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You've Got a Job to Do: Reflections on Career Choices - Part Two

Written by Barbara Freedman-De Vito

Sunday, 01 June 2008

Governments may not make it any easier for people to start their own businesses, creating minefields of time-wasting regulations and paperwork and charging social security taxes even when profits are yet to be seen. Only the most intrepid souls take that giant step and shoot for independence. Even those who stick to the conventional work world of secure jobs and stable paychecks find that returning to school after years in the workplace and retraining for a career change are viewed with suspicion and therefore are rather rare occurrences.

In contrast, in the USA it's not that uncommon to find older students in university classrooms, to see men and women returning to school or taking night classes so that they can enhance their knowledge or change careers midstream and try out new things. For many there's a love of or even a need for new challenges now and then. In addition, to be your own boss is an integral part of the American dream for many individuals. It's no surprise, really. The USA is a nation of immigrants ; of people who had the courage to leave their old worlds behind and make a fresh start ; of people who were ready to take enormous risks in the hope of a better life. It ‘s a nation of people who were full of big ideas, and who passed both their ideas and their work ethic down to their children and to their children's children, and some of them succeeded in making those big dreams come true, passing on a legacy of hope and optimism - that can do attitude.

With the recent advent of Internet, anyone can now start a new business with virtually no seed money and without prematurely quitting a stable day job, and then nurture it and watch it grow. Internet presents us with marvelous and limitless possibilities. Unlike opening a corner shop, it also gives us the ability to reach a worldwide audience. Unfortunately, Internet involves competition which is also worldwide and limitless !

In the past one hundred years or so, countless new jobs and entirely new fields, have appeared, particularly in the areas of services and technology. Think of personal trainers and airline pilots and information technology specialists and genetic researchers, to name just a few. Certain types of older jobs have dwindled down to a few surviving practitioners, or have disappeared altogether. After all, village blacksmiths and cowboys are few and far between these days. Other professions may have faded away but later experienced a sudden resurgence, as society's values have changed and counter movements have appeared. Midwives and chiropractors leap to mind. Some intrepid souls reject the pace and mechanization of the modern world and make conscious decisions to return to the land, seeking simpler and more personally rewarding ways of life in agricultural pursuits or traditional crafts.

As lifestyles change many activities that were once handled strictly within the family circle have now become paid activities and thus employment opportunities for others, as witnessed by such businesses as dog walking services and nursing homes. Also, as old-fashioned sex roles and stereotypes are relinquished women, who were previously restricted to such spheres of activity as teaching and nursing, at last have countless other choices open to them.

With so many factors influencing our career choices, and with those choices in turn playing such a major role in our day-to-day lives, it's interesting to take a minute to stop and reflect on the impact that our choices will have, or that our past decisions have had, in each of our own lives. For those of us who have already been in the work world for several years, it can be enlightening to look back over our lives and see how they have been shaped by the choices we've made over the years. How have our jobs affected, for better or for worse, our economic situations and resulting lifestyles, such as where we live, the type of homes we have, our family lives, and a hundred other intangibles ? Do you have your career choice to thank for allowing you to meet your spouse ? Would you never have met if you hadn't been in that biology class together, or if you hadn't moved to Chicago for that big promotion ? If you backtrack through your school years and working life, what would or would not have happened in your life if things had been different at each crucial juncture ?

In the final analysis, are you satisfied with the rewards brought to you by the career choices you've made, or frustrated by their limitations ? Do you have any regrets ? Maybe this would be the appropriate time to either give yourself a good pat on the pat, or a good swift kick. If you tend towards the latter, maybe it's not to late to return to the drawing board and reshape your life into what you want it to be. Happy hunting !

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Visit Barbara Freedman De Vito's shop at http://www.cafepress.com/giftstshirtsmug/2952616 for Job T-Shirts, Magnets, Mugs, and other gifts and clothing with job words and sayings.

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