Career Challenge

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?  For 99.9% of you the answer is no.  Of course you don't... and that is nothing to panic about, but I know for a lot of students (and their parents) that it does create anxiety.

Here is where this gets tricky... when you are looking at colleges you might want to consider you are hoping that they will have your intended major.  But if you don't have any idea what you want to study then you can't really use that as a factor in selecting your desired college.

And yet your exposure to all of the possible careers is typically very limited.  You have a general idea of some jobs.  You know what you see of your teachers.  You know what your interactions are with your doctor and dentist when you go in for your routine check-ups.  If you have pets you might have an idea of what your vet does.  Perhaps you have some idea of what your parents do (although I am always amazed at how many students only know the smallest fraction of what their parents do - often not even knowing their job title).  And, if you work a part time job you have an idea of what your job and the jobs of those around you involve.  But truthfully, beyond that, most of you don't really have a good handle on all that is available in the world.  (Again, normal and ok so I don't say that to freak you out!)

How could you possibly know what it means to be an anthropologist, an anesthesiologist, or an astrophysicist when you probably haven't spent a lot of time with anyone in those careers.  (And although the names sound somewhat similar believe me they are drastically different fields.)  Until you get to college and end up taking a class in one of these fields and realize that it is what you love then it is possible you won't know that it is the career for you.

However, THIS IS THE TIME to start EXPLORING different careers!  This should be fun and entertaining and interesting... and yes, hopefully also helpful.

So far this summer I have been on a career related kick.  Do you remember back to registration/ scheduling time when we encouraged you to do some career explorations and one of them was to do a Myers Briggs Type Indicator to help you know yourself better for considering career options?  I have been reading a book that takes that information a step further - it is called "Do What You Are: Discover the perfect career for you through the secrets of personality type" by Tieger, Barron and Tieger.   As I was reading there were so many times when I found myself saying, "YES!  Exactly!"  For example:
 - "To make matters worse, most of us don't really know what we need to satisfy us.  We know what we don't like - that much we've learned from experience - but we don't know how to think up, much less find, a fulfilling alternative."
- "Ultimately the answers must come from you because you know you best."
- "To achieve career satisfaction, you need to figure out what your preferences are and then find a job that accommodates them."
- "Most of us are caught in a kind of psychological wrestling match, torn between what we think we can do, what we (or others) feel we ought to do, and what we think we want to do.  Our advice? Concentrate instead on who you are, and the rest will fall into place."

The book gave a really great analogy about why focusing on who you are is important.  Do me a favor and stop and do this... take out a piece of paper and sign your name to it.  Now, switch your pen/ pencil to your other hand and sign your name.  You probably felt a little silly or awkward.  Chances are it isn't as neat or fluid as when you signed with your dominant hand.  But you were able to do it.  And, as the book explained, that is a lot like careers.  You can choose any career, but some of them will fit you more naturally - they will align with YOU better than others.  And, because most of us don't have the extra time, energy or enthusiasm to continually be fighting to go against our natural instincts all of the time, selecting a job that doesn't fit with WHO YOU ARE can be a major challenge.

So, here is my career challenge for you... for each of the remaining weeks of the summer, pick out 1 career per week to explore.  I am not asking you to DO anything at this point (although I would absolutely LOVE it if you decided to do more than just explore information online), but for now, I would be content if you selected jobs that you thought could possibly, maybe, in some way appeal to WHO YOU ARE.

If you can't remember your Myers Briggs Type Indicator, you can go back to the free shortened version of the test and take it again.  This website provides a free version of the test.  As you get those results, keep scrolling through the results pages and you will come to a page that talks about potential careers.  You can also use your 4 letter MBTI code to do a general Google search for those 4 letters and careers.

Another great resource is the Occupational Outlook Handbook.  I have been scrolling through the A-Z Index on that page to start getting some snapshot ideas of different careers.  (Did you know that there is a job called a "Carrott Harvester"?  I didn't until I was going through the list, but FYI, it has a declining job outlook so it probably isn't the best choice for your future career.)  I am only 1/4 of the way through the list of randomly looking at different careers, but there is fascinating information available.

Have fun exploring - I can't wait to hear what careers potentially spark your interest!