Which career path is right for me?

What is right for you?

Generalist, specialist, self-employed, project manager, entrepreneur, self-employed consultant. These are just some of the jobs you can update your LinkedIn profile with when you’ve entered the labour market. However, it may be difficult to feel what is right for you. Jumping on the bandwagon and seizing any opportunities that arise is much easier.

And this thing about your gut feeling is something many members overlook, says Sanne Mattebjerg, a career consultant.
“Our members are fact-based and learn new skills by reading and testing, but perhaps they’re not fully in touch with their gut feeling. The thing is that intuition is just as important as facts when it comes to making career choices,” says Sanne Mattebjerg.

Video: What career choices and paths exist?

The typical career path

Your studies are an introduction to the many competences necessary to be able to carry out different types of job. And according to the consultant, it’s important that you are familiar with these competences in your first period on the labour market.

“We recommend that, if they want to and if they can, our members use the competences from their subject and field of study in the first couple of years after graduation,” says Sanne Mattebjerg.

As a new graduate, you are not a specialist, even though you have specialised in an area during your studies. You become a specialist when you have worked in depth with an area for a number of years. After that, your career can take many paths and U-turns. However, Sanne Mattebjerg points out that you can’t just say that you’re a specialist after two and a half years. It depends on your position or the type of work you’re performing.

Types of career paths

Generalist: A generalist has an overall understanding of many different subject areas, and can quickly learn new skills when needed. They are flexible and adaptable and are able to deal generally with many different subjects without going into depth.

Specialist: A specialist has extensive and in-depth knowledge within a defined and specific area. They understand the complexity of a subject and can analyze and discuss detailed aspects of this area. They often have several years of experience in their field.

Self-employed/Entrepreneur: Runs their own business or project and has control over how the business works. They make decisions about everything from product development and marketing to financing and operations. Self-employed people are often driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and want to take advantage of new opportunities and create something new. They are basically risk-averse in relation to achieving their goals.

Project Manager: A project manager is responsible for planning, managing and implementing a time-bound project to achieve specific goals and outcomes. Project management is an interdisciplinary skill that requires a combination of technical, managerial and communicative skills. Project managers work in a wide range of industries and sectors, and skills such as organisation, planning, communication and management are important to possess.

Manager: A career path as a manager typically requires more experience both on the floor as a specialist and/or experience as a project manager. Here you will have more personnel responsibility and the tasks will be wide-ranging and often be more strategic and communicative – You move away from operations and development and focus to a greater extent on setting a direction and being a decision-maker, and ensuring well-being and efficiency in your team.

Go with the flow?

Many members choose, consciously or unconsciously, the tactic that could be called „go with the flow‟. Here you make career choices based on the opportunities that arise instead of sitting down and asking yourself: What kind of working life do I really want?

„It is typically only after 5-7 years, when you have tried enough different tasks, management styles, processes and company cultures, that you find out what is important to you in your working life here and now. You cannot know in advance whether the transport was too long or what everyday life is like. You must also learn that it is important to ask what exactly one’s work tasks consist of. It’s some of the learning that you don’t know is necessary – and something we often talk to the members about,‟ says Sanne Mattebjerg, adding:

„Doubt will probably react at some point in the form of physical reactions – you may know it as a bit of a stomach ache. If you don’t listen to that doubt, it can result in headaches, poor sleep or perhaps stress. If, on the other hand, you learn to listen to your doubt, it can help you to see possible challenges so that you can deal with it before things go wrong.”

In other words, it is incredibly important to take an active stance on one’s working life. And preferably sooner than later.

Get better at the decision-making process

You can learn more about decision-making processes by watching the webinar „Learn to make a choice‟. Here you get concrete tools for making decisions and choices. So you will be able to make choices that are in line with your ambitions, dreams and values.

Forget the dream job – it doesn’t exist

There are so many different paths you can take that it can seem completely unmanageable to navigate. Both in terms of job types, but also which area of responsibility and how a working week should unfold. Should you give it gas in a private workplace with a weekly working time of over 60 hours, or would you like to prioritize family and free time?

Then you may have to go for a company that makes room for that rather than being a consultant in a large company with lots of travel activity and overtime. But the career counselor is certain of one thing.

The dream job does not exist. There is no one specific that fits one person forever. In a way, it’s a shame to admit, but it can also be a comfort that you don’t spend your entire working life looking for something that doesn’t actually exist.

„There are many really good jobs that match you here and now – there are also semi-good ones that can be a really good start to your career. There are bad jobs . But the dream job does not exist. You will always compromise on something. Whether it’s salary, working hours, transport or something else,‟ says Sanne Mattebjerg.

In addition, you develop and the world develops, so it is impossible to say what will be the right job for you in 3 years. 

Another experience that many will probably come across in one’s working life is the feeling of regret. You may have regretted a job or moved to another department, and it turns out that you don’t get along with the new colleagues at all. But here, too, there is comfort to be gained from the career advisor. According to Sanne Mattebjerg, there are no wrong choices.

”Was it a wrong choice? No, because it was true at the time you hit it and based on the knowledge you had at the time. If you knew what was going to happen, you wouldn’t have taken it. You make the right choice at the given time, and cannot control what will happen. Then you have to make a new choice based on the situation you have found yourself in and with the new knowledge‟.

Remember that you can always contact one of our advisers if you have questions about your working life.