Career Choice: Combining your degree and your passions
Don’t waste your money on something you will never do.
My Dad offered this advice to my younger sister during one reading break. After a semester of studying Environmental Studies, my sister realized that she would never want to work in this field. She came home over reading break and voiced her concern. My Dad began to consider the money she was spending on her education. Recognizing that the return would never be worth the investment, my Dad advised her to stop doing what she hated and instead start doing what she loved.
Know what you want and do it.
Part of knowing what you want to do is acknowledging what you don’t want to do. For myself, I know that I don’t want to be an accountant. I did not learn this, however, until recently. I spent two years studying accounting at a community college, and another three years majoring in it at university. My grades were tolerably good, but they weren’t fantastic. I saw accounting as a good and lucrative career. Attaining that career was my motivation. One day, during an interview for an internship I had set my sights upon, I came to the realization that this career conflicted with every other personal goal and desire in my life. The pursuit of status and salary, while a tactic taken by many, is thewrong reason to pursue any career. True, we need money to live. But we also need to feel a sense of importance and personal purpose in our daily work. Undeniably, we are each endowed with unique talents, skills, passions, and ideas. I think when we embrace and incorporate our gifts and passions into our career we experience a new level of satisfaction in work.
Think of creative ways to complement your degree with your talents, skills and passions.
In the recent labour survey released by Statistics Canada, it was shown that 56,000 new jobs were created in Canada in April 2004. 36,000 of these new jobs came from new self-employed individuals. While many reasons may motivate a person to open their own business, there is one reason that remains constant: the sense of freedom and success in owning your own business. The self-employed individual takes their very best qualities and combines them with those things they enjoy to create a job ideal for them.
Finding my passion.
Aside from the fact that I cannot add without a calculator, I did not like the life-path I would’ve followed if I continued with accounting. I’ve always loved working closely with people. During university, my job working as a Computer Lab assistant gave me an opportunity to work with people. Simply being in that environment and finding myself able to help others gave me a thrill. I felt useful behind a desk. I was able to use my computer interests and skills. And although my desk may seem to be in a state of disarray, I know I have great organizational skills. I found my job as a Computer Lab assistant challenging and rewarding because it exercised my strengths, skills and interests.
From my experience working in a Computer Lab and understanding my strengths and weaknesses, I learned what kind of work I loved to do. So instead of looking for work as an accountant, I looked for (and found) work as a secretary. I know accounting work is far more lucrative than sitting behind a desk as a secretary but someone has to type the letters and sort the files.
Don’t be afraid to look like a failure.
Some people may think I am silly to have abandoned my initial career objective, but I look at my life as highly successful. While I have a particular fondness for payday, it is not the central focus of my life. To me, that I look forward to going to work in the morning is success.
Get beyond your comfort zone
“Now what?” is probably the most common question facing university graduates. You have probably spent anywhere from four years or more in university. University has become a familiar, a very comfortable environment. For many, going to university was your first time living away from your parents. Your university friends have become a surrogate family. Leaving school would be reminiscent of leaving home. If you don’t have a job lined up after graduation, leaving school will be a drastic and probably downright scary change.
Be ready for change. Expect it.
As you graduate, find what you love to do and do it. It doesn’t matter if it is not what you thought you “wanted” to do four, five, or ten years ago. It doesn’t matter if it won’t make you rich or famous. Each of us was made to be good at something. Chances are that something is the one thing you love most of all to do. I’ve always found the wise words of King Solomon applicable to the predicament many us of new graduates face in choosing a career: “I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his life.”
Do what you love. Do what you are good at and you’ll discover a satisfaction in life that most people never attain.
Do success stories exist? My younger sister’s story gives me hope that they do. She, a once dissatisfied Environmental Studies student, incidentally found what she loved doing most of all – hairdressing. Once she took steps towards pursuing this career, she was immediately accepted into one of the better schools in the city and began turning a talent she has always had into a skill. She’s doing what she loves to do. And she’s happier now than I can ever recall seeing her.
Hannah is a graduate of the School of Business at McMaster University. She works as a secretary at McMaster and enjoys a wide variety of activities, including dressmaking, crochet, and writing.
Thanks for sharing! I’m also a person with many passions. My own dream job would combine tech, international affairs, and business. I recently launched a site which I think could be another cool resource. It’s a search engine called CareerCombo (www.careercombo.com) aimed specifically to help people like us find jobs that combine our different passions. Hope it can be helpful!