I am a student with what may seem like a very big question. How can you figure out what to do with your life? I have read many books and taken part in countless activities to help me decide, but still, I cannot take even the first step of my career journey. Can you help?
We can mainly help by telling you that you are not alone.
Many young people feel overwhelmed at the beginning of their careers. They see all their friends and classmates getting great, fast-track jobs with big salaries – or at least it seems that way. They hear their parents telling them to work here or there, or get some graduate degree or another. And like you, they read books and take part in programs designed to help them with the “What should I do with my life?” question – but the answers only confuse matters more.
It’s enough to make you panic, which sort of sounds like your state of affairs. And that’s OK; it’s natural. But it won’t really help you move forward.
For that, you have to come to terms with the fact that most careers are not launched by a grand decision about where you want to end up and a clever game plan on how to get you there. No, most careers are iterative. They start with one somewhat appealing job – that is, a job that feels like it might be a pretty good match for your skills, interests, and goals. That job typically ends up being not exactly right, so it leads to a job that has a somewhat better fit, which leads to yet another job with an even better fit. And so on and on, until one day – often years from the starting line – you find yourself in the job you have actually been waiting for all your life, the one that gives you meaning and purpose. The one you wished you had known about back when you started, but couldn’t –simply because you hadn’t started working yet.
But you know what? Even that “perfect” job will not be without its trials and tribulations. You may be at it for six months and then get a lousy new boss. Or your company may get acquired and your job may change, or go away entirely. And your journey will need to start again.
Our point is, careers are long and unpredictable. They are rarely linear. They zig and zag, stop and start, and take many unexpected twists and turns. Hard work and talent matter, and luck will play a role too.
The key for you at this point is just to start. Learn about growing companies, emerging market trends, influential people, and new cultural phenomena. Talk with people in different professions and with varied life stories. Go on interviews. Ask questions. Mull it all over, with both your head and your heart. And incidentally, the latter will probably tell you at least as much as the former.
Then act -- take a job. Remember, it doesn’t have to be THE job. It just needs to be a job that feels good enough to get you going.
The job that calls you -- the career you were meant for -- will come. And it will be part of a life journey that you will follow, like most people, one step at a time.
This question and answer originally appeared in Business Week magazine on February 13, 2006.
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