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On another forum I discussed in painful detail how I am not a "people person" and as a result, have a lot of trouble finding good career opportunities (especially in my geographic location which is a "tourist town").
Recently, despite the fact that I have spent way more time and money than I ever wanted or intended to spend going to college, I am considering getting more education under my belt so that I can get some kind of decent-paying job here. (Can't move - not an option).
Here is my dilemma. I cannot think of what I could learn that would provide me with good career potential that does not involve heavy people contact.
As one astute poster pointed out to me; we live in a social environment where the economy is based on people contact [shudder]. However, I can't help but think that there must be SOMETHING out there...
Now before you suggest research, let me say that my math skills are poor at best. I had intended on going into the sciences as a child, but I could not swing even the most elementary mathematic requirements. Therefore, anything scientific is probably not a practical choice for me. This rules out a lot of research position.
I do not live in a large city. In fact, I do not live in a large town. I live in a rural environment. Like I mentioned the main industry is tourism here. There are few opportunities to get into something that would require a large population base to support.
I do not want to be a programmer. Again, this occasionally requires a good math understanding, *and* I really do not care for computers much (other than things like data entry - which I love, by the way).
Since almost ALL of the medical field consists of dealing with people, I have not yet found an occupation in that area that would appeal to me. If I am missing something, please let me know.
Oddly enough, I had considered mortuary science. But here in BFE, it seems to be a genetic occupation. The morticians here seem to be generational, and I am not sure I could "break in" to the industry even if I could find a college within a thousand miles that offered a degree in it. Again, I would be more interested in the "behind the scenes" work rather than the front of house type work. I am thinking that this type of work would probably not pay that well.
Any suggestions what kind of schooling would be beneficial to me? Just for the record, I have a degree in English and 12 credit hours towards a MBA. Neither of which seems to have helped me much in the past.
Would you enjoy writing? You can do freelance writing from home, and you can "meet" most of your clients online. I write a lot of web content, as well as some writing for private clients. LMK if you'd like more information.
What do you mean when you say that you aren't good in dealing with people? Except as a professional counselor, most jobs working with people are very style-ized, where you respond in certain prescribed ways. Most jobs that "work with people" don't require too much imagination. You memorize a certain set of phrases,and you use them over and over again.
Try your hand at truck driving, or perhaps railroad conductor on a freight-train.
I have no problem hanging out with people on "off-time", but when it comes to working, I'd much rather be by myself, or an "in-direct" team.
I love truck-driving due to the fact that aside from the few times you deal with scalehouse personnel and shipping/receiving clerks, it's pretty much you and the open road.
I'm not the biggest "people person", either. It limits my career to an extent. That said, I do deal with people quite a bit in a pressure environment: I'm a financial analyst in a large technology corporation. However, I'm basically an experienced technical worker; I spend my time really focused on analytical model work, etc.
I know this specific example doesn't help you much, but what I'm getting at is that perhaps there is an area of interest to you where you could establish yourself as a technical expert. I went through college and grad school, and I saw some remarkably quiet professors who shunned the spotlight and didn't excel at really being social bugs - but they were passionate enough to talk about what they loved, which was their area of expertise. Sure, they still had to interact with students to some extent, but their primary focus was on their writing and research. Just a thought...
The other thing I will say is that what is limiting you by far the most is not your personality or desire to avoid social-heavy jobs; it's the fact that you live in an area that does not have the job opportunities. In a big city like where I live, there are a million different dreams and paths for you to explore on just on one street. But you need to be there to walk down that street and knock on the doors. I'm not sure what is limiting you from moving, and I won't pry...but if you ever do get into the position where you could be more mobile, perhaps you may wish to consider it...
What about an academic career? Get a PhD and live in the world of research. That can be VERY isolated depending on what you do. Research in biology/geology can mean not seeing a single other person for days on end.
The other solution you won't like...work on becoming more of a people person. That is something you CAN teach yourself, if you want to. I am not saying become a social butterfly, but you can at least teach yourself how to enjoy interacting with others.
On another forum I discussed in painful detail how I am not a "people person"
I think you should look into why you are not a people person and see if you can change that.
All people are varying degrees of social, but if your unsocialness is hampering you life style you might have a legitimate, but fixable, problem.
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