Career help

[Mr. DEM]

Hi, I am currently in a situation where I am being bombarded with what feels like excellent career opportunities but it is starting to get down to choosing a career and I am both scared and anxious about making the decision and would like some input off people, if only to relax my brain from hurting.

I'll give you a little backstory first, I went to UK college (I only say UK because it isn't like the US where you get a degree, it is more of an inbetween of school and university) where I achieved excellent results in my IT course. Since I left there I have been unable to get a job in IT and have been doing a lot of retail jobs to get money. Last year I had a cancer scare, my pet dog died and I had a nervous breakdown. I am now recovering from this but my self-confidence is in tatters.

Now I'll tell you the career opportunities that have come up:

1. I have a good chance of getting a job as a Trainee Assistant Manager in a shop which means in the long run I will be on a great wage and working in one of my favourite sectors, retail.
2. My college tutor has offered me a chance to join a free, fully expensed University course in Computing. Now the earning potential after graduation is somewhere in the region of £26,000 per annum but this could rise to £50-70,000 per annum with experience and promotion. The problem is that I enjoy the more technical side of computing i.e. repairing hardware faults, installing new parts, installing PC's in homes etc. and this University course is about 90% computer programming which doesn't interest me as much.
3. I have been offered an interview as a retail assistant, I know it isn't going to be an amazing wage but I have 2 business plans wrote up to start my own companies and would use the money from retail to expense one of the business plans and the relaxed hours of working in retail means I would have time to run the business through the early stages and still maintain a steady job and a steady income.

The problem is that although I could see myself doing any one of these three careers, I suffer really bad from my nerves and have very little self-confidence in myself which leads me to talk myself into doing one of these careers then just as soon as I have talked myself into doing it, I talk myself back out of doing it.

Please help me.

Thanks for your time,

Mr. DEM

[sbdiane]

I am not one to believe that money is a sufficient trade-off for my time or happiness. So I try not to completely base my decisions on it. If one thing will make me really super happy but pay less than something that probably won't make me happy, I'll pick the happiness over the money.

I'm not really one to give good career advice, however, since I'm not working and am also not sure what to do next. Right now the things that bring me the most happiness are not paying me anything at all (but I'm so much more happy than I've been in the past!)

[Transilient]

No, seriously, you seem to like the retail world and have two opportunities.

Is it possible to go to university and work?

There are no good or bad decision, right or wrong except the decision not to make one.

Follow your intuition and don't worry. There will always be more opportunities.

[borntosucceed]

Hello Mr DEM

why not have a brainstorming session with a qualified Career Coach. just visit their landing page and leave your details. They are quick to respond and you will have a good sounding board.

Click A Life Coach - Career Coaching can help finding your perfect Job

[Doku]

Why not do something like "Geek Squad"?

I don't know if they have it in the UK, but the "Best Buy" chain of stores here in the US have computer geeks on staff that repair PCs, help people decide what to purchase, etc. Kinda a blend of retail, and PC troubleshooting/repair.

You might want to consider A+ certification, and others, as the geek squad likely does not pay well.

[branch breaking Paul]

Hi all,

I am in my second year of college and I still have no idea of what i would like to do when im older for a career. Everything that I am the least bit interested in is always shot down my father. My talents in school are english, and Physed. I really dont have a clue on what i would like to get into, and its becoming quite scary of thinking about what i would like to do and when I am actually going to be able to pursue my calling in life. It would be greatly appreciated if i can get some feedback, hopefully somone can turn this negative dilemma into something positive.

Thanks

[sbdiane]

Paul, you are only in your second year in college. You don't really have to know what your career will be. Your degree will probably have nothing to do with your career anyway. Use this time to explore things even if your parents would disapprove. Clubs, activities, volunteer opportunities, your professors' office hours, anything and everything. You have incredible resources at your disposal in college. Your classes should only comprise a portion of what college is for you. The extra stuff should not be missed. That's where you'll get your ideas for careers.

My father was the same way with me. He even disapproved of the things I used to do for fun. He disapproved of every career idea I ever had. The thing is the dreams and ideas I had way back then never really left me and here I am in my 40s going back to some of them, wishing I had tried them, making plans to possibly try them now.

There is an old saying: Don't go to the hardware store to buy a loaf of bread. Your father probably won't give you the approval you want. Stop trying to get it from him.

[Liveformx64]

Paul,

Listen to your father if you want your life turn out like your fathers.

If you want to lead a life different than the one he has then respectfully listen to his advice but chose to do your own thing.

You can start by creating a mental to picture of what you want your life to be, and then research who has those type of lives and what do they do.

Remember all the money in the world is worthless if you don't have a life, friends and family to share it with.