Finding a career can be time consuming, formidable, and just downright frustrating.

If you’re just entering college, you have dozens and dozens – if not hundreds — of majors to choose from.  Of course you want to make the perfect choice here.  After all, you’re talking about the rest of your working life, right?

Maybe you’re a recent victim of economic woes and are fresh out of a job due to downsizing or even company closure.  You might be frustrated with the career field you’re in and want something new.  Worse, the field you’re in may be becoming obsolete, making a new job even harder to find.

Whatever the reason, finding a career that works for you is not a task to be taken lightly.

Where to Look

To get you started immediately on your search, career websites are plentiful and offer career assessment tests to help you identify careers that may be suitable to you based upon your skills, abilities, interests and hobbies.

Even if you’ve taken job assessment tests in years past, take them again.  Maybe the results will be the same, but maybe you’ve changed and new career paths will be brought to your attention.  Maybe new careers have sprung up over the past few years – careers you hadn’t heard of, but might be just the career for you.

Here’s one I recommend that is free and very good because it gives you a detailed report, the Keirsey Temparment Sorter 2.

The Hottest Jobs

But no matter what your interests are at this moment, be sure to look at the fastest growing careers.

As technology and population demographics change, so do the careers in demand.  Some of the top careers right now are computer related, for obvious reasons in our high-tech world.  But as you contemplate the condition of our society, would it surprise you to know some of the fastest growing careers are personal financial advisors, substance abuse counselors, forensic science techs, mental health counselors and marriage counselors?

These top careers mean lots of job opportunities, lots of variety in the jobs offered, quicker advancement due to the sheer number of jobs, greater relocation options, and possibly more competitive salaries.

But I Need a Job Now…

If you don’t need additional training to enter the career of your choice right now, or if you need a job to tide you over while you get further career training and education, job search websites are waiting for you.  Some of the more popular sites you’ve probably heard of: monster.com, hotjobs.com, and careerbuilder.com.  These job search websites are national and can help you locate a job in a particular field, a particular city, or both.

But if you’re content living where you are right now, don’t forget to look for local career job search sites.  Jobing.com, for example, has many regional sections to make finding a career in your own hometown accessible.

For the executive looking for new employment, several websites offer strictly executive job searches for positions paying no less than $100,000 per year.

Another advent of our high-tech, web-driven society is the growth of online jobs.  More and more companies offer full work-at-home jobs or a split between time in the office and time working from home.  You can even find technical support jobs you do from the comfort of your own home – and pajamas, if you choose.