Choosing That All Important Career Path

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Emma Caulfield

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I'm at the crucial point in my life where I have to decide where do I really want my life to go? This time next year I'll be starting college here in UK, what am I going to study? It's got to have some relevance to want I was to do when I'm older. And then I get to the big question, What do I want to be? Now I have this idea of what I want to do but it's not the kind of stedy job my family would like me to have. I've thought it through and I've never been more sure of anything in my life. I understand how hard it might be but it's a risk I'm willing to take. Even if it does mean I have work at MacDonalds for half my life! lol

How did you handle making that all important desision? Or how are you currently dealing with it? Should I let my family tell me what I should and shouldnt do?
 
You have GOT to do what you feel is best for yourself, of that i can't be any more adamant. You should listen to your family and take their advice on board, they may actually help you make up your mind,b ut in the end it has to be what you really want to do.

When i was at school i was in all the top sets getting high marks in pretty much everything i did so my family naturally expected me to go on to college, then higher education, get a highly paid job and that would be the plan for my life.

Wrong!

Just because i could have done that didn't mean i wanted to. I did go to college after school and i got the A-levels i wanted. Then, instead of university i fell into a well paid job working for Lloyds Bank.

I absolutely hated it! Really wasn't cut out for the suit and tie, nine to five lifestyle, no matter how much money i was making. So after 18 months i quit and started my own business and since then i've worked freelance in the comic book retail business.

In no way am i making the kind of money i could have been by now but i am my own boss, i work when i want to and i get the bills paid on time, not to mention have enough left over to live very comfortably.

Basically i'm saying that you have to choose your own path. It may not work out for you as well as it did for me, i can't guarantee that, but i can promise you that if you are forced into doing something you don't choose you will only end up wasting your life and resenting your family for pushing you in the wrong direction. At least if you do things your way you can know in your heart you did your best at what you wanted to do.
 
i guess that's one question i never really asked myself. i thiink that since that point when it started to matter, i always knew what i wanted to do and went in pursuit of that. i'm a web designer - i do whst i wanted to do (but take it from me, the fact you do the job you wanted and love it, doesn't mean you also like the circumstances into which you've fallen).
but i would like to also add that you *have* to do what's best for you and what you feel is right, *not* whate everybody else does. otherwise you'll be miserable for the rest of your life and there's no winners in that, and no amount of money will be worth a job that makes you unhappy.
 
When I first started college (aka University in America), I was 18 and thought I wanted to pursue one path, but after taking several course I found that it wasn't right for me. I finished off my general requirements, humanities, math, sciences, etc and through a job that I was working at the time, figured out what I finally wanted to do.

I'm a week and a half from graduation now and I've got a whole slew of job prospects lined up and I'm so happy that I didn't rush into making that decision at the age of 18.

Now I'm not sure how that all works in the U.K., but I think the moral to my story is that your young and I think you need to "get your feet wet" a little before you decide what you may potentially want to do with the rest of your life. 🙂
 
that's true. i'll change it a little and put it this way: some people like to p[lan ahead and know in advance what they're looking for and what they want to do in their future. some are more hesitant. but in no way should you rush into anything.
 
I agree a little with both Cordelia and Pagan. Let me tell you my story, and maybe it will help.

Going into college at the age of 17, I knew exactly what I wanted. I would be an actress, and a kick a$$ one at that. I promptly told my parents that that was what I was going to do, and that was that (you'd have to know my family to understand how I got away with that so easily, but suffice it to say they owed me that much). I went into college taking a bunch of required and drama courses-and then lost my financial aid after one semester. I was screwed-couldn't pay for school, didn't have a job. So I started acting and doing some temp work on the side.

It didn't take long for me to find that the acting world was not what I'd expected-especially for someone like me, who will not starve herself so she doesn't always have to play the fat girl-and I'm not even THAT much overweight-as anyone who's met me here will tell you. But still I got tired quickly of being typecasted-and then came writing. It happened in a moment of boredom, on the bus on the way to an audition-I just started writing.

Now almost finished with the novel I started writing then, I am now in the process of getting myself back in school-for Creative Writing.

So, my opinion-know what you want and be firm about it. Your parents may want something different for you, but you are the one who has to live with your choices for the rest of your life. Just don't be afraid to change your mind when something better comes along. Sometimes it takes making the wrong choice to stumble on the right ones.
 
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Cordelia
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Okay, i think i've agreed with pretty much everything that Cordelia has posted today to some degree or other. We better watch out or we might stop having our little disagreements altogether sweetheart! 🙂

But back to the subject, Cordelia is right in that you need to experience a little before you start worrying about your entire future. Like i said before, to begin with i believed i was going to be happy with a suit and tie job. I wasted a lot of time pursuing that career but it still gave me the knowledge i needed to find the right path for me.

Do whatever you want to do but don't be too afraid to make the wrong choice either, you are bound to make one or two!
 
lol actually if it's just one or two, so you're lucky 😉
 
Pagan said:
Do whatever you want to do but don't be too afraid to make the wrong choice either, you are bound to make one or two!
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That's a good point. I never thought of it as If I do go wrong in picking a career I can pick myself back up and start again!

Your all being really helpful. I'm starting to understand now that not everything goes to plan but I should do what makes me happy and not get hysterical about it!
 
Chose something you really want to do but at the same time leave as many options open as you can would be my advice. A lot of the time employers are not necessarily looking for a specific ability (unless they're after doctors or lawyers or whatever 🙂) but are after someone who has demonstrated the ability to get a degree or whichever qualification. So if you can get a degree in something you enjoy studying rather than something you feel you have to study then all the better. Obviously, if you know you want to be a doctor, cop, lawyer, architect or whatever there are more defined career paths but if you're not sure then don't limit yourself by your choice now...

Did that make sense?
 
At A-level the best advice I can give you is doing something you'll enjoy, because they can get kind of grr at times but if you are doing something you like its not so bad.

I am applying for Uni in september and I noticed a lot of my courses did not say they want an A-level related to the course. While this doesn't apply to ones such as sciences and maths you'll notice a lot don't mind so much.

Plus if you start looking for Uni courses at the end of next school year (which you're meant to) and you find a course you really want to do and it says you need a qualification in say English Lit you can call the Uni and say "Look, I haven't done the English Lit course but I want to do this course, will I still be considered if I did it as an AS" and you can pick it up as an AS in the 2nd year.

Also, if you go to Uni and you're still unsure about career do a joint in two subjects you like and in the first year you can do say 3 modules in each subject and 1 in 3 other subjects if you really want. I know Darby have a good joint degree scheme, but sure others do as well.
 
Ah, I'm also in that decision-making-place in my life right now. Next september (I believe) I'll probably start university here in Sweden. Which isn't what I want to do but.. Anyways, I agree that you should definetly study something you think sounds fun or interesting. Well, I'll only study different courses just cause they interest me, not cause I'll ever get a real job (which I very much believe I won't). I'll spend all my money (I'll take a loan) on studying in England (in 2006, probably), although it won't really give me anything, except that I'll learn the language, which is my goal in life right now, don't know why. But the thing is, if you do things you're interested in, you will find something to work with, more or less, I believe you will create your own job... But that's just what I believe, and I want to believe that cause otherwise I'm screwed.. eh.
 
Mr. Pointy said:
Did that make sense?
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Of course it did.


All I can add is that you should sieze every opportunity offered to you to advance your knowledge. Grab it by the neck and squeeze it dry. Knowledge is power. My road to where I am is long and very boring, so I'll give you the short version: every time someone offered me knowledge...practical, theoretical, or any other type...I took it. Even if I screwed it up royally, I learned something (as a matter of fact, I learned more from my screw ups that my successes...weird). Take every offer you can handle, close no doors. You may end up in a very different place than where you started, but that's ok (see Pagan above ^^). If you listen to your internal voice, and take all possible opportunities, you'll do well!
 
killerdwarf said:
All I can add is that you should sieze every opportunity offered to you to advance your knowledge.
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Heh, I'm like obsessed with this thought. Or, my thought is that I learn something with everything I do, and because of that I need to do lots of things, all the time (I can never do just one thing at the time, I ned to do at least two, which can be bad)... Like me studying way more math than needed, although I'm pretty convinced I'll never ever do math again in my life after high school.. Well, anyway...
 
eponinethen said:
Like me studying way more math than needed, although I'm pretty convinced I'll never ever do math again in my life after high school.. Well, anyway...
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Are you kidding? I do more math in my head (and on paper) now than I ever did in school. My job kind of demands it more often than not, and math skills are crucial! To everyone! And it's awesome you have that attitude! One of my journeymen/teachers during my apprenticeship said, "If you don't learn something every day, you weren't paying enough attention." He's a wise man...
 
Yeah but really do plan to work with something that has got nothing to do with math, hehe. But still, I feel smart when I do math (well, I do, although I'm not great or anything), and I mean, it's logical thinking and all... so even if I'll never use all my math, I still have learned something from it, in my opinion. But as I said I believe you learn all the time, so even know, when I'm at BB posting, I'm learning (about Buffy, about people, all sorts of things.. and English of course)...
 
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