what kind of career should i look into?

Question

i'm in college and i'm having a hard time deciding what i want to do as a career. i was thinking it would be fun to be an editor for a magazine like Seventeen. i also think it might be fun to write a book or book series kind of like the "American Girl" series. but neither of those seem very realistic. any ideas you could give me would be appreciated. here's a list of what i like:

i'm a history major with a particular interest in the WWII era.
i like geography and political policies as they relate to history.
i also study art.
i love fashion and see that as kind of an art as well.
i'm a very good writer (according to my professors).
i love observing people and have a good memory.
i would love to travel.
i am very quiet and don't really have the greatest social skills.

p.s. i really don't want to be a teacher, nor do i want to have an office job where i'm stuck in a cubicle with florescent lights. some research is ok but i don't want that to be the staple of my job.

Answer 1

I am a librarian at a college. It's a third career path for me. I did my undergrad in psychology, planning to be a clinician. Life pushed me down a different path. I went and got my master's degree in library science (the entry level qualification to be a librarian) in order to get out of a job that was eating me alive. It wasn’t my first choice, but it’s a good fit for me.

In the ten years that I've been a librarian, I have worked as an adjunct at a community college, as a medical librarian, as a librarian in a non-profit corporation and now I'm in my fourth year in a college.

Six months ago, my husband retired from the military. We want to go live abroad and we are looking at moving to Mexico. He wants to go to culinary school and work as a personal chef. I'm thinking of getting a TOEFL credential so I can teach English as a way to defray the costs of living. My husband wants to do personal chef work for the US and European ex-pats that are going to Mexico for the same reasons we want to go there.

I will second the nomination of Barbara Sher's books. I'm reading "I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What it Was: How to discover what you really want and how to get it." I have been carrying this book around with me for at least ten years. It went to Virginia, to Louisiana and now back to Florida. I may take it to Mexico when we go there. I recently started to read it, and I’m finding it insightful.

Your interests say something to me. They don’t say librarian or historian but museum curator, archivist or perhaps cultural anthropologist. I can see you creating and documenting a display of French, German, US and British uniforms at the D-Day Museum in New Orleans. There you have history, fashion, writing, observation, art (graphic display) and WWII all together in the same tableaux. Curatorial work is a field related to but separate from librarianship. Depending on what you do, there might be travel involved for negotiation of traveling exhibits and your own continuing education. All of the research involved would be things that you find interesting, anyway.

There are also jobs for historians that are not involved with teaching. The US Military, the National Institutes of Health and the National Park Service (not to mention the Smithsonian and the Presidential Libraries) all employ historians (second link below). Work for the military may not be your cup of tea, but it offers a lot of opportunities to travel and live abroad.

The last link is to a book excerpt about visual anthropology, which just seemed to reference a number or your interests.

You aren’t so terribly lost or misguided. Lots of people don’t know what they want to do when they get to college, or even when they graduate. Lots of the people who seem to know what they want are just faking it, because their friends all act like they know what they want. Some are deceiving themselves. Or, they’re putting up a confident front to get mom and dad off of their backs. Lots more people major in one thing and then never work in a job related to the degree. The ones that go in knowing exactly what they want and how to get it are the exceptions to the rule. The people like you and me ARE the rule.

My point is that you're allowed to change your mind. The degree is a ticket that opens doors for you. It’s not a chain binding you to a track that goes one way. Have confidence in your abilities. If I can do it, you can, too.

My best to you.

Answer 2

There are many purposes for going to college:
1- Meet a spouse
2- get away from parents
3- get drunk/high
4-master a subject
5-earn the creditintals for the job or career you want

The first four are expensive hobbies; you must have picked one of them if you didn't enter for #5 and are just thinking of it now. It's kinda late to decide that you want to major in History but don;t want to teach. All fo the cources that you mentioned would sound like fluff courses on a resume to me. No substance or useful skill for most businesses.

Sigh..but many people like you enter the workforce unprepared.

OK, let's put a positive spin on this. Consider:
- Librarian - go for the top, look at jobs at the Library of Congress. There are political jobs there too
- Writer- Practice now, work on publishing history novels
- Magazine writer - editors come later

Geography isn;t an occupation, it is like stating that you know how to paper clip two sheets together. Art tends to be a hobby unless you do commercial art, but it sounds like you are unprepared for that...therefore it will be a hobby for you.

Fashion is hard to get into without the specialities of training. Good luck, but possible.

Leverage the writing and history. With the choices you've made, a lifetime of flourescent lights and cubicles are your future.\

OK, sorry for being bitter and negative, but I see way too many wasted college lives, expecting that the 4 year degree in pottery and basketweaving have earned them the right to employment. What a waste

Answer 3

Honestly, you sound quite a bit like I me 35 years ago. I took some journalism classes and loved it but got sidetracked by the lure of fast money.

If I had it to do over I'd take journalism and get a job as a reporter and then work my way into an editor position in about 15 years after your burned out on the action. This way you could change from one topic to another and try it out reporting on the things you really like.

Good Luck

Answer 4

well no one can really tell you what kind of career you should look into, but all I know is do something that you love. My aunt is an accountant at Frito Lay and she's been working there for about 20 years and is about to become a senior partner. She told me though that when she started her career she loved accounting, but now she only likes it. So make sure it's something you want to do and if you dream of becoming the editor of Seventeen magazine or writing a book series, there's nothing to stop you except yourself except for talent, and apparently other people who have read your writing think you have it. Why not try for something you want?

Answer 5

You sound like someone Barbara Sher would call a "scanner" - a person who has many different interests and difficulty choosing just one.

Look at her book REFUSE TO CHOOSE (just came out in 2006 and is in hardcover - hopefully your library has it) for some ideas on how to move your life forward and choose a career without boxing yourself in or giving up your varied interests.

It sounds like "freelance writer" could be a good career for you. Consider the book GET A FREELANCE LIFE by Margit Feury Ragland. It's from the folks who run http://www.mediabistro.com, which could also be a good resource for you.

If you want to be a writer, MAKE SURE you get a writing internship before you graduate. I didn't do that (too busy working to support myself) and that's made my writing career pretty difficult to launch.

Answer 6

Your career goals are not unrealistic, you just have to do what is necessary to be able to get a job at seventeen mag or write a book. Intern at a magazine company to see if you like that experience. Ask to shadow someone whose job you admire. Also go to your career center, a counselor should be able to help you narrow down your choices.

Answer 7

I have to say I am in the same boat, only different oars..I don't know what I want to do when I grow up either. I guess this is something we will both have to figure out for ourselves as I can't answer your question and I don't expect you to give me an answer...Good luck to you..

Answer 8

take course that would be the beginning in any degree that your college would give.In that time of the beginning courses it would give you a feel of what you would want to do for a major.