Careers… Where to Start?
This post was written by Owen Shea ’17, CCD Peer Career Ambassador.
How am I going to possibly figure out what my vocation is less than four years? This is a question that every individual grapples with at some point in their life.
College is supposed to be only play hard and not work hard, right? Exploring career paths and various fields is easier than one may think and you’ll realize discovering your career is invigorating. I even had difficulty choosing the school where I would spend my next four years; you can imagine how difficult it is figuring out how my interests may play out in the real world. There are SO many possible career paths that, at times, you may think to yourself “I am never going to figure out what I actually want or like to do.” Taking that point a step further here is some advice I have found helpful so far in my search of my future occupation(s).
- Reach out
Alumni, advisers, older students, parents, cousins, siblings, neighbors, etc. all had to figure out what they wanted to do and even if they are not at that point yet, they can still offer advice. Simply listening to someone speak about their career journey helps in so many ways. You will think to yourself, “wow I really want to do that” or “no way will I ever consider that.” Learning about these experiences will only help you down the road when you embark on that discovering phase of your life. These groups of people want to help you. Every single person has career conversations and remember those helpful talks down the road when they may be approached by… you! So… reach out.
- Take advantage of offerings on campus
Simply browsing through CCD’s weekly email to check the schedule of events for the upcoming weeks will only help you. You may notice there is a flyer for a sales pitch competition. Perhaps you’re interested in sales and/or marketing and you think hate those fields, but there is only one way to find out… you have to go! Maybe your friend mentions that he or she is going to the Babson Investment Banking Association (BIBA) Conference and you think to yourself I don’t feel like spending time in a suit listening to boring speakers talk about Wall Street. Well maybe you happen to meet an alum or an upperclassman who ends up talking to you about how they started in legal studies and switched to finance and/ or accounting later on. Taking advantage of offerings and reaching out can have a very unique connection as you may see.
- Do your own work and research
Looking up companies, reading books, and trying things out on your own are very important; in fact I would argue that they are essential to help you discover who you are and where you may be headed. From working over the summer as an intern to reflecting back on a remarkable account you read last winter break, you can discover endless ideas about your vocation. Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor often brings me reassurance. You may not be familiar with his story, but he wrote about his early childhood to becoming a Navy Seal and encountering one of the worst covert operations conflicts in human history. Luttrell taught me an important lesson. Life is a journey and you will not all of a sudden be prepared or ascertain your calling in one short moment. He wrote about how every single day working on his father’s ranch in Texas prepared him for one the most horrific tragedies in recent memory. Reflecting on your daily activities and goals is vital to remembering life is most definitely a journey and everything will work out in the end.