Teachers and parents alike ask us, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The answers come back as: teacher, doctor, lawyer, policeman, or fireman. We begin to plot our courses to pursue these jobs.
As we become adults, for some reason, we keep our thinking narrowed to those childhood answers and get stuck. In a sense, we have blinders on for one job. When we begin to feel that there only a few job opportunities out there we can become frustrated.
Some of my clients have become this frustrated individual, feeling stuck in their career search. For this client I am reminded of a book titled “What Color Is Your Parachute”, by Richard Bolles in which he talks about finding fields of interest. In Mr. Bolles book, he writes about visualizing a career as if it were literally a field. For example, if someone is interested in helping others, that individual could get into the medical “field.” Within that particular field there are many jobs and roles that a person could pick to help heal others. Possibilities include: Doctor, Nurse, Radiologist, Physical Therapist, medical equipment sales, and the list could go on and on.
So as you begin your career search, change your perspective to look at the opportunities within a “field.” This will help you see many opportunities and give you hope.
(Photo by: Julie Falk)
