英文版本，请见下方。

在中国的年轻职业者们提出的问题中，我们发现出现频率最高的问题是如何确他们是否适合某一特殊行业。有些人想知道是否有一种方式能够用于评价他们在某一职业领域或就业方向的潜能，这样他们就能做出正确的职业选择。

尽管现在又很多性格测试能帮助你决定适合你的职业选择，但是这些测试却无法帮助你明白以下两件事，1）你是哪一类人；2）你最适合从事哪类活动。然而，你自己也能独自理解和决定这两件事，这需要你认真思考你喜欢做什么，明白你自身的强项所在。尽管对自身有足够了解是两件很基础的事，但是令人惊讶的是很多人在他们职场初期在这两方面并没有足够清醒的认识。

 你喜欢做什么？

因此，如果你尝试去决定自己的就业方向，建议你最好从了解你主要的兴趣和有点做起。比如，你会如何回答下列问题？

 能帮你找到喜欢之事的问题

• 你最喜欢参与什么类型的活动？
• 你喜欢参与到什么样的情况中？
• 什么事最能吸引你？
• 你认为什么是你的最强项和最大优势？
• 你擅长，尤其会死最擅长哪些方面？

一个主管曾用这样一个方法来帮助他的员工确定在职场中他们应该前进的方向和做出的决定，他要求他们想出那些他们真正能从中得到快乐的工作情境，是在做成一笔生意时，还是在解决一个操作难题时，抑或时是负责活动协调，做调查研究，或是编写报告？

无论是什么兴趣，他相信这些都可以作为指示牌指引你决定到底应该追求什么作为自己的事业。总而言之，这些问题的答案能让你在面临机遇时清楚地明白你要追寻的目标。下一步就是去找出不同职业的本质和日常工作是怎样的。

 向他人了解他们的工作和他们喜欢这份工作的原因

能帮你找到你可能喜欢的工作的好方法之一就是和来自不同职业和工作领域的人交流，这样你就能了解他们的工作和他们是否喜欢自己的工作。你可以和朋友，同学交流，也可以和你遇到真正热爱自己工作的人交流。你可以询问他们工作的本质，他们日常承担的责任，以及他们是否喜欢自己所做的工作。和他人交流有助于你找到自己可能喜欢的职业。

例如，我们公司中的一个优秀雇员也曾是以应试者的身份被介绍到我们公司，他想找的是能和跨国客户沟通交流的工作。当面对我们的招聘顾问时她，他问，“你是否介意我问一下你的工作内容是什么。“

很高兴能听见有人问关于我们公司的情况，顾问向他描述了我们的业务，我们公司主要是为公司和求职者服务，而顾问本人自己也很喜欢这份工作。尽管这个求职者从未考虑过做招聘方面的工作，但是他对顾问的介绍很感兴趣。他喜欢和人交流，这能给他学习不同职业，公司和市场趋势的机会。我们最后给了他这份工作，从那时起他就和我们一起工作到现在已经8年了。

尽管有时别人喜欢做的工作很可能是你不感兴趣的，但你还是能通过了解其他人的工作喜好来找到你是否会喜欢某一个工作。其目的也不在于让别人告诉你你最适合做什么工作，而在与给你机会去了解现实状况，某些行业的机遇与挑战，而这些也许恰好能吸引到你，引发你的兴趣。

How To Determine What Kind Of Career To Pursue

Among the questions that we get from young professionals in China, one of the most frequent ones is about how to determine their suitability for a particular career.  Some want to know of a method they can use to evaluate their orientation and potential for a particular industry or job function, and that can help them make good career choices.

Although there are many personality tests and tools that can help you determine what careers may be a good fit for you, they’re mainly designed to help you understand two things, 1) what kind of person you are and 2) what kind of situations or activities you may be best suited for.  However, determining and understanding these things can be done on your own as well.  It mainly requires you to put some real thought into what you enjoy doing and into recognizing your personal strengths.  Although these are two basic things that you should know quite well about yourself, it’s surprising how many early in their career don’t have a clear sense about them.

What Do You Enjoy Doing?

As a result, if you’re trying to determine what kind of job function or industry you may be a good fit for, start by identifying your main interests and strengths.  For instance, what would be your answers to the following questions?

Questions To Help You Identify What You May Like Doing

• What kind of activities do you enjoy doing the most?
• What type of situations do you enjoy participating in the most?
• What things in life interest you the most?
• What would you say are your greatest skills and assets?
• What would you say you’re ESPECIALLY good at, or ever great at?

One way that one executive helps his staff determine what direction and decisions they should pursue for their career by getting them to think about the times when they were really happy performing in a work situation.  Was it when they were involved in closing a deal?  Or when they solved a difficult operations problem?  Or coordinating an event, doing research, or putting together a report?

Whatever they were, he believes they’re good indicators that will help tell you what it is you may be happy pursuing as a career.  Overall, the answers to these questions will give you a good idea of what you may want to look for when assessing a new opportunity.  The next step is to figure out what the nature and day-to-day work of different job functions and industries are really about.

Ask Others About Their Job And Why They Like It

One of the best ways to find out what you may enjoy doing is to talk to people from different industries and job functions to understand what they do for a living and what they enjoy about it.  Those you speak with could be friends, ex-classmates, or just interesting people you meet who seem to really enjoy their job.  Ask about the nature of their industry, their daily responsibilities, and what they like about their work.  Speaking with others about their job is a good way to find out what may appeal to you too.

As an example, one of our top employees was actually introduced to our company as a candidate looking to find a job with one of our multinational clients.  While meeting with our recruitment consultant he casually asked her, “Do you mind my asking what it is that you do exactly?”

Happy to see someone ask about our company, our consultant described to him our business and industry, our approach to serving companies and job seekers, and what she enjoyed about her job.  Although he never considered a career in recruitment before, he liked what he heard.  He liked the people interaction aspect and chance to learn about different industries, companies, and market trends.  We ended up making him an offer and he’s been with us for over eight years now.

While what others enjoy doing may not be what you enjoy doing, you can get an idea of whether you may like a job function or industry by finding out what others like or don’t like about it.  The purpose isn’t to have others tell you what is most suited or a good fit for you, but for you to gain an understanding of the realities, challenges, and benefits of what particular situations are about that you may also be attracted to and interested in pursuing.

（责任编辑：职场达人）