<p>My name is Joseph. Just graduated Harvard as a History major. Hate my job. Would appreciate any advice.</p>
<p>Did 3 summer internships.
(1) Capitol Hill
(2) marketing for Coke
(3) a non-profit. </p>
<p>As a senior, I applied for 100s of jobs. 50+ companies interviewed me. Finally got an offer: Finance, $72K, good hours (8:30-6). I accepted gratefully.</p>
<p>Problem: Depression. </p>
<p>The problem's not THIS job. It's offices in general. Being chained to a chair. Indoors. Acting fake. slowly dying in front of computer. Don't think a life of that is worth any amount of money.</p>
<p>So I’m asking for help.</p>
<p>Any jobs with the following criteria?</p>
<ol>
<li> outdoors</li>
<li> moving around </li>
<li> maximizes opportunities for future<br></li>
<li> interacting with others</li>
<li> creative</li>
<li> safe</li>
<li> $ is obviously valued</li>
<li> in a large city</li>
<li> Music: I love music writing/producing pop music. As elusive as it is to have a career in that field, I'm determined to have a (A) a job that supports, or at least gives me the time/money to sustain the hobby as I chase the dream of full time work as an artist in the "industry."</li>
</ol>
<p>Plan on making a list of outdoors jobs and using vacation times to shadow them. Will either find one I like or acquire a newfound humility for the office.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for any feedback.</p>
<p>Joseph</p>
<p>You’re going to have to compromise. You can’t get everything in your list (especially 7, even more so in conjunction with 9). So think about what aspects are the most important for you.</p>
<p>Are you willing to do further education to get the kind of job you want? How much will you sacrifice your music dreams for your alternative career options, and vice versa?</p>
<p>Would real estate interest you? That potentially ticks several of your boxes.</p>
<p>My grandfather dropped everything at one point in his life to become a Park Ranger in Vermont… but that may not be for you. If you like music and you’re a history major maybe Music Journalism? It takes a while to penetrate that career field but I have a friend who travels a lot and he is always doing something he loves. </p>
<p>Music journalism is very tough to get into, at least if you want to get paid. And it’s awkward to combine with actively trying to be an artist yourself - conflict of interest.</p>
<p>Sales or business development for a startup sounds like it might be a match. </p>
<p>Event planning/management for outdoor music festivals.</p>
<p>International Development? Very little money for fresh graduates though. I’ll stick with the finance job for a few years, get some core skills, and then get out. </p>
A parent’s perspective here…it sounds like you have put serious thought into your situation, and I encourage you to continue your search for a better fit for your future.
In the meantime, I highly recommend you faking it at your current job. Smile and nod, and be a real team player who gives 110%. You want that paycheck and you want to build a great network of folks who might be of help to you in the future. (As a fallback in case Plan B doesn’t work out, or for recommendation letters for Plan B B).
Set some financial goals, and put a date on the calendar for when you can quit. Do you want to save up a certain amount of $$ before quitting? I would think 2 years on your first job before quitting would be a good minimum. Having an exact date deadline is important. Don’t think “someday” I will do this. Spend your weekends engaged in activities or research that move you toward your new career. Keep a journal to remind yourself of why you are doing this (you might need motivation to keep at it on your boring job.) And to show you the progress you are making on creating a new and better life for yourself.
Can you change your budget and live on less? Get a roommate or change your housing, basically decide to live on 2/3 or 1/2 of your current salary, whatever you feel comfortable with. Friends of mine chose to live on $4000 for a year (plus the cost of their mortgage) and paid off their house in 4 years. Now, granted, they went to the extreme. Grew their own food, didn’t spend money on eating out or entertainment, didn’t buy new clothes, took on extra jobs to generate more income, etc. This short term suffering gave them financial freedom, and to them it was worth the effort.
Good luck to you, hope you can post your progress.