Opening Career Doors

I recently posted about how I am using this summer to help me decide what career to pursue.

I am starting to realize that mapping out exactly what I want to do is not necessarily the best idea. To think that you can just pick out a career that you will be in for the next 40 or 50 years when you are in your younger 20's is unrealistic. Careers have twists and people change. I may decide that I want to be a government affairs attorney now, but does that mean I will want to be one in five years? Or 20 years?

Not only do we change but markets and technology change. With the decline of the newspaper industry many journalism majors are being forced to shift gears. Careers are variable. We need to be variable.

Instead of mapping the rest of our lives out we need to focus more on the present. Focus on doing a good job and keep your eyes open to opportunities that may come up. Doing great work will open doors. Also important is keeping in contact with the people you have worked with. Having this network will keep you connected to new opportunities that arise.

Deciding which opportunities to chase is key. Knowing what you like and what you are passionate about will make it much easier to make these decisions.

Keep your eyes open and keep working hard.

Photo: anyjazz65

Finding Your Career Path

For the past couple years I have been trying to figure out what career to pursue. Unlike a lucky few, I have never had that dream path that I knew I would follow. College helped cultivate my interest in a few areas, namely, politics and law. Yet I still find myself questioning my specific career path. My only requirement (aside from being able to pay the bills) is that I find a job that I am passionate about. When I do things I am passionate about I am happy, take pride in my work and do it really well. I think this is applicable to most people. Finding something that you can do that fills you with passion and that someone will give you money for is the ultimate key.

I am spending this summer trying to gain a better understanding of what I want to do and what fills me with passion. I am doing this in a couple different ways:

• Taking the time to think. Taking 20 minutes to sit and contemplate career goals and life is probably the first step. As simple as this seems it is easy to not do it.
• Reading. Reading books about different careers and successful people can yield great advice. Reading about remarkable people and ideas usually gets my mind racing.
• Talking to people in the field. Who better to talk to than people who have great jobs. I have found that people are very honest and helpful if you ask them for career advice.
• Writing this blog. This blog forces me to extrapolate on my thoughts and career aspirations.
  

The most important step is just taking the time to think and reflect. I think too many people take what they are given and accept it. They get a job and go with the flow. I worked at a place once where you could just see people who had lost their passion for work long ago. They trudged on because they had to. I vowed then to never let that happen to me. Having the power to choose what you want to do is a gift. Don't waste it.