What Do You Want?

Women go to career counselors to determine what kind of work would be best for them. Harragan believes that career counselors and vocational guidance people almost unanimously accept the premise that women are deficient. They encourage us to compensate for our deficiencies by returning to school for additional courses or degrees. At the other end of the spectrum, career guidance takes the form of ceaseless probing into the woman's personal attributes. Can she lead others? Can she make decisions? Is she willing to sacrifice her home life for her job? Has she analyzed her patterns of success, her assertiveness, her reasons for working?

This kind of soul-searching to discover the perfect career can waste time and cause confusion. We all have our own ways of handling different aspects of our lives. Some men and women are successful in their careers, but a flop at other things. The same person who makes snap business decisions can shop all over town before making up his mind on a cantaloupe. All of us are assertive in some circumstances, and painfully shy in others. I know people who are immaculate housekeepers, but whose offices look like a battlefield. Accurate descriptions of our personal selves may have nothing to do with our business potential. Beware of this kind of self-evaluation as it applies to a career; it may not apply to your career at all.

Don't assume you have to pursue something that interests you. Most people had no particular interest in their line of work until they started doing it and learning it. Keep your hobbies as hobbies, and see what kind of opportunities exist in the job market.

So what do you do? I recommend these two steps:

Investigate everything, leaving no stone unturned. Accept the fact that you don't know exactly what kind of work you want, and don't worry about it. Keep an open mind.

Project the image of knowing exactly what you want.

Before you decide this is impossible, consider that this is exactly what most other job hunters are doing right now. It is dangerous to narrow your focus, especially when you are contemplating a major career change. You owe it to yourself to look into all kinds of opportunities. It is also important to appear certain about what you want. You will never land a good job if you seem unclear about your chosen path.

We eliminate thousands of opportunities that we might love just because something about a job seems unfamiliar or the job doesn't sound like fun. Is there anything about your current job that is not fun? Is any job perfect for any person? Of course not. It is the nature of work that nearly every job offers satisfaction, frustration, stress, boredom, and income. The same job can be a lot more fun, however, when it pays $80,000 a year than when it pays $10,000. Broaden your focus, and look at every possibility. You will be amazed at the ways people make a living. You might also be amazed at what they are paid.

Your next job and every job thereafter are jobs on a career path. The next job you take is important, but it does not have to be perfect. I have seen women sit by instead of grabbing an opportunity that would lead to bigger and better things because it wasn't exactly what they wanted. To hold out for the prime slot is professional suicide. Remember that women have higher expectations for their work and lower expectations for their pay. You may or may not have to start at the bottom of your career path, but get on the right path. It is not always a direct line, but there are a lot of pleasant surprises along the way.