Finding an answer to that one question often means we have to deal with the unknown. That kind of quest might seem daunting, but it does not have to be if you learn the art of asking more resourceful questions or using the right resources to drive to right answers. You might need to ask yourself, use external tools and resources or both.

Within Me

Let’s take the example of a common question, “Do I need more training/education to get the job that best fits me?” The fact of the matter is you might ponder this question day-after-day but never get close to any resolution, because you never address the real question. The underlying question below that might be “Am I willing to make the sacrifice to go back to school at this time?” or “Is it feasible for me to go back to school with my current salary and my daily responsibilities with my kids?” or actually “Wouldn’t I feel out of place in a classroom setting with twenty-something year old undergrads?”

Your job is to uncover the next layer of questions. Keep poking around, brainstorm and discover whether or not your initial general question to yourself leads to more specific questions, which can be answered.

Somewhere out there

Of course, questions like “Should I start a coffee/antique shop/bookstore? or “Will getting a job at ABC corporation pay more?” cannot be answered from within, but there are a number of resources available to help figure out if becoming a coffee expert is truly your cup of tea. Fewer innovations have eliminated so much of the guesswork in career search or streamlined the hunting process like today’s tools, Glassdoor and Indeed being two of the top-rated. Check out these resources to help guide you to the answers you need.

• Glassdoor.com – Get an insider view of what it might be like to work at specific companies based on real-world employee feedback, plus research salary and career trends.
• Indeed.com – Delve into more company reviews, and find out if your salary expectations are realistic or not.
• Department of Labor Statistics – Find the current and future career outlook for hundreds of occupations. <link to several examples – financial analyst and then 1-2 whimsical ones – from the Wesleyan talk>

Still unable to find an answer? Sometimes we end up in a quandary, because there is no answer to be found inside or out there. What to do? We advise you to invent your own answer from here. To prevent from getting stuck with no direction, you declare your resolution, make your own choice and go for it.