If someone asked you right now, “So, what do you want to do after school?” how would you answer?
If you felt a little bit of panic just reading that question, you are not alone. A lot of people feel exactly the same way, and it’s absolutely normal. Choosing a career when you have never tried most of them is a bit like picking a flavour of ice cream you have never tasted before. There are a lot of options, and you have not had the chance to try them yet.
So let’s talk about it.
Why “what do you want to be?” is the wrong question
Most of us grow up thinking we need to pick a dream job and work backwards from there. Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, Social Media Manager, Teacher, UX Designer or, Data Analyst…, or Psychologist. The list feels endless, and new ones keep appearing.
Ten years ago, nobody was advertising roles for AI specialists or Social Media. Those jobs barely existed. And in another ten years, there will be careers on job boards that we cannot even imagine right now.
So, locking yourself into one job title at seventeen is not really a plan. It’s, locking yourself into one job title at seventeen is not really a plan. It is a guess. And that’s okay, because there’s a better starting point.
Start with your skills, not a job title
Instead of asking “what do I want to be?”, try asking “what am I already good at?”
Here’s a question worth sitting with: what do a restaurant manager and a CEO have in common?
More than you might think. Both have to communicate clearly under pressure. Both manage people with different personalities and motivations. Both have to solve unexpected problems quickly, make decisions with limited information, and keep things moving when everything feels like it’s falling apart.
The skills are the same. The setting is just different.
That’s what transferable skills are. They are the abilities you build in one place that quietly show up and become useful somewhere completely different.
Where could your skills actually take you?
Before you think about job titles, spend some time thinking about three things: what comes easily to you, what do you genuinely enjoy doing, and what you could you see becoming part of your everyday life.
Not every strength feels like a big, dramatic talent. Sometimes it’s just the thing that feels less hard for you than it does for everyone else. That gap is worth paying attention to.
If you want an idea of where some of your skills could take you at Deloitte, our Skills Matcher tool can give you a sense of where you might fit. But to get something useful out of it, you need to go in with a bit of self-awareness. What do you like? What feels natural? What do you find yourself doing even when nobody asked you to?
Start there and then see where it points. Give it a try here.
You do not need the answer right now
Most people spend years trying to figure out what they are good at. You can start earlier than that.
Pay attention to the moments where time disappears because you are absorbed in something. Notice the tasks that feel easier for you than they do for others. And remember that the goal right now is not to have the perfect answer. It’s just to start getting curious.
The right direction usually becomes clearer once you start moving.
Our Deloitte Skills Matcher tool is designed to help you see how what you are already good at, what you’re interested in, and how you like to work can translate into real career pathways. It’s a simple way to explore options and discover roles and future career paths you might not have imagined.
