It’s hard enough to build a career when you have a specific goal in mind — one needs to earn the right degrees, get the right internships, find the right jobs and earn the right promotions. But it’s much harder to build a career when you aren’t even sure about what you want. Here’s some tips:
Understand what you specifically don’t want.
If you’re not able to figure out exactly what you want in life, try and figure out what are the things you definitely wouldn’t want to be doing. This will help you cancel out on the options that you shouldn’t even be trying. List out the details of the things too.
For example, if you’re super introverted, and hate making calls, then you shouldn’t be looking for jobs that will have you call newer people every day. And if you’re someone that gets a massive headache when you’re out in the sun, you shouldn’t be looking for a job that will have you on-site regularly.
Make a list of the things you think will work.
We’re in 2022 and you can do so much more than you think and so much beyond your college degree. You can think of a slightly different career option that you can pursue using your college degree, but you can also think of something that you can do with your passion as well.
For example, if you like the ocean, you can try giving some time to learning a water sport like surfing. And if you love making videos, you can try your hands at wedding videography or even product videography! So even if you’re a BCom graduate, an accountant is not the only thing you can become!
Build your emergency fund & savings.
Understand what is your fixed expenses and variable expenses. And start building your emergency fund and savings that will help you sustain for 6-12 months. Try to reduce your expenses that you can cut down on & set yourselves ready to either quit your job entirely or make space for a side hustle.
Try one thing from your list.
Whatever you think would work the best, try that one thing. Here comes the trick, you’ll have to be very dedicated during this phase. Give yourselves the time to learn, understand and explore the field that you’re choosing.
For example, if you are an engineer that wants to become an event planner, you could either work as a part-time event planner or quit your job and do it full-time. Once you get a hang of it, it could be your full-time, long-term career.
But if you feel like it only fascinated you before you started doing it and now that you’re in it, you see the cons and don’t wish to continue, quit it and jump to the next thing on your list.
Give yourselves a year to find your dream career.
Every career has its negatives. Quitting everything just because it is hard won’t lead you to any place. One year of trial and error should help you analyse what you want to do and then stick to your plan post that. You can always take this gap year, no matter how old you are and for how long you’ve been working.
If you think that a year is too long to waste, imagine the number of hours you’ll be putting into the job you hate, imagine the amount of your life you’re using in the cubicle you don’t like!
We all have just one life and a very limited time on this planet. If you want to make the best of the time you’re here, you’ve to choose the work that will make you happy and satisfy you. And hence spending a year to figure out your passion is so totally worth it!
[About the author: Just like several engineering students in India, Anagha Bhat started thinking about what she wanted to do with her career only after she reached her 4th year of engineering. She worked for 6 jobs in 2 years to find out what she liked to do with her career and eventually stumbled into an online career. She currently works as a Social Media Manager for international coaches, SMM Coach for Indian aspiring Social Media Managers and is also a budding YouTuber. With three different businesses to grow, Anagha is constantly on the lookout to help different sets of people differently.]