NBR: Career Funk
MrsHughesNC
member
So while I'm so, so grateful to have a full time job, I am in a major career funk. I am just getting convinced more and more each day that the field I'm in is not right for me. The part that sucks is that I have no idea what I'd rather do (you know, other than opening a water park/puppy farm 
)
If you're happy in your career, how did you decide what you wanted to do for a living?
Do you know of any resources to help one figure that out?
I've looked into to a few different (totally different) paths, but I wonder if I'm intrigued just because it's something totally different, or for totally wrong reasons (I found myself excited about one path because I could wear scrubs! Yes!....yeah, probably not the right reason. hehe). I also am looking at areas of high job stability. Important, yes, but would being stuck in a stable job I hate be much better? Ugh..
I am open to going back to school, but it would have to be at night, as I can't quit working full time. I'm probably thinking community college, though I'm not entirely opposed to grad school--it's just a money concern, really. I just don't want to waste a bunch of time & money on something only to found out that I've chosen it for the wrong reasons.
Can we rewind back to 1996 and let me choose a different college major and start over back when my parents were paying for my school, and I didn't need to work full time? Blah.
TIA!
Re: NBR: Career Funk
Photo/Family Blog
We're hiring on our horse farm if you want something COMPLETELY different...hehehe
(Sorry this is of no useful help...not a big fan of my job either but it pays the bills and I have the extra time I need for my responsibilities with the farm and our family now that I didn't have before with my job that I loved... *sigh* it was time for me to put on my big girl panties and suck it up because of our farm and family...but if you have options...do something you love! Like opening a crafty business with your creativeness!
)
PS...just re-read that and it sounds like I hate everything and that is so not the case...just sad I had to give up a fun job, but I do love our farm and especially our family!!
Life at Chunky Gal
I know where your coming from. I dropped out of college (it was a field I wasn't particuarlly fond of anyway) to work at my family's business that I was already working at part time. I so wish I had stayed in college. I hate it here. Yes I'm with family but thats the hard part. Me and my family don't get along and I think it is because we are with each other 46 hrs a week..
I would love to be able to do something I actually like. I didn't chose this career, my parents choose it for me. The reason I left college is cause they promised me I would be managing the new location they were going to be opening. Well here I am 2 years later, still the crappy secretary at the same location. The new location hasn't even been started. And now my parents are talking about abandoning that whole idea.
So I have changed my career path to please them.. once again in my life. and now I am stuck because I get paid good money even though it is 46 hrs a week and I barely see my DH anymore since he started working part time and going to school..
It sucks. And If I were you I would definately try to go back to school, maybe take some general classes that could be applied to all different careers. Thats what I plan on doing when DH gets out of school.. but I have 4 more years til then...
Hope I can stay Sane that long!
I am generally happy in my career. But, it's something I stumbled into and not at all related to my college major. I took a job as a research assistant as an undergrad, was hired by the same group after college and followed one of our docs to his department for a better position as a FT study coordinator. I took a position with a private company as a study coordinator, but when I saw a group that needed help and I didn't have enough hours, I asked if I could help them. Turns out, I really liked what they did (evaluation). Why? Because evaluation is like putting a puzzle together, and that's how my brain works. I like being analytical and having to construct things from the bottom up.
So, that was a really long and rambling way to tell you that I didn't go toward my current career with a plan, but I got to it by figuring out what I did and didn't like doing, then seeking out an opportunity that would play to the things that I like.
I will say though, that if I could turn back time (I hope you sang that in a Cher voice), I would. The second semester of my senior year, I took a class in linguistics and loved it! I loved learning why and how we make certain sounds and how speech has evolved. If I'd taken that class my freshman year, I would have switched majors to speech pathology. Yes, I could go back to school now, but I must admit that I really like earning a paycheck, and this is not something I could do at night at a community college.
So, am I in my ideal career? Probably not. But, do I like what I do? Absolutely!
Good luck, Hughes. I know it's hard figuring out what you want to do as a career. Maybe you could "shadow" someone in the field(s) you're thinking about and see if they're really all that you think they are. Then, you wouldn't waste time in school studying something that it turns out you're not into.