How to Find the Right Job for You

[ysabetwordsmith]

A friend asked how to go about finding a job you're good at, enjoy doing, and that pays enough to live on. America is terrible at this, so I wanted to share my ideas...


* You need a clear understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. There are various ways to explore this. You can look at school performance, or take tests, or use a sorting system like 9 Intelligences, or better yet a combination of things.

https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/guide/strengths-and-weaknesses/

https://www.wikihow.com/Identify-Your-Strengths-and-Weaknesses

https://kongstadstudio.com/blogs/stories/how-are-you-smart-9-types-of-intelligence

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-kind-of-intelligence-do-you-have-3867398


Most people excel in one or a few areas, often a cluster of related talents and skills. Some people have just one big thing, others are more evenly spread out. The type of talents you have will give you an idea of fields, and the pattern will tell you whether you're more of a hyperspecialist or a jack-of-all-trades.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12803450

https://anthonysanni.com/blog/how-to-choose-your-expertise

https://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/10/you-can-be-good-at-more-than-one-thing/


* You need a clear understanding of what you enjoy and why. This usually requires exploring a wide range of experiences. It's okay to try things and not like them. But pay attention to which crummy things bother you more or less, because all jobs have parts that suck. It's not just about finding a job you enjoy, but a job whose drawbacks you can tolerate.

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/7-ways-find-out-what-you-really-want-life.html

https://headspace.org.au/explore-topics/for-young-people/finding-activities-you-enjoy/

https://medium.com/everylibrary/a-librarians-guide-to-choosing-the-right-book-for-you-e918f3209920

https://www.bustle.com/articles/160166-11-ways-to-figure-out-your-style-when-youre-all-over-the-place

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-practice/201809/10-tips-choosing-the-perfect-hobby

https://www.themuse.com/advice/do-what-you-love-how-to-identify-pursue-your-passions


* Consider your limitations. There may be things you can't or won't do, a limit on how many hours or when you're available to work, whether or not you're willing to move for work, and so on. Some people have physical or mental limitations that make certain jobs unsuitable. Nobody should take a job that demands doing a lot of work in their worst area; that wrecks health. Avoid jobs that are notoriously destructive, have a high rate of injury or suicide, etc. Also watch out for jobs with no future. Make a list of dealbreakers that you don't want in a career or a job offer.

https://www.careerlifedirection.com/discuss/talking-about-your-limitations/

https://web.archive.org/web/20190812193222/https://www.arlenetaylor.org/articles-monographs/taylor-articles/adapting/7-prolonged-adaptive-stress-syndrome-pass

https://wealthofgeeks.com/dying-professions-to-avoid/

https://www.thebalancemoney.com/10-reasons-to-turn-down-a-job-offer-4768226

https://www.liveabout.com/what-not-to-do-when-selecting-a-career-525489

https://www.careeraddict.com/worst-jobs


* Now you need to think about how to monetize your talents. This includes looking at the variety of careers and jobs available, but also looking for gaps. Gaps are opportunities. Listen to people complaining. They will complain about needs that are not being met. Many of these will be opportunities to sell goods or services not already saturating the marketplace.

https://www.bestegg.com/blog/how-to-monetize-your-talents/

https://bethebudget.com/how-to-monetize-your-skills/

https://studentloanhero.com/featured/earn-extra-money-talents-30-ways/

https://thesuccessbug.com/ways-to-identify-a-business-opportunity-for-beginners/

https://www.inc.com/ten-ways-to-spot-an-opportunity.html


Then you need to think about what business model you prefer. Do you want to work at a big company with lots of coworkers and benefits? A small company where you form an intimate team? Work for yourself? Deal with products or deal with customers? Work in person or from home? Face to face or by computer? Pay with cash, checks, credit, online transfers, alternative currency, barter, or what?

https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/pros-cons-working-large-companies-v2/

https://content.wisestep.com/top-advantages-disadvantages-self-employment/

https://www.thebalancemoney.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-working-from-home-2951766


Often it is useful to establish your own job security that doesn't depend too much on other people. What jobs don't require someone else's permission to do? What jobs can you do from anywhere? That don't require money to start? That don't require a college degree or other expensive means tests to enter? What jobs can you teach yourself? What things are easy for you to do that other people say are difficult or impossible? What are some good jobs for people with disabilities? And what are accommodations you can use to get around some of your limitations to do more things?

https://thesavvycouple.com/self-employed-jobs/

https://dailyremote.com/remote-work-blog/remote-jobs-to-do-while-travelling/

https://articles.bplans.com/26-businesses-you-can-start-for-free/

https://bestgedclasses.org/jobs-without-diploma-or-ged/

https://careersidekick.com/careers-without-degree/

https://www.trade-schools.net/articles/hands-on-jobs

https://arrestyourdebt.com/high-income-skills/

https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/entrepreneur/money-making-skills-can-learn-less-year/

https://upstackhq.com/blog/the-agile-business-is-now-defined-by-opportunities-and-needs-not-budgets-technical-capability-or-sunk-investment-the-capabilities-efficiencies-cost-control-opportunities-and-competitive-advantage-afforded-to-a-digitally-enabled-business-is-too-great-to-ig

https://incomery.com/jobs-for-diabled/

https://www.talentdesk.com/resources/jobs-for-people-with-disabilities

https://askjan.org/a-to-z.cfm


* You also need to think about what "enough to live on" means to you. How do you want to pursue that? What you're willing -- and unwilling -- to give up in order to get it? Do you want to live alone or in a household with other earners? Do you want or need lots of stuff that may be expensive to buy and maintain, or do you prefer simple living with fewer things and lower costs? Can you obtain non-job income sources? What is the cost of living in your area? What are your wants and needs?

https://livingwage.mit.edu/

https://lifeskillsthatmatter.com/how-much-money-you-need/

https://thecollegeinvestor.com/16399/20-passive-income-ideas/

https://www.capablewealth.com/create-passive-income-stop-working/


* Finally, consider why you came to this world. Everyone has a "life list" of things to do, but most modern folks have forgotten this, let alone what's on it. Doing things on your life list makes you feel good and fulfilled; missing them makes you feel empty and unhappy. This doesn't necessarily involve making money, and many people are miserable because they mistake financial success for life success.

https://www.trackinghappiness.com/life-purpose-examples/

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/life-purpose-online-tests/

https://www.lavendaire.com/how-to-find-your-purpose/

https://www.cleverishmagazine.com/how-i-used-ikigai-to-find-my-lifes-purpose/

Comments

[cmcmck]

I knew I was never going to work in an office and I never did, thankfully.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's a good thing.

[witchofthebough]

These are incredibly helpful things to consider! I tend to overthink each of these concepts, so it helps to see it written out. Thank you so much for your continued service! <3

You're welcome!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm glad you found it useful.

I often find myself writing out long involved answers to things, so I post them and add them to Memories so that others can benefit too.

If you tend to overthink things, then try focusing on how you feel instead. The exercises and conclusions are often different from where logic will take you. Making good decisions relies a lot on balancing what you think and what you feel.

Re: You're welcome!

[witchofthebough]

Honestly, I really love following your blog because your mind and words go in practical places that my mind seems to avoid unnecessarily. Your advice about overthinking and recommendation to focus on my feelings is a wise reminder. I was raised to skirt past feelings and conflict, which is certainly not serving me any as an adult. Mindfulness, grounding, and centeredness sounds like the best places to invest my energy now. Thank you very much for your time and space! <3

[arlie]

Forty five years ago it was pretty simple. Good at math, good at logic, hates customer interaction with the passion of 1000 suns -> computer programmer. But by the time I retired, programming, relabelled as "software engineering" was all about interaction with others, negotiation, bullshitting etc. and only minimally about code. I'm glad I was able to afford to get out of there, and my health would probably be better if I'd been able to do so sooner.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm glad you were able to get out.

Another big change: "computers" used to be women because math was considered a subset of secretarial work. Then people realized there was money in there, and computers became machines, and it became a boys' club. Unfortunate.

However, there are still aspects of coding that don't require close work with other people. Some large companies have customer-facing and non-customer-facing programmers who do different kinds of things. Some of those things don't even really require real teamwork, just dividing tasks across a group of programmers. Geek shops that repair broken hardware or software often have counter geeks who are at least tolerably good at interacting with nongeeks, and workshop geeks who are bad with people but brilliant with devices.

The truly individual work nowadays seems to be app writing. You make a thing by yourself -- a game, a tool, etc. -- then put it out for other people to buy. There are websites that will do all the selling and money-handling for you, so you never have to talk to your customers.

[0152062874]

I'm not that old, but I'm old enough to have made a career change. Art was one of my main sources of joy when I was younger and this gave me the impression that I would be happy if I focused on that and nothing else, regardless of the financial shortcomings. Unfortunately I wasn't old enough to understand how financial shortcomings could really feel, and I don't have the personality type that copes well with the uncertainty that comes with that.

I also wasn't old enough to realize that in spite of being a huge introvert, my mental health would suffer if I did not arrange my life in a way that forced me to interact with people. I enjoyed teaching art more than I did sitting alone in my studio trying to monetize the most intimate parts of my mind. Teaching provided a structured environment for me to interact with people so I could scratch the social itch without dealing with the... excitable(?) parts of fraternizing that I tend to struggle with.

By the time COVID came around and all the studios I worked for shut down, I realized I'd be stuck getting paid in crumbs for adjunct faculty positions, (likely without ever getting tenure) and possibly never having health insurance. So I could either get a teaching credential and work for a public school (which, for art teachers, means your employability peaks as soon as you graduate and decreases every time you gain enough experience to level up in pay grade because schools don't want to pay any more for their art programs than they have to) OR I could get an associate's in a health profession in even less time, get paid a lot more, work less, have more time for art that I don't have to monetize, get my regular dose human interaction and have job security for the rest of my life.

I didn't think I would enjoy healthcare because it is what my dad initially pressured me to focus on, but when I had the opportunity to approach it under my own terms, I realized that I enjoy it.

My partner is a math person who works with computers. They have some of my same personality quirks and a desk job. They hate it. They've been working 48 hour shifts lately because of some major security breach and taking adderall to stay awake. They want to go back to teaching.

[galadhir]

This is very cool, thank you! I'm going to pass it on to my son who needs a remote job so he can work from his narrowboat, and would probably rather be working for himself.

[arthur_p_dent]

>> * Finally, consider why you came to this world. <<

What if you don't have a Life List? And you are facing the very real possibility of being tossed out of a 20+ year career in the very near future?

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> What if you don't have a Life List? <<

Every soul has a life list. It's like every game has goals why you are playing it. Just most people nowadays don't know what theirs are. This can cause problems, which is why lots of modern people are unhappy. But it's not a quick fix, and not necessarily the most important thing in your particular situation -- unless you're feeling aimless and unfulfilled such that you think a major life change might be a good opportunity to work on that. If you are feeling that way, then yes, this is a great chance for improvement, but you would have to go through the process of discovering your life purpose.

>> And you are facing the very real possibility of being tossed out of a 20+ year career in the very near future? <<

Okay, first consider why that is likely to happen.

* Are you basically being fired because you are old? This is technically illegal in many places, but standard practice in most of them anyway. It tends to make any kind of re-employment difficult based on convincing someone else to hire you, but that much life and work experience makes it much easier to set up your own business.

* Is the whole career field shrinking? Many are. This may well require you to move to a whole different field, which is hard at any point, but harder the older you get.

* Is the career field shifting rather than shrinking, such that different skills and jobs are needed than before? This is also common, and again, harder the older you get.

However, in both of the above two cases, there are often supports provided by the business and/or government. These include such things as buying off the oldest employees with an early pension, offering free retraining programs, or even paying for people to go back to college.

* Are your capabilities changing in ways that may shut you out of your current career? This can happen due to age, illness, or other factors. Consider the above post sections on jobs for disabled people and accommodations for disabilities.

* Is your boss toxic or simply hellbent on pushing you out? Then leaving is likely safest for your health, and you may be able to obtain a saner job elsewhere in the same or similar field.

In any case, consider whether you want to fight to remain in the same field, or whether you wish to look for a job in a different but related field, or even try something completely new. Especially, how much if any retraining are you willing to take, and does that change if it's free or you have to buy it yourself?

In particular, most jobs are connected to other jobs because fields cluster and support each other. Take sports. There are many individual sports, there are athletes and coaches, people who make and sell the equipment, people who own the fields where sports are played, people who create media and materials around sports, etc. If a football player breaks his back, he might become a coach or announcer or even design video football games, all using knowledge of sporting gained from his career as a player. So think about your current job and field, and what other things are related to those, then whether any of those others are things that might appeal to you.

Have you got a college degree or similar high-level training? If so, search online for "What can I do with a degree in X?" or "jobs for X majors" just plugging in your major or field. Many colleges now have a big list of potential jobs within each field. Oh, and if you leave the X blank, you get lovely hub pages that list a bunch of fields like this one:

https://uncw.edu/career/whatcanidowithamajorin.html

An interesting modern addition, as employers have fobbed off training on employees, is that many colleges now offer certificates in specific skills or jobs directly aimed at gainful employment. Much of a community college is often in this category, but state colleges commonly include them too. So there are things like Office Skills or Website Design or Flower Arranging, and most certificates only take 1-2 semesters.

If you're really looking at breaking away completely, then consider your strengths and interests to select a new focus, covered in the early sections of the main post. You might also check for jobs that desperately need more workers than are available. The higher the demand, the more likely that someone is paying for education or offering big bonuses to entice new workers like buying them a house and paying them to move.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/29/21-in-demand-jobs-for-2019--and-what-they-pay-.html

Another thing you can do is deconstruct your current job and career for skills that transfer to many others. Examples include typing, using an office computer, any kind of computer programming, answering phones, dealing with customers, leading meetings, writing reports, applying for grants, making schedules, organizing materials, teaching skills, and so on. Pick your top 3-5 skills and search "What jobs require X?" for each of them. Especially do this for any skill you find easy that other people complain is hard for them: you will have less competition there.

You can even look at your list and imagine how those skills could cluster to support different jobs. Make a game of it and hand the list to friends or put it on your blog like, "What job would you guess this person has?" or "What would be good jobs for someone with these skills?"

https://zety.com/blog/transferable-skills

https://www.training.com.au/ed/resume-skills-list/?ab=1E1PFGe7R1qMj6r5lrkMww.1

Don't overlook the "add on" stuff that some employers pay extra for because they can't afford to hire a whole worker so they find someone in the pool who can already do it. You see this a lot with things like first aid, fire safety, or annual inventory because they are not needed all the time in that workplace. Were you ever the "go to" person for things not strictly in your job description? Those things may be add ons in a new job, or you might consider shifting to a specific job there because you have experience with it even though it wasn't your main job.

Consider also things that you are good at simply because you've done them for decades. If you have over 20 years of experience in a career, I'm betting you have the same with other things outside that career. Think about hobbies, chores, crafts, local knowledge, etc. Write down everything you've done for at least 10 years, that's more than enough time to get good at it. Are any of those things that people get paid for? Especially, things people often hire someone to do because they aren't good at it or don't want to do it? And then look at whether any of those could possibly add up as much money as you need.

Oh, and check your household budget. There's no point busting your ass to make more money than you need. See the section on cost of living and such. Don't assume you need the same level of income because your needs may have risen or fallen while you had that job.

Re: Thoughts

[see_also_friend]

>>Are you basically being fired because you are old? This is technically illegal in many places...<<

You may be able to tip off the Department of Labor, if this is the case. (We had a guy come in to our workplace to talk about unemployment benefits and he had a funny story about this...)

>>Another thing you can do is deconstruct your current job and career for skills that transfer to many others. Examples include typing, using an office computer, any kind of computer programming, answering phones, dealing with customers, leading meetings, writing reports, applying for grants, making schedules, organizing materials, teaching skills, and so on.<<

I find that most any sort of long-term customer service work can be easily incorporated into pacifism and de-escalation training (though I would also recommend an actual course).

Working with kids can be useful as an emergency response skill (specifically, the stay calm and give clear directions skills.)

Re: Thoughts

[arthur_p_dent]

>> Okay, first consider why that is likely to happen. <<

The company I work for is in the process of being sold. The result of which could be anywhere from "things stay status quo" to "here's your severance, have a nice day". The past 8 months I've been preparing financially for the latter (us accounting types tend to think that way). But in pretty much every other way I am *not* prepared to be looking for a new career at this stage of my life.

>> Were you ever the "go to" person for things not strictly in your job description? <<

Absolutely. One of my biggest strengths has always been the ability to develop an understanding of how various other departments and their functions are interconnected with my own. As a side effect, I became a resource for those other departments on how different aspects of their jobs need to be done. Ironically, that's one of the things I really, really hate about my job - thinking for others, teaching others, and doing for others, the things that they are supposed to know themselves. Because over time, those other people start to take advantage, and people like me start to get resentful and angry (that's been a touchy subject with me for several years).

>> Consider your limitations. <<

One thing I am certain about is that I do *NOT* want to manage a department or have people reporting to me ever again. I don't have the personality, temperament, or other skillsets for managerial functions - and I'm ok with that. The only reason I'm in that kind of role now is because the company had a need, and at the time I needed the salary bump.

>> You also need to think about what "enough to live on" means to you. <<
>> There's no point busting your ass to make more money than you need. <<

True. And while I don't necessarily need to earn at the same level I do now, I can't afford to work for peanuts either.


The upshot of it all is that, if I am ushered out the door, I don't really know yet what I'm going to do, or even what I *want* to do. But thanks to you I now have many many links to help me get started. =]

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>The company I work for is in the process of being sold. The result of which could be anywhere from "things stay status quo" to "here's your severance, have a nice day". <<

Alas!

>>The past 8 months I've been preparing financially for the latter (us accounting types tend to think that way).<<

Okay, accounting is numbers. Almost every business runs on money, and money is numbers. Personnel, time, an inventory are also numbers. If you're good with numbers, you can almost certainly get a good job, because lots of people aren't good at numbers. And while computers are good with numbers, they are stupid.

Riffing on this, if you can do accounting you can probably do or learn to do many other things with numbers and math. Plus that's "logical-mathematical intelligence" meaning you are probably good with computers or could learn to be, and that's another "useful everywhere" skillset.

>> But in pretty much every other way I am *not* prepared to be looking for a new career at this stage of my life.<<

Yeah, that sucks. It's hard for anyone 40+ to get a decent job. America only really likes workers about 25-35 and doesn't want to pay a lifetime of wages for that decade.

But, you have tons of experience in a subject, numbers, that most people hate and are bad at. This is much better than someone without rare and valuable skills. Riffing on this:

https://uncw.edu/career/majors/accountancy.html

https://uncw.edu/career/majors/mathematics.html

>>Absolutely. One of my biggest strengths has always been the ability to develop an understanding of how various other departments and their functions are interconnected with my own. <<

That's extremely useful. So one option would be a structure consultant. Say someone is scaling a startup to a larger business. What departments will they need and what would be an efficient way of organizing those to work together? Then what kind of building will they need to support that flow?

>>As a side effect, I became a resource for those other departments on how different aspects of their jobs need to be done. Ironically, that's one of the things I really, really hate about my job - thinking for others, teaching others, and doing for others, the things that they are supposed to know themselves.<<

Then put it on your blacklist.

>> Because over time, those other people start to take advantage, and people like me start to get resentful and angry (that's been a touchy subject with me for several years).<<

Well now, that's a problem of authority and responsibility. People expected you to do things but you didn't have the authority you needed to enforce good performance. That sucks, of course you hated it. Would you feel differently if you could penalize or even fire someone for not doing their own damn job because they expected you to do it?

When I took over PanGaia, the writer stable was a wreck: mostly Big Names who were Pagans more than writers and couldn't find a deadline with a map. 0_o This displeased me. So I picked the most promising writers out of the slushpile and taught them how to be professional writers. Those that didn't learn, I threw back in the slush and tried again with someone else. It took me, what, maybe a year -- four issues or so -- to build up a pretty good selection of contributors. Ass-busting work to find and coach them, but once it was done it was done, and I could add new ones as I felt like it, and chase after harder to find topics.

>>One thing I am certain about is that I do *NOT* want to manage a department or have people reporting to me ever again. I don't have the personality, temperament, or other skillsets for managerial functions - and I'm ok with that. The only reason I'm in that kind of role now is because the company had a need, and at the time I needed the salary bump.<<

Blacklist. Seriously, make the list because it'll save you time if you're looking at want ads, or even potential classes to boost your skills in case you have to jobhunt.

>> True. And while I don't necessarily need to earn at the same level I do now, I can't afford to work for peanuts either.<<

Checking your budget is something you can do now. Ideally you should be able to come up with a range from "bare minimum" through "comfortable" to "flush" and "don't really need that much." Knowing this will assist you in deciding whether to take a job that is slightly annoying but pays better, vs. turning down one that pays more than you need and you'd hate it, or being able to take a fun job where you'd need to be a bit frugal or get a side gig but would totally love the work. You need the numbers, you're good with numbers, just do the math and get it out of the way. It's one less thing to do if your job goes poof and you're panicking.

>> The upshot of it all is that, if I am ushered out the door, I don't really know yet what I'm going to do, or even what I *want* to do.<<

Okay, at least you've got warning. You know it's a possibility. It sucks, but forewarned is forearmed. You can start picking apart the potential problem now. Think of possible scenarios and imagine them, good and bad, how you might handle each. Specifically, what if the new owner gives employees a choice between staying or a severance package? What would make you want to stay or go?

If possible, think about what you would like to have happen. At least you can cross off things you definitely don't want. With luck you may find a few things you didn't pursue earlier that might be more appealing to try now or if your job ends.

Coping with uncertainty can be really hard. Been there, done that, in a different situation but it was months of feeling unmoored and miserable. >_< Mostly I got through it by acknowledging the uncertainty and that it sucked, but that the universe naturally has some flux times and they are necessary. And I reminded myself that being a person of power means dealing with difficult situations, working through decisions, not just being a leaf on the water. Some resources:

https://zenhabits.net/uncertainty/

https://www.happier.com/blog/how-deal-uncertainty-without-losing-your-mind/

https://tinybuddha.com/blog/7-ways-to-deal-with-uncertainty/


>> But thanks to you I now have many many links to help me get started. =]

I am happy I could help!

Ikegai

[zeeth_kyrah]

I like this word, the pattern around it.. that article was helpful emotionally, even if I don't have an immediate need for it.

Re: Ikegai

[ysabetwordsmith]

I am happy I could help. You can always share the article with others if you know anyone who could use it.