<p>I'm in my late 20s and recently went back to college to pursue a bachelor degree. I have an associate degree but never got the chance to continue my education.</p>
<p>When I registered I spoke with a counselor and emphasized that I still have no clue what I what to do career wise. The counselor appeared to be puzzled, but hey not everyone is lucky to know what his or her life plans are from an early age. So anyway I asked if the school can assist someone like me, she advised me to take a course called Personal Development.</p>
<p>So I'm currently take that class along with some general education that I need to finish, but for some reason, I find the class useless and childish. We fill out a workbook with our interests and values which uses a system called true colors, and then there is a looong list of careers, and you research them to see what you like.</p>
<p>I took this class assuming they would give us various aptitude and interests tests, and the professor, assuming she has that title, would give us some ideas in what careers we may excel in. Instead the class caused more confusion and frustration since it involves a lot of seemingly irrelevant and pointless writing and internet research that could have been done without taking this class.</p>
<p>For those who were or are currently in a situation like me - basically not knowing what to do in life or not knowing which career to pursue - please give some feedback on what you did to find your calling in life or what is helping you now.</p>
<p>I thought college would have the answer to that question. I'm hoping to find the answer soon as I'd need to take classes related to a major before transferring to a university. I'm thinking to go into a business major if I can't narrow down a major, but still, that won't help with what to do for a career.</p>
<p>If you don’t know what you want to do, then shadow some people at their jobs and see what you like best. If you can’t do that talk to others about their jobs, what it consists of, and decide whether you’d like that environment or not. Do this for a number of jobs and you’ll eventually find something that says, ‘hey! that might be fun!’</p>
<p>That sounds like a good idea. I’m not sure where I can find people, but I suppose I can ask around on forums specific to those jobs. Is this what many of you are doing - asking others about their jobs?</p>
<p>If your school has a lot of corporate ties, I lwould suggest going to corporate information sessions too. There you can talk to recruiters and people that actually work there about the jobs that they do.</p>
<p>Agreed about shadowing people in their jobs. Another great way to learn about industries is to go to career fairs. At this stage of your education, if you are planning to transfer to a university, you will likely have two years left before you get your bachelor’s degree, which means you have plenty of time to do exploration. Career fairs allow you to do a ton of exploration at once. They will usually send some of their newer hires in entry-level roles, and you’ll be able to get a sense for what they do on a daily basis. If nothing stands out to you, then try again at the next career fair! Eventually something will picque your interest.</p>
<p>When something picques your interest, it will probably be a specific job. You will then be tempted to narrow your focus too much - from having no idea to having a very specific idea. That’s when you step back and start looking in that general industry. For example, if you are looking and meet someone who is a diplomatic track foreign service officer with the state department, you might want to follow that exact track. That’s when you step back and say, “okay, a job that involves international travel and politics has me interested.” Then you need to ask yourself what other jobs are like that? Perhaps working for a non-profit aid organization could be interesting. Perhaps even a job that requires international travel would be satisfying to you.</p>
<p>I am 29… and my roommate is a grad student (although he is 22). Generally, most people don’t know what they want to do. My former roommate went through 1 career, and 2 majors before ee decided he wants to teach… plus, usually, college is not going to teach you how to do anything. It is just going to make you a critical thinker…</p>