Having a career crisis? Don't know what you want to be when you grow up? If you're just starting college that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you're going to graduate soon, or you are a couple of years into the job market, it's a little more serious. Maybe you've read "Debunking the 'Follow Your Passion' Myth" and you haven't found your passion and you really aren't sure what you want to do? Or maybe you've got a job and you hate it.
Here's a simple truth: You won't find a career if you don't look for one. But you can have fun doing it. Check out the links below for ways to catalog your interests and find matching jobs. If you go through this process, I know you'll find jobs you never heard of, and one may be right for you.
Here's what you can do:
Do research
The first thing to do is check out some possibilities:
- Stanford Career Guide - This is a really cool site that enables you to catalog your interests, values, and skills and then explore career options that are aligned with your answers. It's definitely a commitment to go through the whole thing, but choosing a career is important, isn't it? Some of the advanced resources are available only to Stanford students (like resume review and interview videos), but the bulk of the material is available to all of us without having to pay Stanford tuition. [Apr 2015: Sometimes I get a server error message when trying to access this site. If you do, click on 'Advanced' on the page and proceed to the site anyway.]
- Who Should I Work For? - This self-assessment which I developed supplements the Stanford material. It enables you to match your work personality to a variety of different work cultures, so you don't pick a place where you won't fit in.
- Professional Websites and Mags - Another unbelievably cool site, this time from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office. It lists the websites of hundreds of professional organizations. Click on 'Business and Finance' for instance, and you'll see links to the American Society of Agricultural Consultants, the National Association of Review Appraisers and Mortgage Underwriters, and the Academy of Accounting Historians, to start. I guarantee that in the first five minutes you browse the site you'll find professions you never knew existed (like Accounting Historians, for pete's sake). Click around on interesting sounding stuff. You'll be taken to the profession's website where you can find publications, events, training, information for students and all sorts of other useful information. The downside is that their search function isn't very good so if you want to find the Acoustical Society of America, you have to search for 'acoustical', not 'acoustics' or 'sound'. But you'll have fun browsing the site, I'm sure. And you'll be amazed at what you can do for a living.
- Take a MOOC - OK, let's say you've found some careers that look inviting, but you don't know whether you have the skills or the interest to follow through. Try looking for a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Maybe Acoustics is starting to sound interesting (pun intended). Click on the link in the bullet and type 'acoustics'. As I write this there is a course being offered through Coursera on 'Fundamentals of Audio and Music Engineering' from the University of Rochester. You'll see a course description and detailed syllabus and course information. It's free. For lots of courses you can browse the slides and handouts. You can take the course or just audit it. Isn't that a great way to find out whether the subject matter really appeals to you? It doesn't cost you anything and if you decide it's not for you, no one else will ever know you entertained the thought of becoming an acoustical engineer. (Browse the web for other lists of MOOCs).
- Network/Informational Interviews - You know you have to network, but you don't want to. It's hard, I know. I have trouble talking to strangers too. But it's the single best way to get first-hand information and connect with people who are actually in the careers you are considering. Click on the link and you'll find tips on making it easier, what questions to ask and how to use LinkedIn to speed it along.
Do something
The worst thing you can do is do nothing. That won't progress you towards finding what you want to do, and it won't rule out the things you don't want to do. If you aren't excited by a prospective job, your lack of enthusiasm and interest is going to be sensed by interviewers, or if you do get a job, by your boss and co-workers. You need to get out of your rut. Here are two other options:
- Volunteer - Your community needs you. VolunteerMatch brings together people and causes. You can search for local opportunities in specific areas like Arts and Culture, Human Rights, or Disaster Preparedness. Maybe you still have to have a paying job, but volunteering in your spare time can introduce you to people and challenges that you never imagined while doing good. (You can do volunteer work while pursuing the career research I described above, too).
- Military - Obviously, not to be taken lightly and not for everyone - and, more and more difficult to get into. It can, however, be a great place to get skills and training, and get paid for it. Read, study, and talk to recruiters to get the full information. Joining the military is a huge commitment - at least four years, with an additional two years of reserve duty. And there are physical restrictions and mental aptitude requirements. Also consider the Reserves and National Guard, which are not full-time commitments so you can keep your current job while gaining new skills.
A last word - selecting a career is not necessarily a lifetime commitment. If you looked at my 'Debunking' blog post above, you'll see I changed careers about six times - seven, if you count dougsguides. So start with something that you find fun, fulfilling and financially rewarding now, but keep your eyes open for the next opportunity.
Got other ideas? Let us know in the Comments section below.
