How do i find my career?

When I was your age, I spent all my free time playing board games and writing (awful) computer games. I chose to focus on Math and Physics and make that my career path. When I got into graduate school, I struggled -- I hated it. I took a summer job writing computer games and fell in love. That is what I have done professionally ever since.

Looking back, I see how silly I was to think Physics would be my career, when I spent all my free time making and playing games.

So, my advice to you is this: look at how you spend your free time, then figure out how to make that your career. And remember, there are many ways to work in a field you love. For example, you might lack the raw physical ability to be a professional athlete, but you can still contribute as a coach or trainer (one of my old friends is a lawyer you played college ball and almost became a professional coach; another friend's brother is the shooting coach for the Miami Heat. Neither of those men were on professional teams as players).

Good luck!

I started college with the desire to be a k-12 teacher and changed my major a dozen times before landing on one that mostly fit. Although, I put my major to use in Student Affairs, it was not this major that determined my career choice, it was the activities that I was involved with (RA, Student Council, etc...) that launched my career. Now 20 years and a dozen career shifts later, I stopped asking myself the basic questions, "what are you interests, what are you passionate about, what makes you want to get out of bed in the morning...", and instead starting asking this question, "what problem do you want to solve".

My advice is to shift from a vague and difficult to capture mindset of "follow your passions" to a solution focused mindset driven by the question "what problem(s) do you want to solve". Then go out and find the career that will help to solve those problem(s), search out the type of education you need for that career, and then focus all of your energies on making that happen!

Choosing a career is something that you will figure out eventually - through your interest, maybe because you got pulled into some awesome opportunity or otherwise. What is important to remember though is don't be afraid to change paths when you feel that what you are doing is not the career you want. You might be wrong on some occasions but most of the times you'll be right because yuor gut knows before you do if you are not comfortable in some place. Keep trying new stuff and one of those days you'll get that elusive feeling of "Yup, thats it!"

On the objective side, list down your strengths, interests. For each of the interests list down 3 jobs that people can do. You like playing football, - you can be a player, a sports editor and a commentator. For each of these jobs, try and map your strengths to each one of them. If yuo have good orator skills you might put +1 for a commentator. Once you finish this excercise you will have a decent list of jobs that interest you and suit you. Explore them online what you require for doing them and work your way towards it.

Not too many people have just one career any more. So, you can start out working selling games while going to school, learn graphics, do animation for some school movies, transfer the animation into making video games, see a job opening for an entry level marketing person at your favorite sports team, etc. People move around a lot more. Each job will give you "transferable " skills that you can use at the next job. It's wide open! Plan to stay 2-5 yrs at each position. People who stay more than five years are sometimes looked at as being stagnant in their careers.

And, keep in mind, sometimes you don't find your career. Sometimes it finds you. Keep your eyes and ears open, and your resume current. You never know when, or where, opportunity will come knocking. I was working with an unemployed client who offered me a job! He was normally an executive. He saw the way I worked, and liked my customer service skills. He knew he'd have a good job again soon, and wanted me to go work for him. You just never know!

Hi there,
The first advice I would give here is to do different internships. Internships give you a taste of how the business life is and can help you a lot to have some orientation and know what really interest you, this will also have a great added value into you CV.
When thinking about your future career try to establish a list with all the things that you are good at. this will help you a lot and narrow your search.
In addition, this list should refer to the things that you really like and enjoy doing. This is because if you love what you're doing, you'll "work" harder at it. In addition,you would easily convice your future employer ( interviewer) if you show you motivation to do the job you like. Again, having some experience (internships) will help a lot here.

I would like to echo Lauren LaPorte's comment because I completely agree. I think the key is asking yourself, "what am I not okay with? what problems need fixing and how do I get there? what is unsettling to me?"

I think by asking yourself those questions you're not asking the how or the what but you're asking the "why am I doing this?" question. The "how?" and the "what?" will follow quickly after.

Hi!

Success starts with getting to know one's self. Completing these exercises will be a good first step to getting to know yourself:
https://www.themuse.com/advice/14-free-personality-tests-thatll-help-you-figure-yourself-out

A good next step is to get more information about those interest areas identified in the above exercises and learning how one might possibly prepare for them with the possibility of experiencing fulfillment and satisfaction. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. They may look great, but you need to try them on and walk in them for a while to determine the proper level of comfort and fit. The most frustrating times I spent when I was doing college recruiting were the times when a graduate, once on the job, determined that he/she did not like the job for which he/she had studied, as he/she did not take the time or effort to do appropriate "shoe shopping" and pay attention to their feelings of "comfort or discomfort".

Here are some good ways to get some great information and career exposure:
- talk to your school counselor about participating in coop, intern, shadowing, and volunteer programs that will allow you to see what people do, how they got there, what advice they have, and how you feel about it
. - talk to the head of alumni relations at your school to arrange to talk to graduates working in your area of interest to learn more from them
- as many people get their start at a community college, talk to the head of alumni relations at your local community college to arrange to talk to graduates in your area of interest to see what they are doing and see how they got there - talk to the head of alumni relations of any training program or facility related to your areas of interest to get valuable information from graduates and create valuable relationships.

Best of luck! Be true to yourself. The feeling and concept of success is yours - and is very personal. Let me know if this is of help.

A degree in English or BFA in creative writing would be a good place to start in terms of that.