[Job-Discussions] Making that Career Choice

[Julie McGinnity]

Hi all,

This is a great discussion. I don't think the answer is a simple
black-and-white formula. In life there's always a balance. When I was
looking for jobs, I had three separate columns: awesome amazing dream
jobs, jobs that weren't exactly what I wanted but would fit with my
experience  and qualifications, and jobs I refused to take. But this
was when I was unemployed and looking for work. The columns might look
different for those who already have jobs or aren't in a hurry to find
work for whatever reason.

One more comment on the quotation: sometimes when you work doing
something you love, it turns what you love into work. I had this
experience in the music field, and I'm still recovering from it. So
again, it's a little complicated. I strongly believe we need to get
college students and even high school students thinking carefully
about what a variety of careers would be like. It's one thing to study
music for example, but working in the field looks much different. This
goes for sighted students as well, but it's extra important for us as
blind people since less jobs are accessible to us. If our dreams fall
through, we can't just work at Starbucks until we figure it out. So we
need to be aware of the many career paths that might be available and
be able to name a few things we might be interested in. I believe that
blind people should try to be as well-rounded as possible simply
because the opportunities are less for us. But that doesn't mean we
should do something that will tear us apart or we have absolutely no
interest or talent in. I'm a little sensitive, so I ruled out jobs
where I would get yelled at on the phone on the daily.

Hope that helps,

Julie


On 9/27/22, Ericka via Job-Discussions <job-discussions at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Steve Jobs has good advice. I’d say take jobs as steppingstones to learn
> more of who you are and what you can do. Very good question and very good
> quote. Advice I wish I had heard 30 some years ago
>
> Ericka Nelson
>
>> On Sep 27, 2022, at 11:52 AM, Kris Colcock via Job-Discussions
>> <job-discussions at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> How do you choose a career path? As blind individuals, many times a
>> career path is suggested and sometimes chosen based on what people
>> believe you can do instead of your own abilities. Steve Jobs says that
>> we can get “trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other
>> people’s thinking.” He warns that if we aren’t careful, we can “let
>> the noise of others’ opinions drown out [our] own inner voice.”
>> Here is his advice about careers:
>> “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only
>> way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And
>> the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t
>> found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the
>> heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship,
>> it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So, keep looking
>> until you find it. Don’t settle.”
>> The easiest path in this life seems to be the one that we take by
>> default, the one that at times feels pre-chosen for us, either by
>> society or someone else in our lives. It seems to be a path of
>> mediocrity that somebody else somehow led us to believe should work
>> for us too.
>> I had to realize this for myself, and if you haven’t realized it yet…
>> there is no better day than today.
>> Take control over what you do have control over. Make the most of
>> every opportunity.
>> And most importantly, follow your gut, your heart, and your intuition
>> in your decision-making. Just like mine brought me to
>> entrepreneurship, yours will lead you to where you need to be too."
>>
>> What does this passage mean to you? Do you wait for that perfect job
>> or do you take work that can be used as stepping stones?
>>
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-- 
Julie A. McGinnity
MM Vocal Performance, 2015; American University Washington College of
Law, JD Candidate 2023