Finding your career pathway

Choosing a career pathway can be daunting, especially when you're in high school faced with the pressure of choosing  a degree to shape your future. Without much experience, it's tough to explore all your options and truly understand yourself. However, I've learned that navigating career choices requires knowing yourself deeply.

I didn't always know I wanted to be a psychologist. Even during my Masters of Psychology, I never thought about counselling. But looking back, I realised that finding my way here, to a job I really love, came from knowing myself inside and out.

I can trace back to my primary school days when friends confided in me, trusting me with their secrets (i.e. who they had a crush on that week). When I asked, ‘Why do people keep telling me things, I don’t want to hold all the secrets?!’ I remember my friend shrugged and said ‘You’re easy to talk to, I guess.’ That was the first time I thought about it being a potential strength of mine.

Throughout high school, I fantasised about a career where I could share knowledge to lots of people without it being within the confines of a classroom (I knew I didn’t want to be a teacher). Eventually pursuing organisational psychology allowed me to develop programmes and lead workshops, which fulfilled that aspiration to an extent!

When I finally transitioned into counselling, this was right after experiencing burnout in my role in management consulting. Desperate for a change, and with the help of some luck, I stumbled upon my first counselling job. If I’m being honest, this change was also driven by wanting to align my strengths with my work environment. In my previous role, I felt that the key to success included being assertive to the point of aggressive, which made me feel pressured to cut people off mid-conversation. Fortunately, in a therapy setting, I can foster a safe space for dialogue, allowing people to express themselves, and where I don’t need to interrupt as much.

While my journey into counselling wasn't planned, I'm very fortunate and grateful for my current role. It required navigating through (many) crises and a deep understanding of myself.

As you think about your own career path, you can consider how well you truly know yourself. It might lead you to where you're meant to be.