You may have just gotten out of school or you may be considering switching career fields and starting over. Either way you are now entering the world of work and looking for a entry level job to get you started. Now you want to find the right career and job. The one that will be a perfect match, with an employer that will invest in you and provide you opportunities to grow, learn, develop critical skills, do some great work, advance and succeed. Since you are getting started you may be asking yourself some questions.

FINDING THE CAREER/JOB YOU LOVE
It is important to have a job you love. Working in a job that you hate or are unsatisfied with will be stressful and draining and can hurt your chances to advance and succeed. In fact research has often times shown that having a job you hate causes high levels of stress, is emotionally draining and can ultimately cause health problems.

Now take a moment to imagine how it would be if you could wake up each morning energized and excited about going to work. Considering that you will spend more time of your life working than doing anything else, choosing the right career will have a major impact upon your life. The first step to finding the career/job you love is to assess yourself. Self-assessment is the process of evaluating yourself and determining your interests, skills, values, strengths, weaknesses and personality style and how they relate to your career choice, development and success.

There are a number of self assessments including the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Strong Interest Inventory (SII), Campbell Interest Inventory (CII), Self Directed Search (SDS), FIRO-B, and numerous other career/self assessments. Taking these assessments or doing your own personal search and assessment of your interests, skills, values, strengths, weaknesses and personality style will help you in choosing the right career/job for you. Start learning more about the self assessment and career choice process by reading the following sections below:

•	Self Assessment
•	Career Choice

THE JOB SEARCH
Finding a job and conducting an effective job search can be a job itself. It involves more than just getting online or going through a newspaper and finding jobs to apply to. A job search should be targeted, strategic and planned. Major job search engines like Monster.com, Careerbuilder, HotJobs and others may not list the type of jobs you are interested in or targeting. Depending on your career field of interest you may have to go deeper to find the jobs you are truly interested in. Also consider that many smaller and mid size companies cannot afford or will not post job on major job search engines. They will post jobs on their company or organization Internet site or on smaller more niche sites. Conducting a random job search where you are searching anywhere and everywhere for jobs will not be effective, will not produce the best results, and can be draining and time consuming. Conducting an effective and targeted job search involves four steps. Learn about how to conduct a targeted, effective job search by reading the section below.

•	The Job Search

SELLING YOURSELF TO EMPLOYERS
Once you find the career you love and the job that matches you the next step is to make sure you have the right self-marketing tools to apply and win interviews. Developing a quality, powerful, targeted resume, cover letter and other materials will open doors and help you win interviews.

After securing the interview you will need to be ready to sell yourself to win the job. Being prepared is the key to making the right impression and proving you are the person for the job during the interview. Learn about developing targeted self-marketing materials that win interviews and preparing for the interview in order to win the job in the following sections:

•	Resumes & Cover Letters - Writing Interview Winning Self Marketing Materials
•	Interview Preparation

CARER EDUCATION & TRAINING
As you start your career it is important to understand that you need to constantly gain additional education, skills, training, and professional development throughout your career in order to advance and earn more. The question you might be asking yourself is what programs should you enroll in? With so many options from degree programs, distance education, certifications and continuing education programs you want to make the right decision. By going to and reading the section below you will learn how to find, evaluate and select the right career education and training program for you.

•	Career Education & Training

MANAGING YOUR CAREER
Career success in your professional life does not just happen. It comes from developing a strategy, planning and being ready when opportunities present themselves. Getting the job is just the beginning. In order to achieve success and continue to move upward you need to make the right moves, connect with the right people, gather the right information and make the right decisions. This is called "Managing Your Career" and doing it effectively, correctly and successfully requires work. As a entry level employee you will need to effectively manage and deal with a number of issues in order to succeed in your career, work and life. They include:

-	Balancing Career, Work and Life Issues
-	Seeking Mentorship & Advice
-	Compensation & Benefits
-	Promotions & Raises
-	Office Politics
-	Employment Rights & Legal Concerns
-	Communicating (Internally & Externally)
-	Presentation & Report Development
-	Professional & Skill Development
-	Networking & Relationship Building
-	Diversity Issues
-	Crisis Management
-	Next Career Moves

Learn about how to manage your career by reading the section below.

•	Manage Your Career