Are there any programs or educational materials for this?
The best info I ever got was in a book that said write down all your interests for two weeks, and then find the commonalities among your interests and go into a field related to that.
However there are several things wrong with that.
A book i’m reading now (the high price of materialism) was talking about how using rewards to motivate people made them lose interest in something they were previously interested in. So even if someone did love clowns or the law, a job involving these things could sap the fun out of it.
A person’s interests can change all the time. My interests have changed in the last 4 years, maybe they will change in the next 4 years.
(most important) i read a website article once about ‘job satisfaction’ and ‘liking the material you work with’ was not no. 1 of the factors that determine if you are satisfied with your job. The main factors in job satisfaction are (i forget the order but these were the major factors in whether you like or hate your job).
A good challenge level (not too boring, not too stressful)
understanding, fun & considerate co-workers, bosses and customers
The ability to try new things
The ability to be in control of your immediate surroundings
A sense of job security
I think income was 7th. Liking the subject material at hand was maybe 3rd or 4th. Naturally if you have the opposite of the above 5 things like a job that is too stressful, or condescending, overbearing bosses or a lack of control you will most likely hate your job.
Ever since I read that article i have come to the same conclusion, that liking the material at hand is not really paramount to job satisfaction, working in a good environment is. But how do you go about determining that? are there certain fields that offer a better environment than others? Like nursing for example, nursing almost guarantees a high stress job, but it also guarantees job security. computer programmer guarantees very little job security. I would assume financial jobs are more likely to have overbearing bosses (as a guess).
But overall it seems like alot of these factors vary wildly from one work environment to another. BUt are there certain vocations which are more likley to have most/all of them, or is there no way to tell?
Well, generally, you go and get a job and work there for a couple of years and hate it. Then get another. Then another and finally, you end up someplace that fulfills your criteria for having a good job and it goes out of business.
I don’t know if you’re confusing your terminology in your post or answering your own question, but there are as many different work environments as companies, so recommending a “field” is essentially useless. My friend is a physicist and likes working at his lab. He doesn’t have much choice unless his request to go to Serr gets approved. I worked in a bunch of temp jobs that I hated until I got a job that met all the criteria for a good job and I hated it for a year. Then I got promoted and it got interesting. And went out of business. I passed up some other jobs in the same field because I liked where I was at so much.
There’s also a wide range of experiences for all the fields you mention: nurses could be either at a huge hospital or a small county clinic on the night shift. Programmers could be freelance or work for a company that has archaic equipment/programs that can’t be updated and constantly need to be updated. Fincancial workers could be the low-level account rep for a bank trying to convince people to get mortgages at a higher rate or they could be commodity traders that work 4-5 hours a day then go to their million dollar home.
FWIW, those “write down your dreams and go for it” things are generally bullshit. Generally, they’re for helping unimaginative people try to fit their personalities into whatever training they’ve already got, “gee, I organized my sock drawer, I must really be cut out for accounting.” Making generalizations like a good environment or field is useless. If you hate math, don’t be a physicist. If you can’t stand sitting in an office all day, don’t be the programmer working on legacy systems.
It’s a lot simpler than you think, really, but you are limited by 1) the jobs that are available or 2) what skills you have. IIRC, you’re almost out of college and that gives you a pretty wide horizon, it’s fairly depressing how quickly you get pigeonholed into one profession.
LOL! That seems to be how it is! I know, not funny though. I’m having a hard time finding work right now. There just doesn’t seem to be many choices out there. I tried to do what I love for a living, but that hasn’t happened, so now I have to try to figure out something else.
The way I always heard it was this: if time, money, talent, and training were no object, what would your dream/fantasy jobs be? After accepting that you’re never going to be an international superspy/NBA player/professional gymnast/whatever, sit down and think about these professions. What is it about them that appeals to you? Then go find something that has the things that appeal to you.
It makes sense to me. After all, people have vastly different criteria for what constitutes a good job. Many people would say my job sucks. I work long hours, come home covered in all sorts of unsavory body fluids, and get bitten, clawed, and screamed at by irate customers, all for crap pay. But I love my job. I can’t imagine sitting at a desk all day making three times as much money. No matter how well-balanced it was, no matter what challenges and growth opportunities it gave me, no matter how wonderful my boss and coworkers were, it wouldn’t give me the same visceral satisfaction. And that’s what’s important to me.
If you figure out what’s important to you (and I mean you, not 98% of respondants to some poll), you’ll be on the right track to a job you like.
There’s a lot of fun jobs I would like to have, but unfortunately, I can’t pay the bills doing any of them.
I’m just going back to work after sitting at home for 9 months. Found a new position in the field I’ve worked in for over 20 years (which luckily I do enjoy). Did I have a master plan 20 years ago to end up in this field - No. It just kind of fell into place.
My advice, work some varied positions in whatever field you have training in and see what you like and what you don’t. You can have two exact same jobs but at different companies and love one but hate the other. So a lot of the magic comes down to the ppl you end up working with and the workplace conditions. Doesn’t matter much what kind of job it is if it’s at a place that’s a pressure cooker and everyone is all stressed out everyday - it’s not going to be fun. If it’s a job that you dread going into every day, it’s time to move on to something, or at least somewhere, else.
What has worked for me was considering the sorts of environments for which I was suited.
Think about what motivates you. Is it money? Is it helping others? Do you prefer a lot of change or are you happier when sticking to a fairly consistent routine? Do you like to work among a lot of other people, or do you prefer to sit in a little corner and be left alone to do your job? What types of thinking are you attracted to - persuasive, analytical, creative? Do you like the fast pace or do you prefer to have time to think things over?
Once you’ve figured out what sort of environment you think would suit you best, then investigate further by finding people who are in the sorts of professions you are interested in and shadowing them for a day. You might find that while being an accountant, for example, sounds like a great fit in terms of environment, you don’t much care for the actual work, or don’t like marketing yourself to clients, or that your preferred view is the big picture, not the details.
I tried for years to pigeonhole myself into jobs that were available without ever considering if they fit with my particular quirks and personality traits. I was miserable most of the time, too. The job I have now is right up my alley in many ways, so even though I am paid far less now than I ever was before and have no benefits, I am happier in a work environment than I have ever been before.
I thought the answer was money so I chased that for years. I worked and networked my ass off and finally landed a job that paid literally more than twice as much as any other job I’d ever had. Then I got a promotion. Then I got another promotion and one more after that for good measure, and each one came with a hefty pay-hike. 2003/2004 was very good to me financially.
Guess what though? I quit and I just landed my ass back in school. I’m more or less starting fresh at college at the ripe old age of 23.
In my psychology testing and measurements course we studied the Kuder as the leading test to identify career interests. FWIW, in terms of interests I think my results were dead on with bookstore manager, librarian and psychologist as the top 3. I would definitely be interested in any of those jobs. But due to some real-world factors like what jobs are available, how much they pay and the credentials required, I’m not working in any of those fields now. But in semi-retirement, I could totally see it.
It was a long time ago so I don’t remember the details, but we studied how they validated the test. I think it was by comparing your answers with those given by people who actually worked in those fields. There are approaches to this question that are more scientific/analytical than just pop psych write down your dreams stuff.
If you are still in school, your college may have a way for you to take the Kuder or a similar test free or at reduced cost.
The best known, more pop psych, book on this topic is What Color is Your Parachute? by Bolles. This book has stood the test of time. If you’re really interested in setting direction for your life, I think it’s worth becoming familiar with this book’s point of view.
Previous posters make a very good point that the field you go into and the specific job/company are both important factors. There are no shortcuts. It’s probably easier to switch companies/ jobs than it is to reeducate yourself for a new field, so that’s why people try to decide on the right field first. One of my first jobs out of college was in my current field (HR) and I hated it so much I swore I would never again work in that field. I tried 3 other fields, then took another job in HR on a temporary basis. It turns out I don’t really hate HR, but that first job was also in state government, and I’m pretty sure that’s something I’m NOT going back to.
Some of the ways to learn whether a specific job/company will be a good fit for you are internships, temp jobs and informational interviews. I’ve even seen recommendations to hang out around the entrance/exit of the company during morning, noon and lunch to get a sense of people’s mood. (without looking like a stalker --hee hee) Can you see yourself dressing like that? Are they leaving at 7pm with briefcases full of work, and is that something you’re OK with? Do they all drive BMWs, and is that important to you?
Don’t put too much emphasis on the “dream job” aspect of things, the idea that if you’re doing something you really really love doing, it’s worth any sacrifice. It’s just not. Remember not to put all of your emphasis on any one aspect of your life, or at least not just your job, and forget to have your life as a whole. You may find yourself looking back after a few years wondering where your life went while you were at work.
I got my “dream job” right out of college, doing exactly what I wanted to do at exactly the company I’d always wanted to work for. I left my friends and family and moved thousands of miles away from home to a place where I knew no one. Don’t get me wrong; change is good, and I met some brilliant people and made some of my best friends there. But the job itself turned out to be ridiculously long hours for unfairly low pay, having to deal with abusive supervisors and management that treated employees as if they were lucky to be working there. Most jobs have burn-out, but without a life to fall back on, it’s just crush-every-dream-you’ve-ever-had burn-out.
Now, I’m at a better company, but that experience soured me on everything. The passion is gone, and I’m just left with the long hours. And I have friends who tell me that they’re not really interested in what they’re doing, but the people are nice and they work from 9-5 every day and are home by 5:30. That sounds perfect to me!
Remember not to let your career dominate everything else! Don’t be like SolGrundy!
Well, i don’t need a dream job, but i’d really like a job that isn’t soul crushing. I have read that about 55% of americans say their jobs are high stress and/or unrewarding. I don’t mind if a job is unrewarding, but a high stress would really bother me. I don’t want to let my job affect the rest of my life, i dont want the hours or the stress to affect my other goals/ambitions, which is the main reason for this post. To me it seems like alot of people have their jobs as their life. Their sleep schedule is made up by their job, they work, then when they got off they spend the rest of the day ‘relaxing’ to let go of the stresses of the day. i dont want to end up like that. My main goal is to semi retire in my early 40s, and only have to work about 20 hrs a week but still have enough money to fund retirement and a lifestyle i’m comfortable with.
PS im studying chemistry. I don’t know what the stress levels of chemists are, but i always assumed for a low level bachelored researcher or industrial worker they were relatively low. just make sure everything is working and you’ll be fine.
Knowing a chemist or two, I’ve got to say they’ve got the same job situation that anyone else has. You have to produce results, whether you’re developing a new roof coating or trying to prove something in an academic lab setting. If you’re being paid, it’s fair to say that someone wants results and if you don’t provide them, you’re out of there. There are deadlines, budget constraints, coworkers who apparently don’t know what they’re doing, management that tweaks your scheulde/work to make themselves look good for their bosses, etc.
As long as you take the European view and figure that your job is funding your nonjob activities, you’ll be a lot better off than a typical fool that goes to work, hates it, complains and never has any energy to do anything else you’ll be fine. There are plenty of people out there who still have time to be in a small band, write comic books, remodel their house, get a black belt in karate, hang out with their friends, watch their kids play baseball and still log in 40 hours a week.
I remember at the end of college, I was panicking about giving my life away, but quickly realized it wasn’t a big deal (after I got used to waking up so damn early).
Create your own job, and then find someone to pay you to do it.
Sounds insane, but that is what I did.
Let me give you an example of a friend. She combined her two loves and majored in Home Economics (cooking) and Photography (art). She now makes a bundle taking pictures of food for ads and for specialty magazines.
Another friend of mine was a lowly Gay accountant with a love of movies. He is now constantly working on big budget films, setting budgets and going on locations shoots for months at a time and loves it. Also pays a lot.
Another friend of mine has been interested in real estate and finance for a long time and tried to be a real estate agent. Didn’t like that, but now he is an appraiser, works from his home and cannot keep up with demand. Also paid very well.
A friend of a friend worked in a department store selling cosmetics. She got fed up with it and started to work for small theaters doing their stage make up. No joke - she just won an Emmy for a daytime soap opera for make up. She too is paid quite well.
I know…this all sounds easy if you have the time/money/opportunity…but every one of those people just kept doing what they love.
Last example…a woman I worked with in Las Vegas used to write up the police reports for the local newspaper. So did the guy sitting next to her. One day he said, “These stories would make a great TV show.” She nodded and agreed.
He is, I believe, now the excutive producer of CSI Las Vegas. She is kicking her butt for sitting next to him and not thinking of it.
Create your own job, and then find someone to pay you to do it.