# How to obtain a career and/or career goal?



## Fleetfoot (May 9, 2011)

In a way I am incredibly envious of those who are set in a career path and know very well of what they want to do to keep the bacon on the table. Unfortunately I am not one of those people. Every job I had has been a job, and nothing towards a career goal or just something I want to do in general. I'm doing the best I can to stick to what I'm doing now for at least a year, just so I can put on my resume that I worked somewhere for at least a year. 

Are there any of you who really don't believe in the "career" thing? As much as I want to, I don't think someone like myself would have the luxury of working up and learning within a certain field, and be okay to say "I do this for a living" instead of be embarrassed or ashamed of it. If you've been in this rut and found yourself out of it, share your secrets.


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## _XXX_ (Oct 25, 2014)

I don't have a "career" path either. But I have certifications and experience in a couple of fields. (Physician's Assistant, Degree in Childhood Education, certifications in office work/sales and management) Now considering going back to school for Property Management or Real Estate. (I have a huge passion for homes and property.)

Not everyone is satisfied with one specific career path. Myself, I enjoy having experience in multiple areas so I can move around if I get tired of working in one or the other.

Do what you enjoy the most.
If you can pay your bills and have enough to live without begging for money from anyone, don't worry over WHAT you do unless you feel a calling to do something else.

If you think you want more, then I'd go see a career counselor. You can find one at nearly any college or job agency, they can help you decide what you'd enjoy and determine what your skills are.


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## AriesLilith (Jan 6, 2013)

Here's a little secret not many will tell us: many many people don't have that "The One Passion" in their lives. Many people are also interested in different things but rarely something specific and in depth.

But because we are so used to all these "find your passion" motto, we think that this is the only way and we all need to fit into this only mold.

It's important to note that this is not a justification for lack of effort on anything of course. Even in things we enjoy it still requires effort and it won't always be roses.
But what I want to say here is that each of us is different. Some are more of specialists, some are more of generalists, and some are in between. What we need to do is to first understand ourselves. What are the kind of things we enjoy doing? What are the kind of things we are good at? The first affects how much effort and capacity we have to learn and improve on something, and the second affects how easy or hard, or even frustrating it can be to achieve something. Of course that to do something great it still requires effort and a long time to master, but sometimes forcing ourselves to do something we really naturally are bad at can be very frustrating and bad. This also depends on each of us of course.
But personally I think that if we don't have the one passion then it's better to find something we are good at and can enjoy.

And then it's also important to understand if what we are good at can sustain ourselves. Some might say that money doesn't matter, but not everyone is career driven. Some might want to live a happy family life, some might like traveling or other hobbies that might not be easy to monetize, and so on. Not everyone's priority is having a great career, some might feel happy with a decent job where they can enjoy and be good at, but feel miserable if they don't have enough financial stability.
Having enough money can mean being able to live a relatively worry free life, and to some this might be more important and that is ok. Each of us have our priorities.

Lastly, maybe it seems that everyone around us have it all figured out but the truth is we don't know. Many people are actually lost as well and feel miserable as they can't fit in the "find your one true passion" mold, but of course they wouldn't be spreading their worries and insecurities because society is not always understanding of this. Everyone loves the specialists full of passion after all. Employers love dedicated slaves too.


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## marblecloud95 (Aug 12, 2015)

shill4shekels i've been doing it for years


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## Rascal01 (May 22, 2016)

Here are some ideas:


What are your interests? They can be personal interests or work interests. What appeals to you? What do you consider to be fun?

What are your natural skills, your personal gifts? What are you good at? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?

What are your dreams? Dare to dream. What would you like to do but think you are couldn't qualify for? Never underestimate yourself or sell yourself short. You are capable of more than you know.

When you fill out an application, never lie. But never hesitate to write well about yourself. You have to sell yourself on the job application.

Build a skill set or set of credentials. Success is often not instantaneous. You need to work at it.

Go for it. Do not doubt yourself.

What you are doing isn't just about work, it is about quality of life, because that's what your income buys. You also need to consider retirement. Believe it or not, it really will happen one day.


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## Gossip Goat (Nov 19, 2013)

When I was almost graduating HS I thought a shit ton about this. This continued even after I entered college. I took a bunch of personality tests which told me nothing (that's actually how I wound up here). I did take a Sokanu test which, if you're 100% truthful it will give you career choices based on _interest_. I emphasize that because there are questions regarding certain careers like law & medicine and they're very specific like "would you like to administer pain medication" " would you like to handle a jury" or something like that and I find those to be sort of "inappropriate" in the sense that you can't possibly answer that truthfully because most of the info we get on those careers are from TV or are glamorized so your "interest" may be due to false exposure or persuasion (salary) and how would you know you'd like to prosecute someone or crack someone's bones if you've never done that OR really understand what the proper education entails (which a lot of the times stirs people away from pursuing something). But if your goal is money then whatevz, but if you want something you'd be passionate about or interested in you could find a happy medium (pays decently and you're interested). so many tangents

Anywho, it's a decent place to start (sokanu, I mean), just research the careers extensively *independenty*. Not every single career is listed there, but you could divide careers off into groups (healthcare, marketing, advertisement, law, forensic science, engineering, etc) and research them generally to get an idea then research specific roles / titles to know what you're in for. Also I sorta got side tracked, but like I said not every single career is in one site but usually grouping them into clusters and then looking at lists (like Public Health jobs) it gives you more answers and then you can look more in depth to one particular career. Anyways, I got side tracked again,

_TL;DR: Maybe take a few tests that indicate interest, google careers in clusteres (healthcare, IT, law, statistics, engineering, public health, etc) and then look at the individual roles and if you'd like to work there considering other factors besides interest.
_
I did this and eventually found something I was interested in pursuing after about 4 years but it worked out~

I took some classes too, for a while I was interested in forensic science then found a free online intro class and didn't like it as much as I thought I would. A lot of things are glamorized so you have to find a way to see what it's like in reality. Reddit is also really good in terms of this. But that's more for after you've found something you're interested in & want to research things more in depth. The internet was my oyster and it can help you too.


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Personal anecdote: I took a class in Hispanic American literature & Minority Literature in the US and really liked them, some topics really stood out and because of those classes I took a class in Anthropology which I loved and that's pretty much how I found my major interest in. Also because the syllabus in one class had the word "anthropological" and I was like WHATS THAT, researched more, somehow found that my university gave a class on cultural anthro, took it and orgasmed every day (symbolically) because it rocked. The point in saying this is to highlight that you have to expose yourself to certain fields or topics to weed out what you like and dislike. One thing can lead you to another.





If you don't really believe in careers/passions then you can try to look at something you can see yourself in (something you like or sorta like or TOLERATE even), depends on your priorities, prioritize what you want from a career/job; if you have no interests then just look at as many careers as you can throughout different fields and see what stands out. Volunteer or search anything, see what they do, learn what you dislike/like from what you find. OR THROW A DART <3

I'm rambling & repeating myself at this point. Sorreh~


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

Fleetfoot said:


> In a way I am incredibly envious of those who are set in a career path and know very well of what they want to do to keep the bacon on the table. Unfortunately I am not one of those people. Every job I had has been a job, and nothing towards a career goal or just something I want to do in general. I'm doing the best I can to stick to what I'm doing now for at least a year, just so I can put on my resume that I worked somewhere for at least a year.
> 
> Are there any of you who really don't believe in the "career" thing? As much as I want to, I don't think someone like myself would have the luxury of working up and learning within a certain field, and be okay to say "I do this for a living" instead of be embarrassed or ashamed of it. If you've been in this rut and found yourself out of it, share your secrets.


Start with what you like to do/what you're good at. If you're not sure, there are tests that can help you narrow that down.


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## Fleetfoot (May 9, 2011)

tanstaafl28 said:


> Start with what you like to do/what you're good at. If you're not sure, there are tests that can help you narrow that down.


 Got any links?


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

Fleetfoot said:


> Got any links?


I Googled career interest survey. 

https://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip

https://www.careertech.org/student-interest-survey

Career Interest Survey


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## ninjahitsawall (Feb 1, 2013)

I have a general idea of a career goal but have mostly felt clueless about how to actualize it. Something either in health tech or neuro/psych research would be my preference. After speaking with a therapist last week (who I started going to for panic attacks, but those are also exacerbated by my "career anxiety" so we discuss that a lot), I am thinking of going for some kind of health certification. It looks like phlebotomy might be a good place to start because it's a short program (less investment since I don't really know what to expect, and already have a 4-year degree + corresponding debt), and I've seen it listed as a "plus" for some research positions. I don't really see human fluid testing as a career, but it would open up more short-term possibilities and be useful for my longer term goals too.


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

Honestly does each job improve in pay and responsibilities? If you're constantly moving forward, then it's as good as a defined career path.


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## Caveman Dreams (Nov 3, 2015)

I used to believe in the whole career thing. But now I ultimately just see it as a ways and means of paying bills and supporting lifestyle.

On the flip side I enjoy my life a lot more and am glad I decided there was more to life than just working.

On the other hand, I don't want to be doing the same thing forever and every now and then I do like a pay rise, so I swot up on some courses and qualifications to get that bit further, so I can afford a more interesting life.

Ive worked at a pretty big corperation where there are lots of oppurtunities and everyone is work/career focussed. Not my cup of tea, I sacked it in, quite happily took a 20% pay drop and found a job which actually provided a work-life balance.

Then 3 months later got made redundant. So found yet another job, this time sure it involves shift work and some long hours. But its 4 days on and 4 days off. So that actually leaves me a lot more time to actually live life as opposed to slaving away. And I actually get better time at gym and more time for my own life and interests.

Just my 2 cents.


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