Everyone, in every career, can move to a job with more impact.
I have a friend, lets call her Nina, and she is an incredibly talented web developer. Living outside of London, she believes her job options are limited, and that if she wants to work in career that gives back, she has to change what she is doing completely. Her latest idea was to study psychotherapy, which would be great, if that was what she really wanted to do. But I believe she can be a developer and have an impact too.
Just like a friend who is studying to be a midwife — and now wants to go work for Medicines Sans Frontier. Or another friend who studied law, and is now working as a human rights lawyer (and earning good money for it)!
Whether you are a director, developer or dentist, you can have a positive social impact within your career. You don’t have to look outside of what you already know and love. You might have to change jobs, you don’t have to change careers.
What’s important?
Before anything, figure out whats important to you — what gets you up in the morning. Is it human rights, animal rights, sustainability, social impact, health? If the answer is all of, I would challenge you to learn more, go deeper, and figure out what gets you really excited.
Do I change my job or my industry?
I assume that you want a change in your job and possibly your career. Figuring out whether its just a particular job that you aren’t keen on or whether it’s your entire career path is tough. Avoid jumping to the conclusion that everything will always be the same in every job in the same industry. Find out what you don’t like about the job, and then everything you do like. If the work is interesting (or has the potential to be!) don’t give up on everything you’ve achieved so far.
My field doesn’t offer any opportunities to have an impact.
Unless you are selling cigarettes or weapons, every industry has a group of people using their skills to better the lives of other people. Bankers can look to impact investing, web developers have lots of options working for “Tech For Good” companies, sales professionals can always take that knowledge and move to selling solar panels. For each person it’s going to be something different, but you can find the place and space to build a career and give back.
