Looking For a Satisfying Career?

You know, I’m surprised that my father didn’t kill me. When I was in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do so I didn’t take any of the academic tracks that were offered and I didn’t even take the SATs or apply to any colleges. I didn’t have any of the answers I felt I needed to move on. I didn’t want to commit myself to just one of my interests. My father insisted emphatically that I was going to go to college. As a result, I started taking classes at the local community college the summer immediately following my graduation.

After a semester of taking business administration classes, I took a career   aptitude   test  at the guidance counselor’s office. According to the results, I was a perfect candidate for drug addiction counseling (although I’d not had any experience with addiction) or, secondarily as an interior designer. I chose the latter and finished my associate’s degree in Interior Design. But, then there was the issue of unfortunate timing. The city I lived in was experiencing a pronounced recession which left me working as a bartender at a health club (closer to the former suggestion of that career  aptitude  test ).

Years later I decided to go back to school and earn a bachelor’s degree. Again, I tried to go with a major that sounded good on paper, but once I got into the nuts and bolts of it, I changed my mind. In the end, I graduated with a degree in English – nonfiction writing and editing at the age of 30. Now that doesn’t exactly sound like the ideal outcome, does it? Well, the reason that I am taking you along with me through this reminiscence is because the thing that I was meant to do came to me naturally.

I had never considered writing as a career. I thought that a real career had to involve extensive training and would require a certain mindset or personality type. I did not see myself as the eager newspaper reporter who would do whatever it took to get the story, and I was certainly not the flighty artist who was lying on a chaise lounge under a tree dreaming up the next great novel. What brought me to writing was the consistent feedback I had gotten from educators, colleagues, and employers. I had learned that the task that most people found to be extremely challenging was something that came naturally to me. How simple.

So, how does this story relate to you? Perhaps you have followed a path that seemed like a good idea but has turned out to be little more than a paycheck? Maybe you wish you would have tried to get into that program after all. There may be an itch inside you that wants to explore something new and leave all this humdrum behind. If any of this sounds familiar, I am here to provide you with some practical advice about what to do next:

Facts – Explore the field that interests you and find out what range of occupations exist in detail.

Contacts – Get in contact with people who are in that field. Join professional associations as well as business-oriented social networks like LinkedIn.

Prepare – See what education and experience is required, and look for opportunities that will help you learn more without jeopardizing your current situation.

Bridge – Brainstorm about ways to build bridges between your current skills and experience and the new career you seek.

Learn – Read books, articles, newspapers, and blogs to learn everything that you can: skills for the job, industry trends, competition, lessons from the experts, and feedback as you build new abilities and skills.

You can do it! Even if it is on-the-side at first, following your innate desire is worthwhile. You won’t regret it.