Step 1 - Select Career

Choosing a career is as much about life philosophy as it is about preparation. If you believe...

...life is about family and friends you are more apt to prioritize a job that allows you to have more free time and fairly standard working hours. You balance lower pay with more personal time.
...you have a responsibility to provide for your family and children you are more apt to look for professional careers that require sacrifice for a higher payout, desk jobs with often intense hours or travel. You will sacrifice personal time for a higher payout.
...you deserve a job that you love you are more willing to sacrifice income to live the life you want. You will take low pay for maximum free time. Think about professional artists that live in loft-styIe apartments and writers that live like hermits in a small cabin in the woods, talking to themselves and growing long beards, and throwing their feces at any trespassers that through their property wander.

There was a time when the author might have said, "Do what makes you happiest," when asked about choosing a career. A few years of experience and Boz now believes this is a pipe-dream for most people, like becoming President or American Idol: possible but highly unlikely. Instead, the author believes most people are best off doing something that they are better at than others. There is an immense satisfaction that comes from working well as much as doing work you love.

If you're good at something, it should do for a promising career. Take to math like a fish to water? Consider a career in engineering or science. Are you an excellent reader and writer? Consider a career in government or law, where writing skills are in high demand. Personable and attractive? Welcome to public relations and marketing, but you'd better be damn good, because marketing is an intensely competitive environment.

Which brings us to the final point of selecting a career: seek what is in demand. It is a fact that you will have an easier time finding an engineering or pharmaceutical position relative to landing a gig for your band or getting your paintings sold, and the payout is exponentially higher. Do what you're good at in a field where there is high demand for employees, and you're more likely to have high career satisfaction (not to mention financial stability).

Step 2 - Career Selected

Education
If you want a desk job, like a corporate career, you need to go to college and get at least a Bachelor's degree. If you want a skilled labor job, like welding or engine repair, you will benefit significantly from trade school. In fact, school is fast becoming a requirement for skilled labor as the technology behind the work on cars and farming becomes increasingly complex. Advanced degrees such as a Master's, however, are not necessarily going to help you in your career path. Generally people will be better off with a specialized degree, just as a medical doctor needs a PhD and a tax adviser needs a CPA (Certified Public Accountant), once decided on their career.

Where do you go to (my lovely)?
People select schools for all kinds of reasons; location, cost, particular programs, and any number of other factors. There is one criteria that never fails to land the best jobs, however: Name. Anyone with Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford on their resume is virtually guaranteed to win a position over someone of equal standing and presentation from an average state or community school. Like it or not, human resources loves to say they have a Harvard graduate working for them, and the name recognition opens doors. If you are going to school to get a great job, name recognition is - sadly - key.

Step 3 - Seal the deal (with an interview)

The heart of a great interview: Have a fantastic and boring resume (insert qualification, delete your breakdancing background), be on-time, wear a plain, dark suit (pantsuit for ladies), shake hands firmly, sit up straight, maintain eye contact, ask questions about the job, do not mention salary, do not give an expected salary, and send a thank you card to each individual you meet. Call back in two weeks even if they tell you not to, and if they reject you, ask why you were rejected and how you could have improved the interview. Rinse and repeat until you have a job in the next three months. If you are still without a job, take a bridge job waiting tables or pumping gas until you find a career position.