How to Choose the Right Career for You

“Whatever you do, don’t let anyone else choose your career for you,” writes a reader named Alistair. “My grandfather was a lawyer. My father was a lawyer. My family assumed I would become a lawyer too, so I did. What a mistake.” Even though Alistair regrets his choice, he does have wise advice for those you are still deciding on a career: Make your own decisions. Indeed, many thanks to all of you who sent such thoughtful responses to my query a few weeks ago in my column, “Help! I Can’t Decide on a Career!”, asking how you chose your line of work and what you would change if, knowing what you know now, you could travel back in time.

Happily, most of you seem to have few, if any, regrets. A typical comment: “I got into the retailing industry entirely by accident, thanks to a summer internship that turned into a full-time job after graduation,” writes S.T., now a senior buyer for a major department-store chain. “If anyone had told me I’d end up doing this, I’d have said they were nuts. I never even liked to shop, and wanted to be a dancer. But I think that what often happens is, the more you know about a given field, the better you like it and the more interesting it becomes.” S.T. agrees with Alan Sklover, the New York City attorney I quoted in that earlier column, who advised young workers to try as many different jobs that are related to their interests as they can. “Don’t be afraid to try all kinds of jobs, and don’t go in with any preconceived notions about whether the work will suit you,” she writes. “You just may be surprised at what you end up doing—and loving it.”

Still, many readers pointed out that taking the time to experiment with different kinds of jobs is a luxury that, these days, few new grads feel they can afford. “I’m a junior in college and I already feel under tremendous pressure to pick a career path, even though I haven’t really got any idea what I might like to do,” says Janie K. “The academic world is so competitive, and so many people seem so focused, that having a specific goal in mind seems paramount.” Indeed, career anxiety seems to be manifesting itself earlier and earlier. “My 13-year-old daughter is already obsessing over what she will be when she grows up. It’s normal to think about this, of course, but is it normal to be worried about it already?” wonders a reader signed Pittsburgh Pop. “My theory is that, since my three children have watched both my wife and me suffer through several layoffs and a lot of job changes, they are much more determined to avoid future career upheavals than we were at the same age. Heck, when I was 13, I was daydreaming of a major-league baseball career. Most kids today would dismiss that as an absurd fantasy.”

A few of you started out pursuing “an absurd fantasy” and then veered off in an unexpected direction. Writes someone signed P.R. Princess: “All through college, and for a short time afterward, I saw myself as a famous author. I was going to write the Great American Novel. A friend who got a job at a public relations firm persuaded me to go to work there too. ‘You can write your novel at night and on weekends,’ he said. Well, I did, but frankly, novel-writing is lonely, solitary work, and I found myself working overtime at the PR firm instead—and enjoying it immensely. Guess I was more extroverted than I realized. Today I own my own marketing and public-relations firm and I’m too busy to read novels, let alone write them. Maybe I’ll start writing when I retire, but I’m in no hurry.”

Among those who now feel they made the wrong career choice way back in their early 20s, most readers say they did it for the money. “I have just one piece of advice for the new grad signed ‘Wandering Boy’ who asked how to choose a career,” writes D.C. Dan. “It’s this: Don’t go into any field just because it pays well. You will end up spending every penny you make just to try and console yourself for having a job you hate, so you’ll really end up no better off. I’m an attorney, and I make a lot of money, but I’m planning to ‘retire’ early just so I can go off and do something I’ll actually enjoy. Life is too short to spend ten hours every day being miserable.”

How true—and how encouraging that so many of you have realized that, and changed horses in midstream. Consider Alistair, the lawyer who became one because his family thought he should. “After 16 years in what I knew almost from Day One was not the right field for me, I finally got up the courage to do something about it, thanks partly to a terrifically supportive spouse,” he says. “Last year I bailed out of a high-paying law firm partnership and started teaching. The money isn’t so great, but now I can’t wait to get to work in the morning. Life is good.” A reader named Diane agrees: “Wandering Boy should keep in mind that, especially nowadays with everything changing all the time, no career decision is set in stone. You can always change gears as you go. I started out as a graphic designer, moved into web design, and now work with a corporate-training company teaching managers how to get comfortable with technology. I’ve found all of my incarnations interesting, and have never felt ‘stuck’. I wish him the same good fortune.” So do I.

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