Career Paths...Fork in Many Directions (Part 2)

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(Photos by Laelia, 2014)
A barista? Tea Shop owner? Wholesale merchandiser of tea sets? A local Coffee roaster? Church minister? Choir director? Architect of churches? Bible publisher? See how many permutations there are?

Now that you have (hopefully) spent some time discovering common themes in your life and personal habits, it is time to contemplate potential careers. It is entirely possible that you have known "what you want to do" since you were five and you are successfully doing that job already. If that is the case, then, I hate you. Just kidding! It is such a gift, to be that clear about your path in life and to be able to pursue it. Even when a person is clear about the type of career they would like to pursue, there are many directions within a career "subject" that you could choose.

The reason why having a solid understanding of yourself is important in this discussion, is because the knowledge may illuminate avenues you may not have considered previously. For example, even if you are sure of your interest in becoming a lawyer, there are dozens of paths in which to use a law degree! Not only do lawyers work in courtrooms, but also neighborhood law offices, for schools, in large corporations, at home in private offices. In courtrooms, lawyers can defend criminals, plead the case for children in abuse situations, or handle financial-fraud issues. They can represent people hurt in car accidents or damaged by faulty products on the market. Within corporations, lawyers can oversee human resource situations that arise.

Here are some more examples of careers and the myriad of possibilities within each role:

Nurse:
school nurse
pediatric nurse in a hospital
ER nurse
nurse in a assisted living home
Nurse Practitioner
teaching nurse- in a hospital/university/teaching patients about home care

Writer:
technical
grant
writing freelance articles online
journalist
editor
novel-nonfiction/fiction
poetry
publisher
editor
writing agent

Teacher:
elementary or Middle school teacher
high school teacher (of music,art history, literature, gym, science?)
Special Education
Community College
University
tutor
coach

Environmentalist:
geologist
weather forecaster
conservationist
landscape supervisor
Park Ranger
recycling facility worker
whale rescue/conservation
whale research
whale trainer in a theme park
solar panel installation

Artist:
collage
ceramics
oil/acrylic/watercolor
graphic design
interior design
architecture
landscape design
art museum curator


If you have a clearer understanding of who you are and what kind of duties, environments, and lifestyle you enjoy, it will be easier to see what will or won't work for you in a career. You can also combine interests to narrow down potential career paths. For example, if you enjoy the outdoors, gardens, creating order and design, then you could enjoy a career in landscape architecture. Even in that, you could do urban design, design for commercial properties, or design the landscapes for private homes!

For example, let's say you have an interest in animals, but are not daring in the adventurous-risk of bodily harm type of way. You enjoy working outside, but you like structure, you care about educating people, and you enjoy public speaking.

Thus, an educational zoo may be a more fitting place for you to work than out doing field research in the wilds of South America.

This part of the process requires that you research the different types of careers. Find answers to questions like these and compare them to what you know about yourself:

~Do I care about it?
~What types of jobs require the skills and interests that I already have?
~Or conversely, if there is a specific career path I am interested in, how do my skills and interests match?
~What other subsets of that type of career are available? (for example, lists above)
~What are the typical hours for a job like that?
~How is the workplace generally structured, or not?
~Is it outside, inside, low/high stress, physically or mentally demanding?
~Would I work primarily alone or on a team?
~Does it require that I live in a specific region of the country/world or can I use it anywhere?
~If it is a specific region, can I see myself living there?
~What kind of opportunities for growth does this potential career path offer? (This does not necessarily mean monetary or "leveling up", maybe just learning new things, making a difference in the world)
~How does this align with what I know to be true about who I am and how I operate?
~What kind of training does this career path require?

This is by no means an exhaustive list of possible questions to ask yourself when researching possible careers, but hopefully it will help.






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