Archive for February, 2010

Since it’s come to my attention that the search term “a career that’s not monotonous” is what brings most people to my site, I thought I’d share what I’ve found in terms of an answer.

First off: There’s no such thing as a career that’s not monotonous.

Every career has some degree of monotony. Companies thrive on monotony– it’s what keeps them from going under. Every company needs people behind the scenes to do the boring stuff– and every employee needs to do some monotonous task in order to help these people do their jobs. Granted, some positions have more of these tasks to complete. And it’s also a matter of what kinds of monotony you can deal with. Lots of meetings, tons of paperwork, reports galore, overly complicated timesheets? Sitting in front of the computer all day, nonstop typing? There are dozens of repetitive tasks that can comprise your day– so it’s a matter of figuring out what you can deal with.

One very important point here is that you cannot find your ideal career by just sitting around and THINKING about it. You need to jump in and try a few things. The unfortunate thing here is that, for people with responsibilities and families, this is very difficult to do.

So, here’s my suggestions for finding your ideal career:

1. Start off by researching various occupations in the Occupational Outlook Handbook. It not only describes the various occupational categories, but gives insights into working conditions, necessary education levels, wages, and job outlook and projections. There is also a section at the bottom that links to various career resources for this occupation, such as professional societies. This is a fantastic resource, and I highly recommend you make use of it. Not only can it help point you in the right direction, it can help you determine if it’s even worth your time to pursue it. (If, for instance, you discover that your dream career has a very slow projected growth and high competition, it may well be in your best interest to hold off on pursuing it– or consider pursuing something similar but with better prospects.)

2. Once you have a few careers you think you may be interested in, do what you can to jump in and try it out. Whether it’s obtaining a temporary position, internship, volunteering in the field, or asking if you can shadow someone in that field for a day or so– do what you can to really get a feel for the work. There are a number of things that you won’t know about a position until you try it– and there are some things that you may think you enjoy, or think won’t bother you, but later find out that you were wrong. It’s better to find out before fully committing yourself to a career path whether you really do enjoy it, or just enjoy the idea of it. Trust me, there’s a huge difference there.

3. Once you find a career that you feel is really right for you, go for it! Get the needed credentials and network with other workers in that field. Do what you can to get your foot in the door, but at the same time, be flexible. You may not be able to do exactly what you want, but you can get started in the right direction.

So… those are my thoughts on the matter. And as for my own search? I’ve found something of an answer, but can’t get any further at the moment because, with an infant daughter and a family to support in whatever way I can, I’m not yet ready to pursue a different career. In fact, I suspect I won’t be able to for quite some time. However, I do have an idea, and even if it takes 20 years, I hope that one day I can find the rest of the answer.

Any further suggestions or comments? Let me know!