It's time to stop and think about what you'll do in the future. Planning is important. This is your life and you want to be in control.

Clearly, there are many external influences on you. Parents, families, teachers, counselors and friends can and will help you make decisions about your future. These people usually have your best interests in mind, but they don't necessarily have to live with the decisions you make. You do. How do you weigh the input you get from them, determine what's most important to you, and make the right decisions for yourself?

Personality
Are you shy and reserved? Thoughtful or impulsive? Outgoing? Logical? Sensitive? Your personality traits are significant factors in determining which careers are best suited to you. For a deeper look into yourself, take a personality inventory—a questionnaire that asks you about how you think, act and feel in specific situations.

The most popular personality inventory is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI). Unofficial versions of this personality inventory are available online and can be completed in about 30 minutes. Your answers to the multiple-choice questions will be evaluated and you'll receive an explanation of your personality type.

• PersonalityType provides the most abbreviated version and it also presents popular career options.
• Humanmetrics offers a longer, more personalized version.

The official version of the MBTI, published by the Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. (CPP), is available in printed form. It can only be ordered and administered to you by qualified entities. Trained professionals evaluate your answers. Talk with your guidance counselor to find out how to take the official version and receive the most qualified evaluation of your personality.

Based on what you find in your personality inventory, you might realize that the "job of your dreams" may not be perfect for you after all. Or if you couple your interests and skills with what you learn about your personality, you might find your perfect role in life.

Interests
What makes you happy? If you had a moment to spare, what would you do? Do you play in a band? Do you like to paint or draw? Take dance classes? Like the mental challenge of chess or other games? Do you love to read? What are your hobbies? Your answers to questions like these, are very revealing. Your interests and skills say a lot about you. They offer additional insight into your personality and what you really love to do. And that's important when you start thinking about your future.

Another method for understanding your interests and their relationship to your career is to take the Strong Interest Inventory^®. If this is not already part of your high school's career or college prep curriculum, see your guidance counselor.

Skills
Do you excel in sports? Are you the one people call when they're having problems with their PC? When it comes to English literature, do you see beyond the writing and into the meaning intended by the author? Can you take apart a motor, put it back together and have no extra parts?

Beyond just answering the questions and asking yourself others like them, you can also learn more about your talent for career-related (or "vocational") skills by taking an aptitude test. One particularly thorough test is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). This test is designed to measure your aptitudes while you're in high school. As an added bonus when you take the test, you'll get the publication Exploring Careers: The ASVAB Workbook. Your ASVAB test results relate directly to it.

The ASVAB includes 10 short tests that cover:

• Word knowledge.
• Paragraph comprehension.
• Arithmetic reasoning.
• Mathematics.
• General science.
• Mechanical comprehension.
• Electronics information.
• Numerical operations.
• Coding speed.
• Auto/shop information.

It is generally used by the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines to place you into a military career field; however, just taking the ASVAB does not mean that you're enlisting. As a matter of fact, your high school may require you and your classmates to take this as part of the college preparation routine. If the test is not available at your school, talk to your guidance counselor to arrange a test date.

Resources
Guidance counselors possess a wealth of knowledge. Talk to them. Their life's work is to encourage you to get to know yourself. Year after year they help students like you transition from high school. They'll talk to you about setting goals and how to go about reaching them. They can help you assess your skills and talents and they can suggest opportunities based on your interests. Soon you'll be able to make some sense out of all this. In time, you'll have a better idea of who you are and what you want for yourself after high school.

Now that you've had an opportunity to think about yourself, your skills and your interests, see how these might combine for your dream job. Check out Researching Occupations.