What to Do When You Don’t Have A Magic 8-Ball To Decide Your Future
Unless you were born in a Greek myth, you don’t have a map of your life sketched out from the get-go. I certainly didn’t. From a young age, I knew that I wanted to go into a writing-related career, but that was all I knew.
I didn’t think any further about it until high school, when I started applying to various colleges and I was constantly being asked “What major do you want to do?” I then had to ask myself “What do I really want to do?” (Pollack, 49) I still knew I wanted to write in some capacity, but did not want to go into an uncertain industry. My parents, on the other hand, pressured me to go into Business Studies, as that would be a more stable career. I was torn between what was practical and what was my passion. I did not want to end up broke and struggling to live as a result of my passion. As Pollack discussed in “Getting From College to Career”, “While people work to be productive, to express themselves, to leave a legacy, etc., everyone also works for a paycheck.” (Pollack 63) This attitude was prevalent in my career search for a while.
Eventually, I decided to take a career assessment test as well as a Meyer-Briggs Personality Test as a way to determine what career would be appropriate for me. After taking both tests, I determined that I work best in an environment in which I could write, such as Public Relations. I am good at giving advice and can be empathic and practical when things go wrong. Additionally, I like helping people fix their mistakes or promote their triumphs. Thus, I was able to combine both my passion and practicality.
Some of the stresses of focusing on my career path include school versus work. This summer, I was offered a job as a social media manager — however, it would have intervened severely with my school schedule, and did not relate to my goal of being in the field of Public Relations. There is also the stress of making sure I am learning the proper things to be in Public Relations. I do not need to just know to write a news release; I also need to know the political context, social context, economic context, and etc.
Three years later, I am nearing the end of my college career and still content with my choice to go into Public Relations. However, I would be a fool to not have tried to experience what Public Relations is about. As Pollack says, “While most experts advise people to step out of the shadows, my advice is to step right into them — job shadows, that is.” (Pollack 65) I initially tagged along one of my friends, who was a Public Relations officer for a club, for a day, and asked them various questions about their general workload. I have since participated more in public relations-like activities, including a position as Public Relations Officer of UMBC TheatreCOM. The position has more depth than I originally realized, but I enjoy it very much and am happy with the choice I made. Any doubts I have about going into the field of Public Relations can be calmed by another Pollack quote — “Choosing a career path is a combination of your abilities and your interests.” (Pollack 54)
