How to Find the Right Career Path

Almost every time I speak with juniors or college students, I get asked the same question: “I’m not sure what field I want to work in. How do I decide what to do?” It’s a completely normal feeling — and honestly, I’ve been there too. When I first entered college, I had no clue what specialization to take or what career path to pursue. But here’s the truth: You don’t need to have it all figured out right away. What you need is a plan to explore and narrow it down. Here’s what I tell anyone who asks: 📍 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 — 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 List a few things you genuinely enjoy or find intriguing — like writing, data analysis, designing, or public speaking. Don’t worry about how they translate into a career just yet Action Step: Write down your interests without worrying about how they translate into a career. The point is to recognize your natural inclinations. 📍 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁-𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 Try out your interests through short-term activities like joining a club, taking a beginner’s course, or volunteering for a project. Give it 2–4 weeks and see if you enjoy the process Action Step: Try something for 2–4 weeks and assess: Did you enjoy the process? Did it feel meaningful? 📍 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝘁 Reach out to people working in fields you’re curious about. Ask about their day-to-day work, the skills they use, and what they enjoy or dislike about their roles Action Step: Message 3 professionals on LinkedIn and politely ask for a 15-minute chat. Most people are willing to help if you’re genuinely curious and respectful of their time. 📍 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀 Identify the skills you want to develop rather than getting stuck on job titles. Whether it’s data analysis, storytelling, or management, skills are transferable and will shape your career regardless of the role Action Step: Pick one skill you’re curious about and spend an hour a week learning or practicing it. 📍 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁 Your first choice doesn’t have to be your final choice. Reflect every few months to see if you’re still enjoying your current path. It’s okay to change directions as you learn more Action Step: Set a reminder to reflect every 3 months: Are you still enjoying your current path? If not, what’s next? The Bottom Line: You don’t have to know your exact career path at 20. Just focus on exploring, learning, and building foundational skills — the clarity will follow. To everyone feeling overwhelmed — take it one step at a time. And remember, not having it all figured out is okay — it’s part of the journey. What’s one career option you’re currently exploring? Share below — I’d love to hear your thoughts!👇 #CareerAdvice #CollegeTips #FindingYourPath #SkillBuilding #CareerExploration #EarlyCareerInsights

I’ve coached thousands of job seekers who felt lost and overwhelmed. Here are the 10 steps we start with to find the right path: 1. Your #1 Priority Clarity should be the first thing you invest in. It makes career success SO much easier (at every stage). When you have clarity, you can invest 100% of your energy into that goal. So before you start applying to jobs or grad school? Find your path. 2. The Myth Of “Passion” People think passion is a lightning bolt that suddenly hits you. One day you wake up knowing what you're supposed to do. That's BS. Passion stems from action. It's the result of trying new things. If you want to find your path? You need to act. 3. Map Out Your Ideal Lifestyle Career happiness doesn't come from a job title. It stems from the ability to meet your lifestyle needs: – Target salary – Ideal living situation – Surrounded by people you love – Work that fills your cup Start by defining all of these things. 4. Label Your Energy Next, grab a piece of paper. Make two columns: 1. Energy Creators 2. Energy Drainers Now list out every single activity, task, and project you've worked on. Label each as a creator or drainer. Your career path should be filled with energy creators. 5. Clarify Your Strengths Success is easier when your path plays to natural strengths. I recommend the High 5 Test. It's a 15 minute quiz that will define your top strengths. It'll tell you what each means and how to harness it. Talent: A natural way of thinking, feeling, behaving × Investment: Time spent practicing, developing your skills, or building a knowledge base = Strength: The ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance 6. Find People Doing "Cool" Stuff Now you've created clarity around your strengths, energy, and ideal lifestyle. Next, I want you to find people already living that life. Who has a job you admire? What jobs have seemed “cool” to you in the past? Make a list of 30+ contacts. 7. Reach Out & Learn Make a daily habit of reaching out to one person. Be honest about your situation and desire for clarity. Then make sure to build up their achievements and mention why you admire them. Here's the email template I used when I was on this journey: The Winning Template: Subject: Quick Question  Hi [Name], My name is [Your Name] and I came across your information on LinkedIn while I was looking for people who transitioned into [Industry/Field] from a non-traditional background. Your background is really impressive! I saw you do different fields and [Industry/Field] really piqued my interest. If you have a few minutes, I’d love to hear more about your journey and how you landed in your role today. I know that’s a big ask so no worries if it’s too much. I totally understand. Either way, hope you have a great rest of the week!  

What if you wake up in five years and realize you built the wrong career? In this economy?? That is what so many young professionals are afraid of. Last week, I was chatting with a college senior who was feeling completely stuck. She had several options in front of her but had no idea how to decide. She asked me, “You have had such a non-traditional career path. How did you know each step was the right one?” The truth is, I didn’t (and still don't) always know. But looking back, my career does not feel as “non-traditional” as she made it seem. Strategy consulting, human resources, coaching, all fed into an underlying narrative of wanting to help people. The pattern was simple. I would start with a hypothesis about what I thought I wanted. Then I would test it. For example, I once thought I wanted to work in healthcare strategy. So I took on healthcare-focused consulting projects. One night, I was working late on a proposal, sitting next to an analyst who genuinely loved the industry. She read about healthcare trends in her free time. She debated industry news with enthusiasm. I envied that enthusiasm and used it as motivation to find something I was equally as excited about. Though healthcare wasn't my calling, I did not regret taking those projects because they gave me data. They helped me pivot with confidence instead of guessing. This is why I believe in treating your career like a series of hypothesis tests. Instead of waiting for the perfect answer, test your way into clarity. You do not need to quit your job or take a huge risk to start experimenting. A few ways to test: ➡️ Take on a project at work that aligns with an industry or function you are curious about. ➡️ Use informational interviews to learn what people actually do all day in different roles. ➡️ If you are job searching, apply to a variety of roles and notice what excites you during interviews. You do not have to make the perfect decision today. But you do have to start gathering real-world data. I wrote more about this approach in my latest piece. Drop a "send me the link" in the comments, and I will send it your way. 👉 Have you ever realized a job wasn’t for you? What gave it away?

Your “chaotic” career might be the thing that turns you into an operator who can fix what others avoid. Most people think you need a perfect linear path to reach executive-level operations work. Not true. If you’ve jumped roles, industries, or departments, here’s the secret: You’ve been training in systems design without realizing it. I learned this the long way. I’ve worked in marketing, proposals, process improvement, healthcare ops, data analysis, enterprise automation, and now AI-enabled workflow design. At the time, it looked scattered. Now I see it clearly: Every role taught me how work actually breaks, and why systems crumble long before people do. If your path has been messy or nonlinear, here’s how to turn that into an advantage: 1. Stop defining yourself by your last job title: Your value is in the intersections. 2. Treat every job like systems training: Every broken workflow you’ve touched matters. 3. Shift your identity early: Show up like someone who designs better systems — not just someone who survives bad ones. 4. Use your range: Pattern recognition is an executive skill. You only get it by seeing many environments. 5. Focus on clarity: If you can fix fragmentation, reduce cognitive load, and make work make sense… you’re already operating above your title. That’s how I built my career.nAnd it’s how you can build yours. Your path doesn’t need to be straight. It just needs to be yours.

I spoke at Harvard Medical School’s Career Navigator Program this week, and a question came up that I hear across MDs, PhDs, and undergraduates: “How do I know which career is right for me?” My honest answer: you don’t. The average person changes careers five to seven times over their working life, so the idea of locking in the “right” path early is not just unrealistic, it’s counterproductive. What you want at 28 is almost certainly not what you’ll want at 38. That is not a failure of planning, it is what happens when you give yourself enough experiences to learn who you actually are. A more useful question is: what skills do I need to build right now, and where is the best place to build them? Your skills will transfer, your titles won’t. Over time, people return to a consistent set of preferences. The problems they enjoy, how they think, and the environments where they do their best work tend to stay stable even as roles and industries change. So, this is the advice I gave: instead of fixating on a long-term end point, often modeled on someone decades ahead, focus on the next step that expands your options. At the current pace of change, many of those roles will not exist in the same form anyway. You don't need a perfect destination. Build real capabilities that keep your options wide. #Careers #HarvardMedical

⭐𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗶𝗽 ⭐ When helping my clients navigate a career transition, they often tell me that they feel "lost", "stuck" or "confused" 😕 and don't know what they want do next (sound familiar?). If you're feeling this way at the moment, here is an exercise I do with my clients that helps give them a lot of clarity 💡: 🔷𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭 - 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 “𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄” 𝗮𝗻𝗱 “𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗼𝘂𝘁” 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀 Take some time to reflect on your career so far. Write down the tasks that have energised and engaged you, sparked creativity, or made time fly? These are your flow tasks ❤️ Now consider the flip side. What tasks drain you, bore you, or feel uninspiring? These are your burnout tasks. 🔷𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮 - 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 “𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲” Once you have clarity on what tasks energise you (and what don't), you can design your ideal job description using AI tools like ChatGPT. Prompt ChatGPT with information such as: ✔ Flow tasks ✔ Ideal team and manager ✔ Work culture and values ✔ Preferred work arrangements (hybrid, remote, flexible etc.) ✔ The type of clients, causes, or industries you want to support This becomes your anchor document ⚓A guide that reflects what matters most to you. 🔷𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯 - 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 "𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹" 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 Now ask ChatGPT to search platforms like Seek, LinkedIn, or Indeed for roles that closely match your “ideal” job description. It doesn’t mean you’ll find a perfect fit straight away, but it helps sharpen your focus and gives you a starting point. This exercise consistently helps my clients shift from confused and stuck ➝ to clear and energised about their next step. 📢I'd like to also note that we do not solely rely on advertised roles, and my advice is to always be proactive with your job search. The hidden job market is powerful, so leverage your network, start conversations, and build new connections. ✨ If you’re feeling uncertain about your own path, give it a try and let me know what you think. Please don't hesitate to contact me if I can offer you any support or guidance in your career development. #careertransitions #careerchange #careercoach

Feeling trapped in a six-figure job that feels more like a cage than a career? You're not alone. The all too familiar Sunday night panic hits again. You're lying awake at 2am, scrolling through career advice, trying to convince yourself that Monday won't feel so heavy. But deep down, you know: That six-figure role that looks perfect on LinkedIn is slowly dimming your light and your spirit. Jenna, one of my clients, was exactly where you are. A high-earning supply chain executive, spent two years researching potential pivots. She had spreadsheets, bookmarked articles, and an overwhelming fear of making the wrong move. Her breakthrough came not from more research, but from taking small, strategic actions. She discovered that real change happens through practical steps, not endless planning. Inspired by her journey, here are some low-risk experiments that transformed her career and can illuminate your True Path: ✅ The 15-minute daily skill builder Dedicate just 15 minutes to developing a skill needed in your desired field. Small steps create momentum. ✅ The coffee conversation One conversation with someone in your target field reveals more than 10 hours of research. ✅ The side project Create a weekend project that tests your interest. Notice your energy levels. Do you lose track of time? That's data. ✅ The role adjustment Propose a small change to your current role that brings in elements of work that energizes you. The women in my True Path program discover something powerful: Career courage isn't about dramatic overnight changes. It's about collecting real-world evidence through small experiments that build unshakeable confidence. Every month spent overthinking instead of experimenting costs you energy, fulfillment, and $15,000+ in potential growth opportunities. What's one small step you can take today? ♻️ Share this with a friend feeling stuck in analysis paralysis. ➕ Follow Trisha Tayan for more insights on finding career clarity without overthinking.

Wednesday Q&A "I've worked in multiple roles and developed very different skill sets. And I'm now feeling confused about my career path. How do I decide which one to use to develop my career further?" Having a broad skill set is excellent, but the challenge is deciding which tool becomes your main 'story' and which ones stay as supporting skills. Here are 3 tips to help you find some clarity: 1. Run the 3-year filter. Imagine yourself three years from now. Out of all your skills, which one would you not forgive yourself for leaving behind? That's usually the one worth building on. 2. Look for the intersection. Sometimes the answer isn't choosing just one skill; it's combining them. Ask: where do my skills overlap in a way that few others can offer? That unique mix can become your 'competitive edge'. 3. Test the market. Instead of deciding in theory, put two of your skills out there: create content, offer small projects, or apply for roles. See where you get traction. Real-world response often tells you more than self-reflection alone. A diverse background means you have options. The key is to turn options into a story that connects where you've been with where you're going.