Why do so many people complain about their jobs? Is it because they were just unhappy people looking to find something to hate? While this could be true, I don’t think it’s fair to generalize the whole idea of hating your job. There are plenty of reasons that can cause someone to be unsatisfied with their career such as low pay, no opportunities, and no chance to move up in the company due to overloaded upper management or other factors that wouldn’t allow you to get promoted no matter how hard you try.
Follow your passions
If you can’t afford a lot of education, you can still choose your career based on your interests. With basic online research and course reading assignments (for some subjects), you’ll get an inexpensive but realistic picture of what your job will be like when you’re actually working in that field. Just be sure to follow through by researching actual jobs in that area or field; for example, if your true love is science, don’t just do biology-related research—instead, look into specific fields within biology (such as chemistry or microbiology). Finally, remember that passion is just one factor in choosing a career; whatever it takes to make ends meet is important too.
Choose your area of interest
It’s easier to make money in an area that you know and are passionate about. For example, if you love animals but can’t afford to work in zoos or veterinarian clinics, consider volunteering at your local shelter or animal rescue. Not only is it good experience, but many organizations will even allow you to help with fundraising and other social media responsibilities as well as walking dogs and petting cats. Volunteering can also be great networking experience because most organizations will ask for references before hiring paid employees. It’s important that you check any organization’s requirements before volunteering—many require criminal background checks, so you may need official documents for volunteer work too.
Create an action plan
First, ask yourself what you really want out of your career. If you're like most people, you’re looking for stability, freedom and recognition. A good career provides all three of these things (plus more). Next, focus on what skills and passions you have that can help bring some of these goals to fruition. Start mapping out which careers best match your situation and interests. To learn more about what careers might work best for you, check out our in-depth guide What Career is Right For Me? Finally, prioritize those careers that better match your financial situation. That's right: Money matters here too! It's not possible to do everything—or even anything at all—if we don't have any money coming in from our job!
Get practical experience
Take an internship or job as an assistant in your chosen career field. This is how you’ll get practical experience without breaking your bank account. If you can’t afford it, though, take on part-time jobs unrelated to your career and do volunteer work that connects with your personal interests and goals.
Take classes relevant to your career goals
Many people assume that you must major in something related to your career goals in order to get a job in that field. This isn’t necessarily true. Taking relevant classes as an undergraduate can expose you to important information, and give you contacts and experience (especially if you have an internship) that will better prepare you for your career. So try not to let cost be a deciding factor when picking your classes—you might be doing yourself more harm than good by avoiding certain majors or programs because of their price tag.
Set a time line for making decisions about what you want to do in life
The first step in choosing what you want to do with your life is defining how much time you’re willing to devote to your search. Are you willing and able to spend 2 years working on finding the one? How about 10 months? The second step is deciding how much money matters. There are certain high-paying, low-stress jobs that may not seem appealing at first, but would be worth looking into if they could pay enough.
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