So the career choice is not a pain

Deciding what to do after sixth form does not shape your whole life, but it does shape the next few years. You can learn to find the right career prospects.

In the restaurant in the evening: the menu is overlong, many things sound good, but none of the dishes
appeals to me directly. Is the best choice perhaps one that I can't really imagine? My companion has made her choice and closes the menu. The waiter looks in our direction. He'll be at our table in a moment and then I'll have to decide. But what should I choose?

That's how many young people feel when choosing a career. The choice is huge, some professions you don't even know and it also depends on the training company. What happens if you start to get fed up with the constant learning at grammar school? Basically, you have enough time to decide. But the clock is ticking and the longer you take, the smaller the selection of apprenticeship vacancies becomes.

Choosing a career is a completely new situation.

When we study the menu in a restaurant, we at least know which flavours and textures we like. After all, we've been eating for longer than we can remember. Choosing a career, on the other hand, is a completely new situation and young people themselves are also in the process of changing. The child has said goodbye, the adult is only just beginning to emerge.

To find out what you want to do over the next few years, you need to know yourself - know what you like to do, how you like to do it, what situations you feel comfortable in and what makes you feel insecure. Most people find it easier to name what they don't like than what they want. But that's exactly what it's all about: finding out what you want.

This article is from our special career choice issue, which will be included free of charge with the September 2019 issue of Fritz+Fränzi. This can be ordered from 27 August or obtained from well-stocked newsagents in Switzerland.

Getting to know yourself - how does that work?

Very few young people know whether they like drawing circuit diagrams, preparing injections or posting incoming payments because they have never done it before. On the other hand, you can get a good picture of your own interests and abilities if you record what you like to do in everyday life or which tasks you only do after being asked several times.

Some are passionate about cooking, others write a diary, others produce videos for their social media profile or look after a horse. All of these are indications of the professional direction in which someone can be happy. The same applies to the school subjects you like and those you struggle with joylessly.

Career choice diary or finder

The authors Daniel Jungo and Erwin Egloff havepublished a "career choice diary" . It contains an interest questionnaire with which young people are asked to identify their preferences and inclinations in nine fields of interest. These are presented at the end in a diagram that uses a coloured area to show the area of activity in which their own strengths and interests lie. It is worth taking a closer look at the professions that are assigned to this sector.

The yousty apprenticeship platform goes one step further: the «career finder» on the website asks 33 questions about interests and aptitudes and then provides a ranking list of the most suitable professions. The statistical analysis is interesting: in the 50,000 or so queries from the launch of the career finder in October 2018 to mid-June 2019, animal keeper was recommended most frequently, followed by hotel manager and care specialist. Businesswoman/man, the most frequently chosen apprenticeship, only appears in 26th place in this ranking of recommendations. 44th place is occupied by retail specialist, another of the most frequently learnt professions in Switzerland.

When choosing a career, young people also consider what seems to be a promising start to their professional life.

This does not mean that the majority of young people choose a profession that completely ignores their interests. After all, over 400,000 searches for professions or apprenticeships were made on yousty during the same period. It is quite possible that those who had already found their desired occupation of businesswoman/man did not play through the occupation finder. Nevertheless, the result can be read as an indication that not everyone is guided by their actual inclinations, but just as much by what they consider to be a sensible, promising start to their professional life.

Do young people decide for themselves or do parents have a say?

Educational sociologist Markus P. Neuenschwander has analysed the criteria that young people consider important when choosing an apprenticeship. Personal interests received the most approval, but it was also considered important to be able to learn new skills, that school performance was sufficient or that the work was fulfilling. In the Juvenir Study 2.0 conducted by the Jacobs Foundation in 2013, a majority of young people also stated that their interests were a key criterion in their choice of training.

Parents and the wider personal environment also have a major influence. Careers counsellors confirm that only a few are strictly opposed to their parents' wishes and ideas. And many choose a profession that is similar to the one in which their parents work. According to another study by yousty, most young people only find out more about one to three professions. It is quite possible that with this narrow perspective, they do not even get to know the perfect job for them.

Nevertheless, the vast majority of apprentices are satisfied with their career choice, as the 2018 vocational training study by gateway.one shows. The private company has developed the popular «Multicheck» aptitude test. Young professionals will still have the opportunity to switch from a good job to the perfect job later on.

Which profession suits me?

The online survey was conducted 57,564 times between 1 October 2018 and 12 June 2019. These professions were recommended most frequently:

  1. Tierpfleger/-in EFZ

  2. Hotelfachmann/-frau EFZ

  3. Fachmann/-frau Betreuung (FaBe) EFZ

  4. Polydesigner/-in 3D EFZ

  5. Mediamatiker/-in EFZ

  6. Innendekorateur/-in EFZ

  7. Schreiner/-in EFZ

  8. Informatiker/-in EFZ

  9. Grafiker/-in EFZ

  10. Coiffeur/Coiffeuse EFZ

The most searched professions on yousty

October 2018 until June 2019:

  • Kaufmann/-frau (KV) EFZ Profil E (30 575 Abfragen)
  • Fachmann/-frau Gesundheit (FaGe) EFZ (17 776 Abfragen)
  • Kaufmann/-frau (KV) EFZ Profil B (15 634 Abfragen)
  • Detailhandelsfachmann/-frau EFZ (14 110 Abfragen)
  • Fachmann/-frau Betreuung (FaBe) EFZ (13 423 Abfragen)
  • Informatiker/-in EFZ (13 392 Abfragen)
  • Medizinische/r Praxisassistent/-in (MPA) EFZ (13 087 Abfragen)
  • Logistiker/-in EFZ (12 716 Abfragen)
  • Dentalassistent/-in EFZ (9311 Abfragen)
  • Koch/Köchin EFZ (8534 Abfragen)

Online applications sent via yousty

August 2018 until June 2019:

  • Kaufmann/-frau (KV) EFZ (30 418 Bewerbungen)
  • Detailhandelsfachmann/-frau EFZ (7553 Bewerbungen)
  • Logistiker/-in EFZ (6643 Bewerbungen)
  • Informatiker/-in EFZ (6450 Bewerbungen)
  • Fachmann/-frau Gesundheit (FaGe) EFZ (5436 Bewerbungen)
  • Fachmann/-frau Betreuung (FaBe) EFZ (4503 Bewerbungen)
  • Pharma-Assistent/-in EFZ (4141 Bewerbungen)
  • Dentalassistent/-in EFZ (3758 Bewerbungen)
  • Medizinische/r Praxisassistent/-in (MPA) EFZ (3381 Bewerbungen)
  • Koch/Köchin EFZ (1782 Bewerbungen)

More on the topic of career choice:

  • «Die Unternehmen merken, dass sie der neuen Generation mehr bieten müssen»
    Der Arbeitsforscher Oliver Strohm im Gespräch über Gewinner und Verlierer der Automatisierung und Leistungskultur in Unternehmen...
  • «Die meisten Berufe unserer Kinder gibt es noch gar nicht»
    Wie sie Kinder und Jugendliche auf eine digital geprägte berufliche Zukunft optimal vorbereiten können, erklärt Christian Lundsgaard, Projektleiter des zweiten Digitaltag Schweiz.
  • Im Sonderheft «Berufswahl», das der September-Ausgabe des Schweizer ElternMagazins Fritz+Fränzi beiliegt, porträtieren wir elf Jugendliche, die ihren Traumberuf gefunden haben. Darin stellen Branchenverbände und Unternehmen aus verschiedensten Bereichen ihr Lehrstellen- und Ausbildungsangebot vor – auch als Online-Übersicht.