I haven’t found my passion… now what?
What to do when you don’t know what you want
“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. We’ve all had that quote shoved down our throats at some point during careers events or pep talks with well-meaning parents. Well, that advice is just great if you happen to be one of those people who stumbled upon their “passion” or “calling” early in life — you just don’t happen to be one of them. You’ve finished school, graduated from college, and you still haven’t got a clue what you want to do with your life. Umm… now what?
Don’t panic. I’ve been there. I had my existential crisis and came out the other side, but most importantly — I now have a job that I really enjoy. These are my lessons learned from navigating the job market when I still didn’t know what I wanted.
Define your work priorities
There are many things that contribute to job satisfaction other than loving what you do. Ask yourself — would you love to have flexible working hours and be able to work from home? Are you money motivated? Does the culture of the company and feeling of community matter to you? Is it essential to work somewhere that provides some social, environmental or economic benefit to the world? Taking the time connect with what’s important to you will not only help to narrow down list, but it will also ensure that your work is in line with your priorities and values.
Lead with your strengths
This may sound like an obvious one, but seriously, work is so much easier if the job plays to your strengths. My first job out of college was in IT recruitment — I thought that it would be cool to earn some good money while I was still figuring out what to do with my life. The problem? I am a bit of an introvert, so the focus on sales and networking was painful for me. It got to the point where I would wake up in the morning filled with dread at the prospect of having to cold call somebody.
Although my work priority at the time had been to make money, which recruitment could definitely fulfill, the job became unbearable because a significant part of it was at odds with what I was good at or felt comfortable doing. Making a list of your strengths (e.g. working to deadlines and organizational skills) alongside your weaknesses (such as delivering presentations or public speaking), can be helpful to make sure you’re pursuing positions that make sense for who you are as a person.
Cast your net wide
Keep your work priorities and personal strengths in mind, but remain open minded about the job title. What I learned from navigating the job market as a graduate is that there are so many jobs nobody even tells you about at university. Narrowing down my search prematurely meant that I was missing out on great opportunities that I had never even considered, or knew existed.
When I stopped being specific about the job title (instead searching by salary, necessary qualifications, sector, or company), I began feeling much more hopeful about my search as suddenly it felt like there were so many more options. I also gave myself the chance to interview at so many different places, which in itself helped me become much more attuned with what I wanted from a job.
Learn what you can… and move on
It’s important to remind yourself that a) no work experience is a waste of time and b) wherever you land, you don’t have to stay there forever. Take the pressure off yourself to find “the perfect fit” or the position that you think is going to accelerate your career the quickest. Every job, no matter how irrelevant you feel it is, will teach you something valuable and help you to make professional connections that may come in handy in the future.
Take my job in recruitment — the KPI-driven environment taught me so much about work ethic, accountability and managing complex working relationships. Even though I hated it, I made a commitment to stick at it for six months (which in the end lasted a year!), because I knew I was learning something. When I felt I had gotten everything I could out of the position, I moved on. No big deal.
Don’t sweat it
Doing something that you are passionate about really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be anyway. People who do what they love often struggle to put boundaries in place so their work-life balance can be completely off. You can also become incredibly emotionally involved when you are passionate about your work, so when things aren’t going perfectly it can really impact on a person’s mood, sense of achievement and even self-esteem.
There are definitely up-sides to a job being just a job, so take advantage of this while you can. Enjoy the fact that you can take a lunch break, clock off at 5pm, and book vacations without feeling guilty or unable to switch off. Trust me, not everybody can.
Remember — your career is just one component of your identity. It’s easy to let your job title (or lack thereof) define you… but it doesn’t. Don’t be too hard on yourself while you’re still figuring out — there will likely be lots of areas that are going well outside of your professional life that deserve recognition. If you keep hunting, learning and stay open-minded, the work stuff will figure itself out — I promise.
