今日问答：

当我们面临职业平台规划时，该怎么找到自己的职业目标呢？

Today' Topic：

How to go about identifying your career objective when doing your career planning? For those of us who are at a career planning stage, how do we go about identifying our career objectives?

职商专家回答：

Zhishang Career Expert Answer：

要想确定职业目标，最好的办法是多和那些从事于你目标行业的人员交流。坦白地说，这是了解某一岗位或者职业发展路线的最快也是最有效的方法。

For any situation where you’re trying to identify and figure out your career objectives, what helps a lot is getting out and talking to people who do the thing that you’re interested in or may like to do. Frankly, this is the fastest, most effective way to find out what a particular profession or career track is really about.

例如，如果你对市场营销或人力资源感兴趣，那就去和那些正在这些领域工作的人交谈。问一问他们，他们喜欢工作的哪一方面，又不喜欢哪一方面？要想取得成功，需要有哪些关键素质和能力？他们的日常工作是怎样的？在工作上他们遇到的最大挑战是什么？他们怎么看待他们的岗位和行业的发展机遇？

For instance, if you’re interested in marketing or human resources, then talk to people who are currently pursuing a career in these functions. Ask them what they like about what they’re doing. What don't they like? What are the key qualities and capabilities needed to be successful in it? What is their day-to-day job like? What are the biggest challenges they face in their job? How do they see their career developing in their job function or industry?

拿我来说，虽然我最终去商学院读了个MBA，但是我本来是要去法学院的。当时，我想要一份人际关系导向、着重于帮助他人的职业，法律行业看上去似乎是个不错选择。事实上，我不但申请了法学院，还拿到了入学通知书。

Quick story, although I went to business school and got my MBA, I actually came very close to going to law school instead. At the time, I wanted to pursue a career that was more people-oriented and focused on helping others. The practice of law seemed like a great choice for me. I actually applied and got accepted to law school.

但是，就在我等待入学的时候，我去找了很多律师聊天，结果发现他们其实都不喜欢他们的工作。我发现大部分律师的工作都不仅没影视作品里所展现的那样有趣，还大相径庭。虽然他们都喜欢学习法律，但是没人喜欢从事法律工作。我觉得我很幸运，因为在我全身心地将时间投入一个职业生涯之前，与这些律师做了交谈，及时发现自己最终不会喜欢这份事业。

But while I was waiting to start, I started talking to lawyers. I couldn’t find one that really liked their job. I found out that what most lawyers did was completely different and not nearly as interesting as what was represented in movies and on TV. While everyone I spoke with liked studying law, nobody seemed to like practicing it. I feel very fortunate that I made the effort to talk to several lawyers before investing so much of my time, money, and effort pursuing a career track that I don’t think I would have ended up enjoying either.

我的观点是，要想对某工作获得切合实际的看法，你就要尽量接触真实的工作场景，与那些正在做这些工作的人交谈。你得到的信息越多，你就越能判断你的想法跟现实中工作与行业是否有差距。这样，你就能更了解你是否会享受这份工作，是否想要把这个工作当成你的职业目标。

My point is, to get a good idea about what something is really about, get as close as you can to the real situation and talk to people who are doing what you’re interested in. The more information and exposure you can get, the better you can confirm if your ideas about it is aligned with what that job and industry is really about. Then the better sense you'll have as to whether you’ll enjoy pursuing and doing it as a career objective.