Finding the Right Path

Awwwwwww, come here***hugs cypher21***

I wouldn't beat myself up. It's ok to have a career block during college, especially if you haven't gone to see the Wiz to get back home. It won't last long.

I would try to take a career aptitude test to identify at least two other possible skill areas you can pull out the box to help use as a Career Plan B.

I then would interview some people who have careers in your major. It is important to get their perspective based on their experiences for research purposes.

Forthgoing, after taking a career aptitude test, I would then try to talk to a career counselor to identify at least two Plan B careers.

Of course, while pursing the major, take advantage of short-term projects, internships and volunteering opportunities (www.volunteermatch.org), so that those things can help with telling you if you love this career or it's not for you.

You are in a good place, if you are in your first or second year. Be honest with yourself and prepare for a possible career change, if your heart isn't in your major. Just make sure that by the time your name is called to get your degree, your career goal is something you LOVE to do (not just because of money or salary), with a backup plan just in case.

 

What path to take? I just retired. Friends, colleagues, and all sorts of other sorts of people whose business it wasn't, asked what are your plans? My response was either 1) I am going to spend all my money and live a a ward of the state (generally I used that with Republicans) or 2) I don't have a plan, I've never had a plan and don't intend to start planning now.

The second was the truthful response. When I was in graduate school I was certain of what I wanted to do/be. I got my degree and did that for 6 years and discovered it was not quite what I expected. So I drifted a bit, freelanced, took odd jobs. Then I moved to another city on a short term basis and 35 years later I am still here. But in that time I changed my career path once and changed jobs three times, the longest and latest lasted 23 years.

In one of my jobs I often saw young folks who were looking for career advice, specifically, how to do what i was doing. My answer was and is - there is no one route to get here or anywhere you want to go. You will find your own way and along the way you may discover that your goal has changed, your ideal job is nothing like what you thought it would/should be.

So, here I am, retired all of 17 days, and I look back on my graduate school days, my degree and my first steps along the path I thought I wanted and I have absolutely no regrets nor do I feel I wasted that part of my life. In fact, I believe those first steps made all the others possible and allowed me to do much better financially than I might otherwise have done, even though I did not use that degree after the first six years.

Now I just have to figure out what to do for the rest of the day.

 

Experience is the best teacher, even if it's a bad experience. Don't regret, embrace and keep it moving.

 

man listen, I go through this everyday.

 

I wouldn't worry about it too much yeh....the signs that will lead you to you're career path are probably just around the corner.

For me, I didn't know know what path I wanted to take till I was nearly finished with university....I had to change my major and double up on courses (like 21hr semesters) just so I could graduate on time. I would have never found my major until I talked with my advisor. He made me talk to him about my interest, then made me take a personality test and then suggested one of the career options from my results.

Dante gave really good advise, mostly what he said is what I did and would suggest. Just to add, talk to some of your professors and build a professional relationship with them; that was the best advice that I got. Talk to them about what classes you should take or what they think about your future career plan and even about shadowing/internship opportunities they might have or know about (that's literally how I got the gig that I have now).

And most importantly, try to think about it this way....most people don't go into their careers loving it, they learn to love their careers. Before I became a teacher, I wasn't excited about it at all, I just jumped at the opportunity because it was going to provide me with stability. But honestly yeh, I've come to love teaching and love those snot-nosed babies of mine. God, it's so gratifying seeing the results I was hoping for after implementing a new behavioural mod plan. Even more, I love not seeing the results I was hoping for and then having to go back to square one, figuring out a new plan, implementing it and see those little knuckleheads overcome their challenge.


....just remember yeh, you'll never know what you love or don't love until you throw yourself in it.