Need help deciding on career

[leman45]

I finished high school last year (class of 07). I didn't go to college because I didn't know what I should get into get into. I was hoping I would find something I am interested in doing for a career during this time, but I didn't. So a year later, I have to decide. I just don't know what to do. Nothing really seems to interest me. I mean I'm really interested in cars, but I really don't want to be a mechanic. Should I just go to college not knowing what I'm doing there? Also I never really liked school. I don't want to be bothered with essays and tests. What should I do?

[GinaB]

You will be offered many opportunities in life, but it is ultimately up to you as people will give you all the advice in the world. I myself did not like school, did not like taking test. I had trouble comprehending what I read. I love nature and being outdoors. I had such great anxiety about having to wakeup and go to work. So I did my research on the things I wanted to do, and a way was shown, and now I work for myself and life is awesome. I hope this helps. Have an awesome evening.

[paeterus]

i'm totally lost just as you are. I don't know what I wanna do. I love languages but I don't know if I want to be an interpreter (not very good pay, high stress not much recognition for what you do) It would be fun though and as such it would be a decent choice! I've thought about becoming a tour director... but I'm really not sure. Linguist has also come to mind but I doubt I would like that kind of structured learning environment with my beloved languages
Yeh I'm just lost lost lost lost :P

[newmark]

Why don't you just try anything? Thinking about what you might like and might not like isn't the same. You will soon learn the kind of thing you really don't like and perhaps discover something of interest you never thought of before.

[MattSuwak]

Originally Posted by paeterus

i'm totally lost just as you are. I don't know what I wanna do. I love languages but I don't know if I want to be an interpreter (not very good pay, high stress not much recognition for what you do) It would be fun though and as such it would be a decent choice! I've thought about becoming a tour director... but I'm really not sure. Linguist has also come to mind but I doubt I would like that kind of structured learning environment with my beloved languages
Yeh I'm just lost lost lost lost :P

If you wanted a shot at something crazy, you could be an Airborn Linguist for the military. That way you can be an interpreter to help translate landing coordinates, or to do your end in helping the locals of some country understand what's going on and how they can learn from it. They do a lot of cool stuff, and the pay isn't fantastic but the job itself is pretty cool.



As for Mr. leman45, I would suggest NOT going to college yet. Before your parents kill me, consider that most people at your age would change their major at least once during their career. My english teacher in high school gave me fantastic advice when he said that kids should travel before considering going to school. The idea behind it is that up until now, through all of high school and everything you've been sheltered in a safe school, with a family and a home. After this, most kids will go to college and be sheltered again in a warm environment. Here they will meet a significant other and end up getting married after school. If they don't, well, they still went to college for four years and now have a degree to get a job as, say, a butt doctor.

Well, a couple years out there on your own, when you are not being watched over and cared for and are possibly caring for other people (family), you will make a change. One day in your late twenties or your thirties, you'll realize you don't want to be a butt doctor anymore. You fell in love with your wife because you were great at parties, but now you like soaking in the bathtub reading Marmaduke and she likes fancy dinner parties, and you just aren't the same people anymore.

I traveled for 4 years after high school. Most of the time I didn't have much money, and I worked a lot of weird jobs. But I can say now that I defended myself and had to watch my back with nobody to rely on, and I learned a lot abotu what really makes me tick. This will, of course, change as the years go on, but I can at 22 I feel like I'm ahead of people 4 or 5 years my senior. I have a definate plan set out for my future doing a job I know I'll love.

College is expensive, and it isn't something anyone should take just to take, because it's the thing to do. I'm not suggesting you become a bum, but I definately endorse you taking some time to get away from home. Work at a National Park like Yellowstone or Zion for a summer, meet some foreign chicks and live in the dorms and have a good time. Or you could do what I did, and take a bus to San Diego with $200 in my pocket and pray to God I could make it, haha.

I had some good times, man, but I'll say that I was scared a lot, hungry and cold, and definately doubted what I had done. You get bored hitch-hiking and talking to the same hippies. While it was worthwhile, I know it's not for everyone.

I suggest you take a summer and work at a National Park. You could get into one now, if you hurry. Yellowstone National Park Employment Site I think is the link.

[1000feet]

For most people it takes experience to decide what's really interesting (and even then it changes from time to time). I know that I've become more and more interested in what I'm doing now in the 2 years since graduating from college, but I doubt I'll be doing exactly the same thing in 10 years. Your criteria now should be something that's interesting enough to try it for a few years - it doesn't necessarily have to be education or an entry-level job. As long as you're not choosing something that requires a 20 years career or decades of practice before you get anywhere all you really need to worry about is the next few years. It's never too late to do something different!

[CroMagna]

I would strongly suggest going to a career center and embarking on a process of finding the right career. I know you want to decide quickly because you feel like time is drifting, but you will definitely waste a lot more time if you make a snap decision and then later change your mind, because they you will be back at square one.

Ask to take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong Interest Inventory. Also take the Princeton Review Career Assessment online. DO NOT think about how much money you might make in a certain line of work or room for growth while taking the Strong Interest or Princeton Review. You want to find out your true passion through these tests. Also don't spend too long on any question, just use your immediate gut reaction.

When you're done taking the Myer-Briggs (don't take the free ones online as they aren't that accurate), get a book called Do What You Are by Tieger and Tieger. You don't even have to buy it, there may be a copy at the career center, or you can read your Personality Set's section in a bookstore. It will have lists of careers for people with your personality.

The results of the tests will probably all point to the same line of work. The career counselor will hopefully give you other little worksheets and activities to help decide on a specific line of work within your chosen field. Next you want to get an entry level job as a receptionist, secretary, or administrative assistant in your field. Meanwhile you want to start networking by conducting informational interviews with people in that line of work. Then you want to take a class or two in that field, if you like school or reading books in that subject area, if you like to read.

It's a process and a science, it's not something you can cosmically decide by looking at lists of careers and trying to figure out what sounds most interesting. They ALL sound interesting, or ALL sound rather uninteresting because there are millions of careers and passion is a strong word.