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Basically, I've been in school a really long time and am in a career track that doesn't thrill me. Ever since the age of 20 (I'm 29 now), my occupation and career have been a major concern to me. It's basically pathological. Details are below. Living situation: I live in Canada with my fiancee in a rental with a high monthly rent. We plan to get married and buy a house within the next five years. Location is up for debate. Education: I've been invested in education to the expense of many other things. I have a BA in Psych, a masters in counseling, and soon I'll be a registered psychologist. I'm also fairly well published for where I'm at in life. I have 3 years work experience in the social services sector, some management experience. Finances: I have about $50,000 in debt, no terribly significant assets or savings. For the next while I'm making an average of $4.33/hour for 25 hours a week. Current job: I work at a counseling/assessment agency as some sort of contractor - still in a strange role after graduation and before registration. No benefits, it's awful. Finances aside, I've only ever been lukewarm about psychology but I stuck with it because I think I'm good at it. Personal interests: I have many many transient interests, with very few moments where something clicks with me. It's not like ADD or anything, and I do put the time in sometimes to really get to the meat of things - yet I seemingly have no passion. I often wish my job was more hands-on or technical, but I have no education or experience around those areas. In terms of skills, I'd say my best skills are all academic - writing, problem solving, conceptualizing, and communication. Honestly, and maybe I'm just burnt out, but I want a job that doesn't deal with people so much. Some things I've considered are below. Limitations: I don't feel like I can afford full-time studies anymore, or at least day classes. I need to start working away at my debt and moving on with life. I'm looking for suggestions on what to do here. I am looking for satisfying work commensurate with my education and am hesitant to accept that psychology is satisfying to me. I want something stable and, hopefully, tangible, so I've considered some drastic changes like going into commercial real-estate appraisal. Other ideas include night courses for laboratory technology, IT/Networking, GIS operator, some of the trades, human resources, marketing things, or finance-related occupations. But as soon as I start digging I realize nothing sounds particularly interesting to me. Any thoughts what my background can lend itself to? Any thoughts on how I'm being a gently caress up?
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May 20, 2015 02:00
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 21:45 |
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In terms of generic business things, sales/marketing if you're outgoing, or project manager. Those are the catchalls.
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May 20, 2015 02:13
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I thought the minimum wage in Canada was $10.50? 
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May 20, 2015 02:15
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You're correct, but I'm technically doing contract work. The average is what I mentioned. It's just temporary albeit discouraging.
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May 20, 2015 02:41
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Very few people have careers that actually interest them. The purpose of work, for most people, is to have money to spend on necessities and if there is extra left over, on things they enjoy. My advice, find a career and a set of skills that are stable. Ones that will never go away that will always be in demand. The oldest profession in the world is prostitution. The second oldest is selling and the third is marketing. If you don't want to whore your body out, I would suggest selling services/products or marketing them. If you can learn to sell, you will always have a job that pays well. If you can't sell, do marketing. It pays alright.
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May 20, 2015 03:01
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More than just a new career, we could try to help you in a lot of areas. You could start off by: - posting a breakdown of your debt, including each balance, the interest rate, and minimum monthly payment. - posting a combined budget for you and your fiancee, including all bills, utilities, etc - posting your resume (you can edit out the sensitive info) so we can make sure you're not shooing yourself in the foot with a bad resume. - posting any other info that may be pertinent to getting a job. Do you have transportation or can you rely on public transportation? - posting what you have been doing each day to find a job. How many are you applying to, where are you finding them, etc. Let's start with GIS. I did a quick search and saw pay in the $25-30/hr range, which is great. Have you applied for a GIS job yet?
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May 20, 2015 03:05
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You're background is heavily psych based. Are you saying you definitely want to change field? Clinical psych is a good career - it'll be extra training but usually its paid for + stipend. I did I/O psychology, which is a good route into more general business/HR type roles - again, more school. Youre qualified for any general entry level role but it will be difficult to capitalise on your current experience if you change field.
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May 20, 2015 13:49
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 21:45 |
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You might try to go into another type of counseling/therapy at deals with a smaller volume of people. Or maybe move to an area where there's less people. Otherwise, I'd say find a tangential field, like HR, user experience, marketing, etc. that also look for people with backgrounds in psychology.
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May 20, 2015 21:46
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