What should I study?

Hello readers,

Today I thought I might talk about how I came to the decision about what I wanted to study.

Some of you may have gathered from reading the 'About Me' section that I am about to start a double degree in Human Resource Management and Psychology at the age of 30. The truth of the matter is that I have studied before. I have a certificate in travel and tourism which lead to me working as a Travel Consultant for 6 years and in my latest job as a Training Adviser I completed a certificate in business and another in management.

In the back of my mind what I wanted most was to earn myself a degree but I could never pinpoint one particular industry that I wanted to dedicate at least 3 years of studying to. I had attempted university twice before when I was much younger but dropped out very early when I realised my commitment wasn't there.

So now here I am at 30 just starting out. Why did I pick HR Management and Psychology? Well, through my work as a Training Adviser I worked closely with HR Managers from different businesses and, for me, the grass was always greener on the other side. From working with them I gained insight into what it would be like to be working in that area of expertise and I liked the idea of it! As for the Psychology side of my degree, I chose to study that as the two degrees tie in nicely together and the ultimate dream of mine would be to become an Organisational Psychologist. It would just mean a lot more study.

If anyone is interested, my advice for working out what you should study is:

DO
* look around and ask yourself if there is someone's job that you covet. If you know them well enough you can quiz them about their job.
* read through a job guide and make a list of any jobs you like the sound of.
* consider visiting a Career Counsellor to discuss options.
* make a list of your likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses and see if you discover anything.
* consider doing some work experience to see if your idea of your dream career and the reality of it match up.
* get online and start reading through some training organisation handbooks. Colleges, universities and other institutions usually have a description of their courses in online handbooks.
* Google some online quizzes. There seem to be a few around matching up personality types with career paths.
* pay attention when family or friends tell you what they think would be a good career for you. They often know you better than you know yourself. Beware that sometimes they don't know you all that well too so this advice can go either way!

DON'T
* Google 'What should I study?'. Yes, I have done it for fun and it didn't really help!
* make a decision without doing your research.

These are just a few of my tips but I'm sure there are people out there with some more ideas. Please feel free to post a comment at the bottom of this post.

Bye for now!