Tag Archives: jobs

Feb24

Warning Signs It’s Time To Leave Your Job

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Warning Signs It’s Time To Leave Your Job

It’s important to remember sometimes why it is that you work. You work so that you can live and enjoy your life. But for too many people, their job is the reason that they hate their life, and it seeps into everything else that they do. It ends up ruining their evenings, weekends, and holidays.

According to Ryan Kahn, the star of the MTV show Hired, people generally fall into two categories. For some people, the reasons why they should leave their job are completely visible. They get to the point where they recognize the need for change and that the time has come to move on and send resumes with cover letters to new employers. But for other people, the reasons aren’t so obvious. Many people, it turns out, sleepwalk through their lives, not taking account about how they really feel about their work and not recognizing that it is making them deeply unhappy.

These people suffer from what is known as a thinking rut. They compartmentalize their lives, thinking that they cannot grow beyond the walls that they have erected for themselves. The good news is that there are some common warning signs that are a clear indication that it’s time to leave your job, some of which are shared below:

You’re Not Passionate About What You Do: It’s pretty hard to get up day after day and go do a job that you don’t care about. In fact, it’s soul destroying. When you’re not enjoying work, you suddenly become aware that time is passing. This creates resentment because you’d much rather be doing something else that is fulfilling.

Lynn Taylor, an author who writes about office politics, says that people should think back to how they felt the day that they were given their current position. Usually, they feel utterly elated for having secured the position and they are really excited about the possibilities that the new job will bring for their professional careers and their lives in general. When this passion is gone, she says, people are rarely able to tap into their true potential.

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Blahhh!

You Wake Up Miserable Every Morning: In simple terms, this means that you hate work. You’d rather be doing anything other than the job and you only haul yourself out of the house because you know you’ve got to pay the bills. This is no way to live one’s life, especially when there are countless other career options that you could look in to.

You’re Consistently Negative: Another warning sign is that you feel negative or anxious all the time, especially on Sunday evenings, before you have to head back out on a Monday morning. This feeling is an unconscious warning from your mind that all is not well with your job. Often, job stress leads to family stress which can harm your relationships in the long term.

Your Performance At Work Is Suffering: Another way you know that the time has come for you to leave your job is when your performance starts to tank. People who get worse at what they do over time are usually suffering from an extreme case of apathy. Often, you’ll know that you’re completely capable of carrying out the tasks that have been asked of you, but you don’t bother to do it to the best of your ability because you’re no longer willing or able to put your energies into projects for the company.

Your Work/Life Balance Has Disappeared: Different people have different tolerances when it comes to work. Some people like to work every hour that God gives, while others would prefer to work as short a time as possible. Many companies, however, don’t see things from the worker’s perspective. Instead, they demand lots of their time. If you find yourself not able to commit to the hours that are being asked of you, it might be time to consider taking another job. If you’re finding that you’re unable to spend the time with your family that you’d like – again, it might be time to find another job.

Your Duties Have Increased, But The Pay Hasn’t: Some unscrupulous employers will try to give you extra responsibilities but not increase your pay. Taylor says that this is a common tactic used by companies to try to keep their wage bills down. Of course, you have to be careful when it comes to things like pay. Sometimes the company can’t afford to pay more, simply because it isn’t doing enough business. But more often than not, the company is doing fine, it’s just not willing to increase your salary. This is a sign that the company doesn’t respect you and that you should take your talents elsewhere.

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Feb24

Finding Your Fit As An International On The Job Market

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Finding Your Fit As An International On The Job Market

Moving to a new country always comes with its fair share of challenges. One of those is making sure that you’re contributing to society through employment, particularly by getting work in the field that you’re best qualified and suited to. It may be difficult, but it’s not impossible. A little research and re-aligning your skills can get you in a job in no time at all:

What You Need To Have And Know: It’s important to get a grasp of the rights and requirements of working in any country. If you’re a temporary international, you are likely to need a specific kind of visa, which you can inquire about before making your move. You also need to look into acquiring anything like a tax number when you do start working, which is also important for making use of the benefits that you can be entitled to. A local employment center can help ensure that you’re not missing anything vital.

Master The Language: Whether you have a job waiting for you or you’re new on the market, there is no better skill to get under your belt than a proper grasp of the language that is used where you live. There are plenty of English language course options and options for other languages that help you no matter what your current competency level is. Not only will it allow you the kind of professional mastery over your speech that can make you a more appealing hire, but it’s important to be able to be thoroughly understood when communicating with colleagues. Language barriers can get in the way of work and personal work relationships.

Get Help With The Resume: Your resume, CV, or however else you might consider it, will change not only from place to place but position to position. You need to do your research on what employers in the country look for in a resume. Employment centers can be a big help in giving your skills the kind of presentation that they need.

Know The Etiquette: Every country has its cultural differences and some of them are going to take time and experience to thoroughly understand. What you should research in advance, however, is professional etiquette. From how to dress professionally to how to address superiors as well as simple interpersonal etiquette. You can make your first day go a lot smoother if you take the time to learn, which will (hopefully!) prevent major blunders or etiquette no nos.

Getting Your Match: If you have specific skills or experience in a specific industry, then it might be easier to get you a match that fits your expertise, rather than having to start by scanning the market. There are a lot of programs that help internationals work in the field that they know, so have a look to see if any of these can help you find your match.

Getting a job isn’t only going to keep you sustained, but it’s one of the easiest ways to find yourself getting used to the culture and the people of a new location. The friends that you make at work, in particular, can help you do away with those newcomer blues in no time.

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Feb23

Which Life Adjustments Are Worth It?

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Which Life Adjustments Are Worth It?

There are many adjustments that we make to our lives over time; some drastic, some not so much. It all depends on a lot of factors, including finances, family, influences from our friends, and our drive to get to where we want to be. So what are the main things that we are choosing to change as we get older?

Our Job: None of us stay in the same job forever. At some point you will want to or have to change to further your career. There are so many options available to us to get us further into the field that we are interested in, and not all of them are age-considerate. For example, you can earn a high school diploma from online distance learning or at an evening college class if you never graduated, and college is available to go to at any age. There are so many different ways to learn, especially with the internet at our disposal; simple tricks, trades, and hacks can be learned online, even if it’s just picking up a remotely-located job to do for a couple of weeks to build up your experience.

With mediums such as LinkedIn and Facebook available for us to network around and build up our career portfolio in an accessible place, there is no reason for us not to give different occupations a go. A job change and the opportunities that they bring, such as traveling to new countries and the ability to work from home are on the increase and are now easier for us to find than ever. It’s no wonder that we get bored so easily in one job knowing that there will be something bigger and better waiting around the corner for us.

Our Friends: Friends come and go and it’s up to you to decide which ones you want to keep for the long-term. The associates that you may have had in school or college could have grown up to have completely different ideals to you, and that’s okay – diversity is what makes the world go round and it’d be boring if everyone were the same. However, it’s when people get too different from each other to be compatible that the problems start to occur. Surround yourself with those who you know will be on your wavelength for the foreseeable future and you’ll be just fine.

Ourselves: We diet, we exercise, we lose weight, we gain weight. We know what looks good on us at some points in our lives and don’t in others. If you want a more drastic option you can find it from Roxy Plastic Surgery, but otherwise we stick to changing our clothes, hair, and makeup to offer us the changes we need to get ourselves through different stages of our lives.

Our Perspective: Our attitudes and values change; what we may have held dear to us when we were fifteen could be totally different now. There are so many things that are accountable for this, but most notably is the formation of new relationships and big events happening in our lives, such as becoming a parent. Everything changes once our lives are flipped around and shared with somebody else; embrace it.

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Feb14

Your First Day On A New Job

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The first day of a new job can be a mixture of feeling terrified and excited. You are usually excited to get your teeth into your new role and prove yourself to your new colleagues. However, it can be pretty terrifying to be the only new person in a group of workers that have all know each other for ages! Luckily there are a few ways to make your first day go as smoothly as possible. Just read on to find out what they are:

Be Punctual: Whatever you do on the first day of your new job, make sure that you are punctual. Not only do you want to make a good impression and look keen, but you also don’t need the stress of rushing and wondering whether you are going to make it on time or not. Do a trial run of the journey at that time in the morning so you know exactly how it will go, and make sure you leave extra early for your first day. You don’t always have to leave at that time once you are established in your role but it can really help reduce your stress levels in the beginning.

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Tick tock!

Make Conversation: Something else that can be really helpful to do on the first day of work is to talk to as many people as possible. This is easier for some than others. Introverted folks will especially have a hard time with this. But do a little prep work to help you beforehand. Research topics for conversation in the news or the internet. Or pick out certain aspects of the company to talk about, like a major event that is coming up or their social club.

Remember, too, that if you have had a career change, that it’s best not to go on too much about your old job, the positives or the negatives. In fact, it’s better to be more interested in the role that you are doing now.

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Chatty Kathy!

Take a Packed Lunch: A great idea for your first day is to take a packed lunch with you. This is because you probably don’t know what the lunch facilities will be like there, or if you’ll even get a proper lunch break on the first day, as you may be super busy learning the ropes. It is super useful to have something with you that you can nibble on if you get hungry. Then, if you do get asked out to lunch with your colleges, you can just leave your pack up in the car. No harm done!

It’s Only Your First Day: The last thing you need to remember on the first day of your new job is that it’s just your first day! Most people won’t be asked to do anything too drastic unless you are in the military or medical fields. Instead, your employer will be expecting you to take a little time to get settled in, so use this to your advantage. Also, don’t stress too much if you don’t make any lasting connections with colleges straight away. These things take time and usually develop naturally if you are patient.

Jan26

Break The Mold, You’ll Win The Gold

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Break The Mold, You’ll Win The Gold

Some people, you might be one of them, struggle to find a job or position that keeps them satisfied. Usually, this is because they are beaten to the best positions by other candidates. For instance, you might have been applying for a job as a teacher at a popular private school. Obviously, there are plenty of advantages to this type of position. The standard of teaching will be higher as well the earning level. However, there’s also a problem: Businesses like this are looking for the best, rather than average candidates. So, unless you break the mold, you’re not going to get an awesome position like this. How can you make yourself stand out to potential employers?

Give Yourself A USP (Unique Selling Proposition: Sticking with the teaching example for the moment, what makes a teacher stand out from the rest? If you look at an agency like Simply Education, you’ll see that there are plenty of opportunities for teachers on the market. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be chosen for the one that you want. You can, however, boost your chances if you have some unique skills. These days the world is a melting pot with people of different languages and cultures living together. Therefore, a bilingual teacher might certainly provide an advantage to school owners. This is just one example of a USP that will put you a cut above the rest.

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Yay!

Gain Some Awesome Experience: Employers always look at the experience of people who they are thinking about hiring. It’s not enough to have excellent recommendations from employers although that’s certainly a good start. You need to think about doing and pursuing experiences that make you and your resume exciting. The trick to this is not turning down unpaid positions. While they might not seem like much, they could provide exciting experiences and stories that are worth talking about in a job interview. For instance, maybe you’ve managed to rub shoulders with people who are high up in the food chain of your chosen industry. You’ll never know what possibilities await you unless you’re willing to put yourself out there.

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Experience is key!

Be Independent: When you’re out on the job market, you don’t have someone to represent you and push your agenda (although it would be nice!). Instead, you need to represent yourself and make sure that people pay attention to what you can offer. The best way to do that is to work as a freelancer in whatever spare time you have. Set yourself up with cool, killer profiles online and make sure that you are a fantastic hit.

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Say What You Mean: It’s not always a good idea to be too outgoing at an interview. But you have to remember that businesses are trying to get an idea of who you are and what you can offer. You also need to know that they want to find out whether you’ll fit in well with the rest of their staff. That’s why it’s worth being yourself. A lot of candidates instead try and match who they think employers want them to be. Offering a little sincerity is sure to make you seem more interesting than other people.

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Say it, sister

Featured Image By: Flickr

Jan17

Hmm … If I Could Have A Month Off Work, What Would I Do?

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The US Travel Association recently conducted a study of American workers. According to that study, American workers are missing out on more than 169 million vacation days per year. This could be a sign that people don’t really value their time off work, the study’s authors suggested. But it could also mean that people don’t really know how to take advantage of their time off when they do get the chance to take a break.

Making the best use of your vacation time is essential to keeping yourself on your A-game at work all year long. You don’t often get the opportunity to take an entire month off of work to do whatever you want. So here’s what successful people do to restore themselves and get back to work, raring to go, once the holiday time is over.

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Shut Everything Down: One of the things that successful people do on holiday is turn off all interruptions. Unlike most people who check their email and text messages on their smartphones, successful people don’t do that when they are on vacation. Instead, they turn off their phones and try to go at least six hours every day without using any electronics at all.

Spend Time With Somebody You Love: High-achieving people don’t always spend a lot of time with their kids, friends, or family. As a result, they use their downtime as a chance to catch up on conversations that they missed out on because they have been working so hard. When you’ve got a whole month off, it gives you the opportunity to schedule an entire week just to spend time reconnecting with the people that you love. This could mean having a big weekend getaway in a national park or simply enjoying the company of others around your house. It’s a chance to do things like barbecues, go to theme parks, and play ball games in the garden.

Improve Yourself: Because work is so demanding,  most people don’t have the energy in the evenings and on the weekends to pursue their own interests and improve their skills. But when you have a month off of work, all of this changes. Time off is a chance to try things that are completely different, but that adds to your overall skill set. Time off can be used to learn a new sport, learn a new language, or how to perform better in your personal relationships.

Managing annual leave can be difficult. If you only get 20 vacation days of annual leave a year, make sure you plan out how you are going to use those days to achieve your goals.

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Get Inspired: People who are at the top of their business often get very absorbed in what they are doing. They tend to see the world in terms of their own goals and their own achievements and they can sometimes lose sight of what’s happening all around them. Taking a month off is a great opportunity to open your mind and to try new things. For instance you could go for a hike in the wilderness, read a great biography, or watch a bunch of interesting documentaries on the TV. Once you’ve got this new perspective, you can then start out fresh with renewed motivation at your job.

Jan17

Bullseye: Getting A Job In The Career You Really Want

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Bullseye: Getting A Job In The Career You Really Want

When you’re looking for a new direction in your career or finding your first job, then it’s about managing your expectations as much as possible. The job you want and the career path you want won’t always be immediately available. You will face setbacks and you will have to take side roads. But that doesn’t mean you should give up. If anything, it means you should look into the means of how to increase your chances of getting the job you truly want more than ever:

Know The Right People: If you’re solely applying for jobs by looking at listings, then you’re missing the way that the game is really played. As they say, in business it’s about who you know, not what you know. Network in spaces where the people in your coveted industry schmooze around. Join their groups in Linkedin and attend trade shows and other corporate events.

Making friends significantly builds your chances of getting the referrals for a job in your industry even when you’re not expecting it. If you’re using a bit of help to find a job, like a recruitment agency, then get specific. Instead of using generic agencies, specialized ones like Portfolio Credit Control aim directly at a specific job or industry. That kind of specialized service is what employers are going to look for when they use recruitment agencies.

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Thumbs up for employment! 😉

Don’t Be Shy: As well as upping your possibilities of building connections through others, you should be open to building that connection yourself. Learn the right etiquette for approaching employers directly. Send a cover letter alongside a resume if you’re applying for a position that isn’t being advertised. Applying directly can be a good way to show how forward-thinking and eager you are. But if you don’t prepare that approach properly, it will make you look ill-prepared. Make sure you do your research on the business and tailor your resume to the needs and the values that you’re able to see from their website and any other materials that they might have available.

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DIY: If you have the skills in the industry that you want to work in, then you might just have the ability to start working for yourself. Of course, there are some skills and jobs that are better suited for self-employment than others but don’t underestimate the value of your abilities. Bookkeeping and accountancy, marketing skills, and design are all good skills to start your own business from.

Besides figuring out whether there’s a market for your services among individuals and businesses, you also need to make sure that you’re prepared to handle starting your own business. For instance, you need to consider both the resources and effort needed to maintain an office space and a website. There are a lot of tools that can help you get started, but you need to research your options carefully before making any big decisions.

Be proactive, be open and friendly, and be willing to take charge of your own career if you can. Don’t get caught into the usual trap of getting stuck in an industry that you have no passion or love for – You deserve better.

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Dec22

Do You Work From Home? Here Are Some Ideas To Make Your Life Easier

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Do You Work From Home? Here Are Some Ideas To Make Your Life Easier

Working from home is often an enjoyable experience if you’ve made the right preparations. However, it can become a real pain if you haven’t. There are lots of things to consider, most of which you won’t identify until you start. However, you’ll find some fantastic ideas on this page that could help you to get things sorted ahead of time. There aren’t many jobs around today that you can perform from your house, and so you should feel lucky. Most people have to deal with at least a little morning commute, but you can work in your underwear. Remember that if you ever feel like working from home has become too much of a hassle. It is always easier than going into the office!

Create a Suitable Working Space: If you’re earning money from the comfort of your spare bedroom, you’re probably using a laptop. That means you need to buy a desk, office accessories, and an ergonomic chair to create a professional workstation. Experts like those at http://www.stuartdavid.com/ understand how critical it is to get things right. While you might like the idea of sitting on your sofa, that will result in productivity issues. In most instances, it’s possible to shorten your working day by completing your jobs as quickly as possible. That is never going to happen if you’re getting distracted by the TV all of the time. Do yourself a favor and invest in some office equipment today before you start getting stressed out.

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 Get yourself a desk and do work!

Make Sure You Have an Active WiFi Connection: Earning your living outside of the office probably means you use the internet, too. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to complete tasks when your connection keeps dropping. For that reason, you need to invest in a decent router as soon as possible. Writers from http://www.thesmartfuture.net/ and similar websites have all the knowledge you require. So, you just need to spend some time reading online reviews to guarantee you find the best products. You can also purchase WiFi boosters or change your service provider if you think that will help. At the end of the day, you just want to work uninterrupted.

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Have Some Quiet Time From the Kids: As we mentioned a moment ago, trying to work with the TV blaring is never a good idea. Likewise, earning your living while there are children in the house will become frustrating. You need peace and quiet to complete your tasks and fill your bank account. So, you might have to make alternative childcare arrangements during the summer holidays. It’s not too much of an issue when your little ones are out of the house for seven hours every day. However, they will begin to drive you crazy if they’re under your feet while you’re working!

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 BABY!

Everyone who works from home should benefit from the advice on this page. So, make sure you put it to good use before it’s too late. There is nothing worse than feeling stressed and knowing that you have to keep working. If you put some of these ideas into practice, that shouldn’t happen too often. We hope you have an excellent Christmas and we look forward to seeing you in the new year! 🙂

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Nov30

Sometimes, It’s The Soft Skills That Land You The Job

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Sometimes, we all make the mistake of focusing a little too much on how hard skills can add to your employ-ability. There’s no denying that some technical skills are a must-have in certain fields of employment. But that’s not to say that spending time on your soft skills is negligible. It’s anything but. Here, we’re going to look at why soft skills are important in all roles and how they can actually be the one defining skill of a career.

Communication: Good written and verbal communication is vital in just about any job. If you can’t get an idea across to your audience effectively, it’s your failing, not theirs. For the crowd pleasers and those who actually enjoy public speaking, there are plenty of careers that you can make of it. For instance, there’s a big market for motivational speakers nowadays and there are always businesses in need of salespeople.

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Self-Motivation and Management: Sure, employers like someone who works from orders and can keep up to the standards set to them. But you need a bit of self-determination, too. You have to show that you’re able to operate independently and without having to constantly be checked on. Working on your time management, in particular, is essential. The better you can prioritize tasks and fit them in your own time scale, the more of a catch you’ll be.

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Teamwork: Even in jobs where you’re typically doing work alone, you are likely to be asked to collaborate with someone else at some point. Improving your own teamwork skills isn’t all that hard, either. Sometimes, you just have to spend more time around people. Volunteer, for instance. While you’re there, give yourself a talking to every time you catch yourself blatantly opposing others ideas or making them feel unimportant.

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 Teamwork makes the dream work!

Conflict Resolution: Working peaceably in a team is one thing. Being able to properly deal with a team that has become hostile is a whole other kettle of fish. It’s also a skill that some consider immensely more important. Conflict resolution is the main skill in demand for people that work in environments like an HR consultancy. Given how many businesses use HR specialists to deal with their employees, it’s easy to see the demand for such a skill.

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Problem Solving: Objective critical thinking and problem solving are traits that employers find too rare. A lot of people are too close to the work and too invested to be able to think critically in their job. If you’ve always been the objective problem-solving type, then you should look into a job in analysis. Whether it’s looking at money, business processes, or data, the critical thinking model has become particularly popular in business as of late.

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Still can’t solve this problem. ^

Regardless of whether it’s hard or soft, a skill is a skill. Don’t be afraid to spend time practicing on weak points even if they don’t feel technically important. Above all, don’t be afraid to hype it up a bit on your resume. Be your own cheerleader and it will help raise your confidence in your already wonderful abilities!

Oct6

Life, Career Choices, The Boring Stuff!

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Life, Career Choices, The Boring Stuff!

Life, Career Choices, The Boring Stuff!

It’s come to the point where I want to think about what I want to do with my life. Not just as a way to earn money (although I would love to make money by lying on a beach sipping champagne or making music. I’m not picky!) but what I can do that has those things that people’s parents talk about so much. You know, those words like stability, progression, and preparing for the future…As boring as they sound, I guess they have a point. So, I thought to myself, what do I want to do with my life? They say that you spend a third of your life working, so you’d better make it count, right? So I’ve been doing some research into what I might want to do. I started by just typing “fulfilling careers” into my search engine and then I went on a little job journey. Here were some of the careers that intrigued me:

Counselor: As cool as my guidance counselor is, I don’t mean spending my days doing that. Therapy and helping people out has intrigued me. And looking further into it, you need to have so many people skills to be able to do the job properly. I mean, you spend your days talking to people who are relying on you to fix them! That’s a lot of pressure. But the rewards come from helping someone out who might have depression or anxiety, and after they spend time with you, they’re able to go through life happy, and that’s a BIG DEAL.

Midwife: Looking at medical jobs would be pointless, I thought. You’ve gotta spend many years training to be a doctor or a nurse and what if you don’t even like it after all that? Then I saw that you could do a job helping mothers deliver their babies. And what’s more rewarding than that? Spending your days (and nights) delivering babies requires a couple of years training. Interacting with the parents and helping them through a tough delivery seems like such a rewarding thing. Seeing the look of joy on the mother’s face after you’ve helped them give birth to their child seems like payment enough!

Teacher: My teachers back in school must have had a hard time. The amount of homework they had to mark or if there was a student that was a complete nightmare must have been difficult to cope with. Saying that, if you get the job just right, the gratification you would have in helping someone on their life’s goal would be fulfilling. I used to think about some of my old teachers, “why are they still doing this if they are tearing their hair out with frustration ALL the time?” Well, it’s because they’re waiting for that one student to make it all worth it.

Nobody wants to be thinking about what to do with their lives, but when it comes to looking at a “normal” career, I think I’d want to be helping people make a difference in their life. It’s not a cool thing to say, but maybe my parents were right (don’t tell them I said that!).

What was your career choice when you were little? How does it differ from the job that you have now? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s cat! Much love. -Sarah