544
Nutrition & Wellness for Life
Making a Career
Choice
Can you picture yourself working
in the nutrition and wellness fi
eld?
What type of occupations interest you
most? One way to narrow the long list
of career possibilities is to examine
your interests, aptitudes, values, and
goals. Then you can focus on the career
options that best suit you.
Know Your Interests
Everyone has a unique set of inter-
ests, and no one knows yours better
than you. One person’s interests are not
better than another’s. Interests simply
help defi
ne an individual. Knowing
your interests is important to choosing
a satisfying career. Career interests can
be classifi
ed into three broad categories.
•
Interest in people.
Do you prefer to
be with a group or on your own?
Do you like projects that involve
teamwork or those you accomplish
yourself? If you enjoy being around
others, you are probably suited for
a career that focuses on interacting
with people. Counseling hospital
patients and working with youth are
examples of people-oriented careers.
•
Interest in information.
Do you like
to keep track of facts and details?
Do you regularly check information
sources, such as magazines,
newspapers, TV, or the Internet? Do
you enjoy making discoveries? If
you like to gather facts and share
what you know, you are probably
suited for a career that focuses on
information. Researching nutrition
theories and reporting discoveries
appeal to people interested in
information.
•
Interest in material items.
Do you
to work with your hands? Perhaps
you enjoy assembling objects or
taking items apart to fi
nd out how
they operate. If you do, a career that
focuses on tools and material items
could be ideal for you. Related
nutrition and fi
tness jobs range from
developing new sports equipment to
artistic presentation of food on a plate.
Many careers involve all three
interest areas to varying degrees. If you
have trouble narrowing your interests,
however, using an interest assessment
can help. Consider taking the
O*NET
Interest Profi
ler—a self-assessment tool
to discover work activities you might
fi
nd exciting. You can fi
nd this tool
on the O*NET Web site. Your school
guidance counselor can help you with
other interest-assessment options.
Identify Aptitudes
and Abilities
When choosing a career, it is very
important to consider your
aptitudes and
abilities
. An aptitude is a natural talent.
Most people have several aptitudes.
These are areas in which you excel,
develop your greatest skills, and
fi
nd satisfaction. For example, people
with an aptitude for singing do it well
even without practice. Because they enjoy
singing, they also enjoy practicing. With
more practice, their singing improves.
Do yo
u regularly check information
sources, such as mag
azines,
rs TV or the Internet? Do
develop your greatest skills,
ggenerally
find satisfaction. For example, people
ers TV or the Internet? Do
find satisfaction. For example, people
562
Nutrition & Wellness for Life
564
Nutrition & Wellness for Life
Reprinted with permission from the National Academies Press, National Academy of Sciences.
11
Appendixes
Appendix B: Eating Well
with Canada’s Food Guide
identifies and promotes healthy
eating for consumers
on
ion
ies
lilike ke
aps
r
how
Appendix A: Career Planning
outlines choosing a career, finding
meaningful employment, succeeding
on the job, making a job change,
and entrepreneurship
Appendix C: Dietary Reference Intakes
includes current Recommended Dietary
Allowances and Adequate Intakes, and
Tolerable Upper Intakes Levels for vitamins
and minerals