Everyone tells you to follow your passion when picking a career. I’m not so sure they’re right. Even a passion will eventually become a chore when you’re forced to do it to make a living. Here are some things to think about that I wish someone had told me when I was picking a career.
Where do you want to live?
Do you want to be in a big city? Suburbs? A small town? Some professions are very location dependent. If you pursue a career in one of them, make sure it’s where you want to live. Long commutes will make you miserable.
Do you want to live abroad?
Plan ahead if you do and pick a career accommodating to
this. You might want to target big companies who have an international
presence. Or focus on remote work like writing or programming.
Do you want to be publicly recognized for your work?
Some jobs are pretty thankless. Others go out of their way
to make a big deal out of the work they do. If you thrive on recognition, and
there’s nothing wrong with that, plan on taking a job that’s in the public eye.
Do you care what others think of your job?
Right or wrong, people will judge you on your job. Do you
need a prestigious job like a doctor or lawyer? Will you be happy telling
people what you do?
What kind of environment do you want to work in?
Do you want to be in an office? Do you want to work in a hospital? Do you want to work outside? You can find a career working in just about any environment. Just give it some thought about where you want to spend a significant chunk of your life.
Who do you want to work with?
Do you want to work with mostly women, or men, or both? Do
you want to be in a young office or an experienced one? Do you want the office
to be social or just put your time in and go home? All of these are influenced
by career choice.
What kind of money can you get by on?
This is a big one. We would all love to make a ton of money, but ask yourself what the minimum you can happily get by on is. If you grew up in a well-off family and think you’re going to be able to continue living like that on a teacher’s salary… you might need to adjust your expectations. You don’t need to be rich to be happy, but make sure you can maintain a standard of living you’re comfortable with. Remember, we work to enable life, not the other way around.
Do you want to travel for your job?
Some jobs won’t have you travel at all. Others will, but
only to boring locations. Some jobs have you travel so much that you’re never
home. Take this into account when picking a career. A job in consulting is
likely to have a lot more travel than a job in real estate for example.
How much time off do you want?
Most jobs (in the US) will only start you off with two weeks
of vacation. If you’re the type of person who likes taking long trips, take
this into account when picking a career. Maybe teaching or a startup job that
offers unlimited vacation is a good fit for you.
How important is a regular schedule to you?
It might not seem like a big deal to have your days off be
weekdays, until all of your friends want to go out on the weekend. Can you
handle a non-typical job schedule?
How active do you want to be during the day?
There’s a lot of perks to a desk job, but the reality is,
you will sit for eight hours a day at least. Many of us end up sitting for a
couple hours in traffic as well. We sit again at home for dinner and to catch up
on Netflix, which means we basically sit all day. I know this is becoming the
norm, but if you can’t handle this much sitting, take that into account when
picking a career.
How in demand is this profession?
This might not seem like a big deal until the economy goes south or you’re sick of your job. There’s nothing worse than feeling stuck. If you’re someone who feels the need to shake things up now and again, you’ll want to pick a career that’s in demand so it will be easy to find something new.
I know this is a lot to take in, and there are most definitely tradeoffs between these. But if you are trying to figure out what to do with your life, make sure that you’re asking more questions than just “what am I passionate about”. You’ll be glad you did.
Indubitably Dubitable 