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To the poster who very kindly repped me with a comment, I don't know how to respond to a rep comment (technically, I mean) but I don't think I have much to add after my previous post. Feel free to DM me if you'd like, maybe I can add something helpful. (P.S. I have no children, by choice, which might contribute to my being able to explore many avenues).
To the poster who very kindly repped me with a comment, I don't know how to respond to a rep comment (technically, I mean) but I don't think I have much to add after my previous post. Feel free to DM me if you'd like, maybe I can add something helpful. (P.S. I have no children, by choice, which might contribute to my being able to explore many avenues).
Hmmm... did that person ask you what you would encourage your children to do, knowing what you know?
Like many Americans, I find myself unemployed and I'm getting unemployment. But, my problems are not about lack of work.
It is with a heavy heart when I apply to jobs, because I'm unhappy with the line of work I'm in. The bad side to this is that I went back to school to get my Master's Degree in what I was doing, but I'm not sure I want to do it anymore.
I've picked up "What Color is Your Parachute" along with a few other self-help books regarding choosing a career, but nothing jumps out at me. I'm dying to THROW myself into a career that I want, the problem is, I don't know what career or line of work I want to do. It's not that I want to avoid work - I'm DYING to build my career, to go out into the world and make my mark, to become someone doing SOMETHING, the problem is, I don't know what that something is.
I worked as a headhunter a few years back, so I'm aware of the vast array of jobs available (when you can find them). The problem is, I just don't have a strong passion for anything. What do you do when you don't have a passion for any line of work?
Has anyone been in this predicament before? How did you solve it?
lol I had *completely* forgotten I started this thread.
When I was let go from my last job, I decided that I wanted being fired to be the best thing that ever happened to me, meaning that I was only going to apply for jobs in great companies with good benefits making above and beyond what I was making at my last job.
I applied to a company I really wanted to work for and received a "sorry, you don't the certification that we need someone to have in order for us to even consider you" from the HR dept. I wrote an email convincing the HR person that I was passionate about working for the company (I was) and that I was about 40 hours away from my certification. I convinced HR to let me have an interview and after two interviews I was eventually hired!!!
Now, I really love what I do. No, it isn't perfect, the hours aren't wonderful and the commute is far and the paperwork is tedious because it has to be done perfectly or it comes back and has to be redone. But, other than that, I really love my work. I'm glad I held out. I recommend to anyone in a good financial situation that they hold out as long as they can, having a job you hate sucks the life out of you.
So I received a PM about how I got my latest job and thought what I did to nail the interview might be helpful to someone else:
I think partially I was burned out due to the population I was working with and the company I was working for was also underpaying me and not treating their employees very nicely.
For me, what worked is taking some time off (not a whole lot, just a few months) and really recentering myself and finding out what I wanted to do and then really going after jobs even if they were slightly out of reach because I didn't have *quite* enough experience or *quite* enough certification. I decided to just go for it, even though I fell a little short of certain marks. That's my advice to everyone. Go after what you want and try to convince the employer with your passion to get you into the interview.
Then, once the interview is secured, study like mad so you can nail the interview questions. I literally researched every single thing they could ask me (all the way from detailed answers about how I could perform the job better than anyone else, to technical knowledge about my job to the latest research project the company listed on their website), made myself a cheat sheet 10 pages long and then interviewed myself without looking at the sheet with my webcam. Then I played it back and kept redoing it until I knew the answers cold AND made sure I was coming across calmly, confidentially and professionally.
I've always thought that I was born in the wrong time - kinda like the Brian Wilson tune "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times." I would have done well in the late 19th century as a linguist, etymologist, writer, and educator. No market for any of that these days...
Something else I would be interested in - voiceover work. I've been told I have the 'right sound' but I do not know the first thing about how to break into that business. And I should think that getting into it would involve a lot of 'people skills' crap which I, frankly, suck at big time. So I stick to doing mundane BS which only fuels my life.
Yes, someone added a comment in repping me about what I would advise my children to do. I would advise any young person the same way as I said in my post.
I've never had a passion for any jobs I've had either. At least the one I have now affords me a comfortable lifestyle and something to invest each month for retirement.
A job is simply a means to an end for me- nothing more, nothing less.
The guy who designed my wild wonderful little house is an artist. He's 60 and has hated every job he ever had "except for the time I built a boat dock in my drinking days." He has been a special ed teacher, got an MBA and managed a law office.
Now he's married to a very busy journalist/writer/professor, and he goes wherever she goes and helps her with research and does or learns whatever art is in the area (Central Asia, weaving carpets, for example). While she was teaching in Zimbabwe, he started a growing non-profit that is like an orphanage/school/kids doing art and selling it the U.S. I doubt he could have done this for his own income, but he finally loves what he does. I always think of him, saying, "I've always hated every job I had." Come to think of it, the other people I know who can admit to this were also strong visual artists.
Just some data points.
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