How did you find your calling career-wise?

23 comments

1. idk i still haven’t yet :/

2. I’m curious as to how those with one straight career path answer this question. My career choice for fifteen years was because I already had a predisposition for the work. I’m out of that field now and don’t know where life will take me from here.

3. I went to a career counselor and took a bunch of tests cause I never felt a “calling” which in turn made me depressed when everyone else was like I wanna be a nurse cop etc and I’m like I just wanna take my classes and pass lol. She was a very good counselor.

4. I ended up doing subtitute teaching and being a teacher’s assistant in my former college, but working with students who had learning difficulties or mental health challenges that needed to be supported. I noticed how much I enjoyed helping and providing support to students, I thrived in that environment. When me term cane to end teacher and curator asked, have I thought about studying social work, because I would fit working with teens and young adults.

   Flash forward to today, I’m currently writing my bachelor’s thesis in social work, knowing I made right choice. All kids and teens deserve to have adults in their life that believe in them, and I want to be that to them.

5. I’m 30 and I still haven’t got the slightest idea what I’m doing career wise. And that’s okay. Too much pressure put on people these days to be what society deems ‘normal’

6. I started taking linguistics classes because I found out they could substitute for a year of a foreign language. Ended up really liking it and made it my major. It took a lot of time, and a little bit of luck to finally find my way into an editing role, but that is solidly my career now.

7. Never wanted to do anything else

8. My mom made me start violin at 5, and wouldn’t let me eat dinner till I practiced everyday. Went to an arts high school, majored in violin in college and grad school, joined a full time orchestra. Never considered anything else.

9. I searched my heart and knew I felt drawn to helping others. I thought how my experiences have shaped me and who I could meet that would be relatable and needed. I found the area of addiction counseling and have been here ever since. I meet patients every day who are where I was, their families are my own and they don’t even hope in a life they truly deserve. It’s badass work and I’m looking to add some more letters behind my name so I can actually make decent money someday. Idk if I’ll stay in it forever, but I’m needed here now.

10. I’ve wanted to be a trauma therapist “since you were knee high” according to my uncle. Probably because my mom would vent her trauma and i liked the feeling of helping lol (I’m not there yet but I’m on my way to doing it)

11. I had my career and treated it as just a paycheck. I left it for about 2 years and missed it every day. I drive past building every day since I live so close. Last week I was contacted by my old manager asking me if I was looking for work. I start at my new/old job in 2 weeks. So it was by accident that I figured out where I belong.

12. Was an auditor for nearly 15 years. Went back to school to complete a master degree for fun. Met the research world and felt in love (my « ahah » moment). Finished the master degree, got engaged as an assistant professor and entered a PhD program (I am lucky to have had that opportunity without a PhD completed). I am now in my third year of PhD, on the verge of completing it, and absolutely loving it, and loving my job as a professor. It’s never too late!

13. It’s been weird for me since my siblings all knew what they wanted to be when they grew up pretty young, and I did not.

    Me, I sort of fell into what I a) was good at and b) enjoyed, which was a mix of geeky-technical and stellar customer service.

    If anyone had told me back when I was in HS or university “Yeah, you’re going to be working in IT” I’d have thought they were insane.

14. 9/11 had just happened.

    I was 18, in a shitty situation, wanted an entire fresh start.

    Not that I recommend this way of picking your job, because I’m the exception when it comes to this actually working out

    But went to the Army recruiter’s office and told them I’d take any job I qualified for and would get me out of dodge, the most ASAP.

    …I’m still active duty doing supply chain/logistics nerd stuff for the Army, 20+ years later.

15. Calling is an interesting word. Most jobs are just jobs. You figure out the general parameters of what you want from the job and go for things that fit that.

    You want to work outside, not interact with customers, and make X per hour/year. Go see what fits and try it out. Maybe take some classes and see if you can narrow it down further if you’re a college freshman with a general idea of your priorities.

    If you have absolutely no idea and don’t mind a desk job, pick business. It’s literally the job major and every field runs on money to a certain extent so you can technically go into any industry you want and re-train for a different position later.

16. I always knew the field I wanted to go into. When I was in college, I had three legit internships. After each one, I’d make notes on what I didn’t like and find the same general role without that responsibility. Eventually did the same thing out of college. Changed roles twice at one company before I found what I am doing now (100% it is my calling). So I guess 6th time is the charm?

17. I come from a railroad family. My grandpa and his brother were train dispatchers. I’m a conductor/locomotive engineer, my dad is the missing link, never got any interest in it, somehow I did 🤷🏻‍♂️

18. I don’t necessarily think that everyone has a calling, sorta like I don’t necessarily believe that looking for “the one” in a relationship brings happiness (although I think that the likelihood of having a career / professional calling is more likely; some people seem to be born to be x, y or z).

    For me, I didn’t necessarily have a calling, more a morbid curiosity (in the military), given a lot of media attention (mostly negative!) and the general desire to contribute to something worthwhile. I figured I’d give it a try and grew to absolutely love it, complete with its warts and all, and am still thrilled to be serving 25 years later. In some ways, I’m thankful I didn’t have a romanticized image of the career, since I think I would have been massively disappointed whereas having gone in with “caution”, I feel like I am choosing every day to continue, vs a sense of obligation “because it’s my calling.”

19. I literally walked into it. I was going to school to be a kindergarten teacher at the time. My mom was freshly divorced and had been a stay at home mom for the last 25 years and thought she might want to go to beauty school to learn how to do hair. She went and toured the beauty school and I tagged along. Ultimately she decided not to go back to school but I decided to try it out and now I’m 7 years into being a hairstylist and loving it!

20. I struggled a lot choosing a major in college. I always wanted to do something surrounding math but I couldn’t figure out a career path that I really wanted to do. Dropped out of school and my ex was watching one of those free Harvard computer science courses and I got really excited and was like “oh I had no idea that was computer science!” Went back to school, got my AAS degree in software development and now I work as a developer for a software company.

21. Serendipity. Met someone who worked at something I had never considered a possibility before and it all clicked for me.

    What was it, you ask?
    Well, I feel silly admitting it bc I am learning now that this is somewhat common knowledge… working for the Parks Service. For real, I visited parks and other outdoor places but it never clicked that it could be ME in that uniform.

22. Stumble around increasingly favorable combinations of higher pay and less work

23. I don’t know if I would call it my “calling” per se, but I feel like I am compatible and share values with the industry I am currently pursuing. I started off as a general business major and once I learned about the different specialties in business, I found myself drawn to supply chain management.