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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Career/life rut!
I am in the weird phase of trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. Meaning, I am in a job/career that I can't see myself doing for another day never mind another year + and I have no idea where to go from here. I have a Bachelors in Political Science, but I might as well have majored in basket weaving to be honest.
How did you figure out what you wanted your career to be? Especially those who weren't seemingly born knowing what they wanted to be (like my husband).
I have seriously considered every career under the sun and I feel like such a nut case bouncing back and forth, like I have career ADD "oooo teaching....oooo therapy...oooo law school" and then getting bored of them as fast as they popped into my head.
Advice? 
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Re: Career/life rut!
If you can figure this out and tell everyone else the secret, you'll be rich! The fact is, I've learned that many adults well into their "careers" still don't really know what they want to be when they grow up. Like your DH, mine has also always known what he wanted to do and he happens to be very good at it. I always tell him how lucky he is.
Not to be too cynical, but I'm at a point now where I'm coming to terms with the fact that I may never love what I do, but as long as I can live comfortably without making too many lifestyle sacrifices, then that will do. In other words, I work to pay the bills but I want as much free time as possible to do the things I really want to do (sports, hobbies, travel, etc.).
I was more idealistic when I was younger and I do hope you find work that you love, but if I'm honest I just need something I don't hate at this point and make the best of it. Getting paid well also takes the sting out of it
I agree with Rock.
I was never the type that had something I wanted to "be." Everyone said "major in what you're interested in!" when I went to college. So I majored in Anthropology (talk about might as well be basket-weaving!). When I finished college, I stayed in the job I already had- a store manager- since Anthro isn't all that marketable and I wasn't in a rush to leave. Did I plan on working in retail for 5 years? No. But I didn't hate it, and I was in charge so it wasn't all that bad.
Now I'm out of the work force, and I certainly don't intend to go back into retail but I don't know what kind of career to start and, 2 babies from now, it might be 10+ years until I work again. Scary.
So you are not alone. Don't worry and don't put too much pressure on yourself. As long as you're not miserable at work every day, I'd say you're ahead of a lot of people!
I'm actually one of the lucky few who had an idea of what they like/wanted to do and could find a job doing it. I loved genetics since my first Punnett Square and in HS I knew I wanted to major in biotech. I love being in the lab.
My mom, however, majored in botany back in the day. She enjoyed bio, but didn't know what to do with the degree. She ended up working in computer coding but eventually got laid off after she had my brother and me and stayed home until my brother was a senior in HS (I was a junior in college). Now she does administrative type work but also does a lot with their website and coding for that. She really enjoys it.
So don't give up hope! Even if you aren't where you want to be right now, and have no idea where to go, you can still find your niche. Just keep looking and try new things when you can. GL!
Not everyone has a calling. Some of us work to work. I like what I do, would I like doing something different? Yes, probably. But I have great job security, I make a good salary, I have kickass benefits, and those make the boredom worth it. My life =/= my job.
I think those people who often ponder and wonder what is it out there that is BETTER often spend their lives just wandering through and searching, and ultimately, being unhappy. Your life should be well rounded and touch upon many things that make you happy as a whole. A job is a very small slice of the pie when you look at your life collectively.
GL.
I don't really have advice, but can also confirm that you are not alone, feeling this way! I originally went to school for Fashion Merchandising, after working in retail, and loving clothes and shopping. But I didn't feel that jobs were plentiful, or paid well. I eventually went back to school for Accounting, it's easier to find work, but oh so boring!
I'm currently trying to leave my job, working on my resume tonight. I have no idea what I want to do, or what I'm even qualified for. My current job pays OK, good benefits, and I work with the hubby, but I'm miserable
I think that if I can get a job working for a company that I like and believe in, it doesn't matter as much what kind of work I do.
Luckily a lot of companies don't care as much what you have a degree in, but that you have a degree. Try to focus on what you do during the day, at work, and at home, that you enjoy, and are good at, and see if they can transfer into a career idea. Maybe try temp work to try a varieties of jobs, I'm actually looking into it.
Best of luck to you, you'll figure it out!
A lot of poli sci majors wind up in law firms- or in-house legal depts in larger companies. You could also investigate writing/editing jobs if that interests you.
Most days I am bored to death with my job, I deal with a lot of aspects of certain areas of the law and compliance that just suck. But I love my company and am really good at what I do, so oh well! lol
BTW- neither my BSc nor my MSc apply to my job.
I am mainly a lurker, but when I saw this post I had to respond. I swear I could have written it myself. I also graduated with a BA in Poli Sci . . . but then I went on to law school, so I am a lawyer. I am definitely not one of those people who loves being a lawyer. There are certain aspects of practicing law that I love but I definitely don't know if it was the best career choice for me, personally. I seriously question my decision to become a lawyer on a daily basis. Even worse, when I think about which (if any) career paths I could pursue at this point I wind up feeling even more unsettled. (Especially because my dream career is at the opposite end of the spectrum from being a lawyer.)
I am a big believer that you should not stay in a job you hate. Life is too short to be miserable. I left my previous job because I was not respected by my boss, and am glad I did.
So I guess what I am trying to say is you are definitely not alone in your indecisiveness. (In fact my sister is a good example of someone who left her initial career to pursue something entirely different. She has a degree in education, taught in inner city schools in NYC for a couple of years, but ultimately decided she wasn't happy. She quit her job and opened up her own bridal shoppe and now loves what she does everyday!)
Sorry this was so long. Guess my advice can be summed up by saying don't settle for a job that doesn't make you truly happy. So much time is spent at work that your life can be miserable if you go to a job you hate everyday.
As you can see, I am trying to figure this all out myself! GL!
Thanks for all the thoughts/advice. It is nice knowing I am not alone. I come from a family where everyone just fell into careers they love so I feel like I'm doing something wrong.
The "natural" route for me after Poli Sci was to go to law school and I bought all the LSAT books you could imagine. But, I am working in a law firm now...and I absolutely hate it. All the lawyers are miserable and yeah, they made a good salary, but they work 60+ hours a week just to pay off their loans and have no time for anything else. The main problem is I don't care about any of the work I do. I feel no connection to it. If I made more money, I guess it would be easier to grin and bear it but I make just enough to cover expenses while DH is in PT school.
Again, thanks for all the responses. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on his one little career quiz you could take and it would tell you exactly what you were supposed to do. We can dream, right?
lawyers are generally miserable people but not all of them.
Try a different law firm that specializes in a different area of law.
I went from working for lawyers to managing lawyers and I like this route much better.
Have you considered other types of law? My sister is a lawyer and right now she does non-profit work for tenant rights in low income housing, and she wants to start in family law to help gay and lesbian couples with legal rights and adoptions.
A lot of her friends from law school work the ridiculous hours at crazy firms... But there are SO many other options!
I worked at the State Attorney's Office when I lived in FL and found it much more enjoyable. Here, I work for a private medical malpractice firm.
I have debated looking for other legal work, but since I don't want to go to law school, I feel like the longer I'm in the field, the more I'm protyped and I'm stuck here. When I moved to Boston, I saw a HR firm and they told me I was ONLY qualified for legal positions, not even administrative positions, and I'd only been in the field for a year.
I think I might just still it out here until DH is done with PT school in a year and a half. Then, he'll have income and mine won't matter as much so I can figure out what I want to do.