[SERIOUS] How do you do figure out what job you want after high school?
This might not be the best community for this, but I don’t know what job I want after high school. I’m afraid of pursuing a job that I’ll end up hating. How do I figure out what job I want when I grow up?
After highschool (I actually dropped out) I worked a ton of dead end jobs. Cooking mostly, but there was roofing, painting, digging holes, lots of manual labour.
Eventually I moved to Vancouver and had an opportunity to become a card dealer. It was… How do I put it so you can fully understand… The worst experience by far, ever. It was toxic abusive, exhausting, and just all around the worst.
My partner at the time got pregnant and she actually gave me an out, said I didn’t have to be there at all. I thought my options over and decided I was going to be apart of this kids life and enrolled in college for IT. It was a bit of cheating really, I was already good at it so why not. 18 years later, I’m a consultant, doing well and my daughter is starting grade 12 next year.
College is a great place to start. Unfortunately college is ridiculously expensive these days, but community college is still pretty affordable. There are so many things you don’t even know exist in the world right after highschool. The world also works a lot differently than you’ve seen so far, so a college level education is really beneficial. Go to community college, knock out some Gen Ed courses, and take some interesting classes for your electives. You’ll learn about stuff that you didn’t know existed and you may find that you’re passionate about some of those things.
There is no such thing anymore as a job for life anymore that ended in the 80s. I don’t honestly think that’s there’s a career for life anymore either, that ended in the early years of this century.
Asking someone to choose something to do for 50 years (if they’re lucky) at 16 or 18 is folly.
Build yourself a portfolio of skills which you are proficient in and enjoy doing. I would include (1) languages in that and (2) the technique of communication over and above any technical skills you possess.
I say languages because a second language awakens a different mode of thought, maybe not too much if the languages are closely related.
I’m Gen X and was probably never conventionally employable. Company Roles I’ve had seemed to seek me rather than me them. I wish I had been much more aggressive about a second language much earlier on.
It’s not the language itself. It seems to assist in fluidity of communication. I’m not sure that I can explain what I mean by that: the structure of French sentences differs wildly from English sentences sometimes, but about 30% of English words are French in origin. It seems to encourage me to thing about how I am conveying my idea in words without me being cognisance of that happening.
I always liked the idea of going to a college that had a program with a work term so you can see if you like it and also get some experience. I would say talk to some people in areas that you are interested in and see if you find any jobs you may look doing.
What you’re good at (or can become good at with training/a degree)
What people will pay you to do
If you like something, you’re good at it, and people will pay you to do it, that’s a career. Stick with it your entire life.
If you’re good at something and people will pay you to do it but you don’t like it, that’s a job. Work it to pay the bills, but don’t be afraid to jump ship as soon as something better comes along.
If you like something and are good at it but no one will pay you to do it, that’s a hobby. You’ll need to supplement that with a job to get by.
If you like something and people will pay you for it but you’re not good at it, fake it ‘till you make it and hope no one notices.
If you only like something, you can git gud or find something else. If you are good at something but don’t like it and it doesn’t pay, stop doing it. If you can get paid but you don’t like it and can’t do it, don’t waste your time pursuing it.
Obviously, if something is no to all 3 then it’s not for you.
Don’t be so hung up on getting a job you hate. The secret they don’t tell you is that pretty well everyone hates their job. Get out and pursue things that seem interesting to you, and don’t be afraid that you won’t be good enough, that was my big downfall when I was younger. Since then I’ve held many wildly different jobs.
I started pursuing IT since I love computers, but ended up hating being an on-call computer janitor. I did fire surpression, then IT sales (hated that too), then randomly got a job on the railroad. After bouncing around the railroad I have now ended up as Jack of all trades master of none handyman that does maintenance for a nonprofit, and I love it.
I was more surprised than anyone to find out that I preferred working with my hands, and working outdoors. I had always dreamed of a cushy job with a nice office where I could wear fancy shoes. But now I’m a nerd for workboots who absolutely does not thrive in an office environment.
But essentially I’m saying try not to sweat it. It may take you a long time to settle into something you like. Don’t be afraid to go outside your comfort zone because you just might like it.
And what’s worse ? It will most likely change overtime…
If you don’t know how to get started, try something you’re curious about, that will offer possibilities to learn and see how it goes, don’t worry about it and keep in mind that it might be that interest that leads you to other jobs later as long as you’re willing to learn and not stuck in a dead end job.
The best I can recommend is that you try out jobs now – but maybe skip anything ‘fake’ like online courses unless you think they prepare you for what’s in the next sentence. Go find people professionally doing a thing you might like, and try to work with them, somehow. Internships, volunteer work, organizing events, etc. File paperwork and make coffee, if that means you get to see the work actually being done.
Barring that, do the thing yourself if possible. Publish the results. All code goes on public repositories, all stories should be submitted to magazines or literature groups. All songs written must be sung in public. Get certified for CPR and first aid if considering medicine, and volunteer using it. Get an amateur radio license and build a radio. Look at jobs on a freelancing platform, and just do them on your own to build a portfolio (maybe actually apply for the jobs, once you have a portfolio). Not every type of job can be tried out this way, but many can.
You’re going to get rejected a lot, you can’t just show up with a resume and demand a job (people who claim this works are weird). People who create and do nothing will mock you sometimes. A lot of jobs want young people ‘out of sight and in school’ too. However, this kind of disappointment happens to all of us at some point anyway, so may as well get it over with.
If you’re lucky, you’ve got a few years between the age of say 14 and 19 where you’re not expected to support yourself financially but your brain works as well as it’s ever going to. While it’s useful to get good grades while you’re in school (although they are useless afterward), I think it’s a mistake to focus on that at the expense of actually trying to do things. A college degree is too big of an investment of time and money to go into blind.
If you’re in a situation where you do have to support yourself or your family before finishing school, then the necessities of life obviously take precedent. I won’t pretend I have a good solution to that difficult situation.
Nobody gets out of high school and gets the job they want when they grow up. ;)
Your first job is going to suck. It’s going to be hard work. The pay and hours are not going to be great. You won’t be respected as an employee or often as a human being.
What it’s going to teach you are organizational skills. Show up on time. Do the best job you can do. Admit your mistakes and learn from them.
Carry what you learn there to the next job and the next job. Do better each time. Learn new skills. Find jobs that interest you.
If you can, go to college for a STEM degree, network with other people and employers, and when you get out of college, you can do what you want.
If college isn’t for you, find a trade you’re good at and enroll in trade school. Plumbers, electrictians, HVAC techs, mechanics are never out of work.
Avoid: Retail work. Restaurant work. It will break you. Fine for when you’re in school, not if you’re out of school.
For me the best way for finding out what job I wanted out of highschool was turning 27. Out of highschool, I thought I wanted to become a teacher. That didn’t work out, so I did some years (12) of various blue collar jobs, got married, had children. In the meantime I kept searching for my passion. Eventually I found it in programming. I spend a good 4 years tinkering with it until I eventually decided to go back to school. Now I’m finally loving my job and I’m again back in school trying to get my master.
Same here. WTF do I do with a history degree… Joined a helpdesk because I liked fixing tech, transitioned to web development because that was more fun, spent years enjoying learning and progressing, then moved into UX because that was more rewarding (and less stressful).
I’m glad I gravitated towards IT because it gave me a lot of freedom and choice - and the money was always good.
I’d be careful with the “follow your hobbies” advice, I’ve known a lot of frustrated people who feel they’ve wasted years studying / trying to get a job in video games, acting, that sort of thing. Seems you have to be in the top 1% and have a ton of luck or connections to stand a chance.
It’s not wrong to start with whatever / at random. Once you gain some experience you can decide whether to pursue or try something else.
For me it came naturally from my interests and learned capabilities.
You can ask about and try out different jobs to get a bit of insight and more data points for making a decision. Even if you won’t have a definite favorite you may find things you consider undesired or desirable for you.
Figure out your favorite hobby or whatever makes you feel the most fulfilled/happy. Look for a viable job/career that is related to that. Figure out the path to get into that career.
For real. Also 29 and have been taking night classes. After 2 years of school Ive changed my mind again. I just have no idea what I actually want to do.
I grew up always being told I was really smart and would go places. So I’ve built my life goals around trying to do something “grand”. I’ve only recently realized that I don’t HAVE to do anything. It’s OK to just exist and enjoy life. I’m still struggling to fully accept that, but I think I will eventually.
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