities in the suggestions appeal to you, then search for roles built around those tasks. Talking to people in adjacent fields often reveals jobs you did not know existed.
About the author
Ingmar van Maurik is a specialist in test and interview preparation who helps candidates perform better in recruitment processes.