“What do you want to be when you grow up?”is a question we ask people, kids especially, WAY too early. When it’s finally that time to apply to colleges and pick a major, we barely even know ourselves and who we are! And you want us to make a life altering decision? Choosing your major or career path might seem like subjecting yourself to a life sentence. How to pick a career path that will lead you towards your dream life, a life that genuinely fulfills you, is a decision that requires lots of self reflection.
In this post, we’ll go through categories you should consider your stance on to help direct you to industry or field that matches your preferences. Remember, these answers might change for you, as life progresses and you learn more about yourself. You are always growing, which is a good thing!
How To Pick A Career Path
Passion Vs Ease
One of the biggest questions you can consider when wondering how to pick a career path is what do you want to get out of it. Lots of people say “do something you’re passionate about and you’ll never work a day in your life.” While I believe this phrase, I also believe what you are passionate about will be ever changing throughout your life. Also, I don’t think people truly understand that there are fleeting interests, then there are life altering passions, which are quite different!
It’s not normal for someone to be like “I’m passionate about increasing shareholder value” or “I’m passionate about accounting.” Neither are a passion., and they hardly pass as an interest. Those are representative of a skill you might be good at, like math.
Certain subjects might seem super interesting to you, but they don’t come easily to you, Personally, for a while I wanted to be a doctor. I found science challenging, but I enjoyed studying hard and earning a good grade. As the classes got harder and harder, I realized that I liked the academic validation more than the content itself. I was draining myself, working harder than any other subject, to understand the lessons and concepts. At some point, passion might run out.
Take a look at what you are interested in and see if it aligns with your skillset, or if you are willing to put in tons of work to make it fit. Decide until what point, passion wins over what comes easiest to you. Whichever you choose, a career in a field that you are passionate about, or a job that comes easily to you, make sure it’s providing what you want out of it in your personal life.
Quality of Life vs Money
When figuring out how to pick a career path, the biggest debate you must face is deciding which of these two are more important. Will you willingly sell your soul to capitalism, aim to climb the corporate ladder, vowing to make as much money as possible? Do you have BIG non-material related goals you want to achieve in this life? Is there an art or sport you’re here on this earth to master? Of course, not every job in one industry is the same, but you should focus on a field that on average will fit your preferences for your life (the real one, outside of work).
Free Time
In comparison to college, you will very quickly feel like you have no time to yourself once starting your post grad job. And when you do make time to do the fun things, you’re always exhausted. It’s like living life on low battery mode. When the sun starts peaking out, you’ll suddenly feel nostalgic for the warm afternoons where you’d skip class to soak in the sunshine or the ability to sleep in everyday after a night out. When figuring out how to pick a career path, you’ll quickly learn that you’ll have no freedom (or at least feel like it) no matter the field.
You most likely will work a 9-5, but depending on your industry, the hours could completely vary. Working in the hospitality industry, my shifts were either 7am to 4pm or 3pm to 12pm. Working at a university, I worked from 8am to 5pm, but everyone worked through lunch and left at 4pm. Now, working for a hedge fund, I work 8am to 6pm in NYC (which is approximately a 4 hour daily commute from my home in CT). Many people in finance, like in Private Equity, work longer hours than I do. Working in education, you might have more time off in accordance with the school schedule. Every field varies. While these times only vary by hours a little, but you would be shocked after living through them, what a difference they truly make.
WFH
Fortunately, at the time I’m writing this, hybrid and remote jobs still exist, but it feels like finding a needle in a haystack is more likely. I do know a handful of people who landed hybrid jobs, and I am unabashedly jealous. Entry level remote jobs are the most elusive positions to exist, and more often than not go to the most experienced candidate. If you are one of the lucky few (and I hope you are), getting a hybrid or remote role can be incredibly beneficial for your quality of life.
When considering how to pick a career path, think about how important the work setting is to you. Personally, I love the freedom to work from where ever. Unfortunately jobs like this are harder to find! You might enjoy being in the office, or maybe you’d prefer a hybrid schedule. Consider your social battery levels and how you best focus
Remember, if the skills you are providing in exchange for your salary require you to be in person, ex: working a front desk, cleaning, etc, it’s increasingly more competitive to land a hybrid or remote role. I highly recommend looking up Day In The Life videos for jobs/industries you’re interested in. OR get all the dirty deets on Reddit.
PTO
Paid Time Off is the most valuable currency to exist in post grad life. Going from college and having the summers off plus a winter break, to working basically 365 days a year, is the most soul crushing endeavour to experience. The average PTO count in the US is sady X. My best friend works in the restaurant industry and gets 7 days of PTO a year. One of our friends only gets 12. I used to get 20 days of PTO, but then it was reduced to 15, making 5 of them sick days. The people I am most jealous of work for companies based in or started in a European country that actually value vacation and relaxation. The things I would give to work for a French company that gets almost all of August off!
Income
When applying to my first full time job, the salary range was the first thing I would scan the job description for. Making as much money as possible was the ultimate goal. Just how high of a salary could I negotiate? I ended up landing more than I thought I would – 80k at my very first “real” job! Let me tell you, I was ecstatic and extremely proud of myself. I worked my butt off, went above and beyond for every project, and moved from our CT Office to the NYC one. I was happy with my life in Stamford, but before I knew it, the 4 hour daily commute + 10 hour workday at the NYC office drained every last drop of energy and happiness from my life.
Having a livable income is VITAL, but always double check that the work you are doing benefits you, not just the company. Remember, we are working in order to fund/live our lives. We are not living just to work!
Cost of Living
Knowing what salary to aim for directly depends on how much life will cost wherever you are living after college. Maybe you are moving back home for a bit and you won’t need to pay rent (hopefully) right away. That’s completely normal for the majority of people. And honestly, probably a great financial decision – I know it has been for me! Maybe your a post grad-nepo baby and your parents will cover your rent. If so – good for you, never talk to me again (joke)!
If you plan on moving out asap, take a peak at the typical rent costs in the area you want to move to. Generally, your salary will need to cover rent + groceries at a MINIMUM, but there are so many other things you might want to put your money towards. Other than furnishing your apartment, there’s emergency funds, travel funds, investing, retirement, the list goes on.
Say you want to live in NYC. While I’m no expert in the real estate market, I know you shouldn’t expect to pay less than 2k a month on rent UNLESS you have at least one or multiple roommates. If you get a job making, say, 50k, you’re making $3200 a month. That means ⅔ of your paycheck is going towards rent in this hypothetical scenario. Use a calculator like this one to see how much money will be hitting your account each month. If you are starting to learn more about managing your money in your first big job, check out this post for some beginner tips.
Do some LinkedIn scrolling and light math for jobs and fields you’re interested in. Will you have enough money to live where you want to, afford groceries and also do some of the things you want?
Who You Are / Your Values
Something I didn’t realize until I was unhappy in my job, that for me, if the company I work for does’t value what I do, then I won’t feel much motivation or connection. As I mentioned earlier, I work as an office manager at a hedge fund. Sure, I like making money, and my job is easy enough – I make sure the office and kitchen are stocked, coordinate in and out of office events, plan travel and the holiday party. I thought that these things were enough to enjoy my working life.
I’m the type of person who hates being bored. I love getting inspired by new things over and over again and always learning. Compared to the other roles at my firm, mine does not require much relative brain power, as I do the same tasks over and over again. When deciding how to pick a career path, I wish I had been more introspective about who I am. I would have realized that I need a job that will constantly be full of new things, always stimulating me, allowing me to be creative.
Is the Field Interesting?
And let’s be honest, enjoying making money does not make finance enjoyable (for me). But maybe you can compartmentalize better than I can! I enjoy learning about history, languages, psychology, not about economics or math.
The purpose of a hedge fund is to make money. You work hard everyday to make more and more. And where I work, everything is life or death. Ordered the wrong cheese sticks for the fridge? Here ye, here ye, I’m getting drawn and quartered by EOD. We aren’t saving lives, or making the world a better place necessarily, so what is the point? There are other people in the firm who handle more money than I’ve ever seen on a daily basis, so I get them being essential and stressed. To me, who is in a very expendable role, my performance does not impact the firm’s performance, so why should I be subject to the same stress level as those who do?
Personally:
To me, based on my personal values, my role feels pointless and empty. I’ve lived this life trying to be less of a perfectionist and less critical of myself. I don’t like repetition, so of course nothing about my work life fulfills me. Writing this now, I wonder why I ever thought this would work out. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but I wish I could’ve prompted myself to see if who I am and the work I would be doing would align. When deciding how to pick a career path, I would suggest asking questions or doing journal prompts like these below:
Take a look at the things that make you feel good, the things that genuinely are you! Do you prefer repetition or always innovating? Are you the brainstormer, or the one who makes the ideas come to life? Does stability make you feel safe or stuck? Do you like freedom, or does it give you anxiety and feels of uncertainty?
Building Your Life
A great place to start when planning your future is what you want it to look like in every other way than work. You can start with thinking like you’re applying to college; how far from home/family/friends do you want to live? Do you want to live in the city? In the suburbs, in the woods, or by the sea? You get one life to do all the things you want to do, why not personalize it to what you want?
You need to look at what you value, what you enjoy, and imagine what your ideal life would be. And this might change, which is totally ok and normal! Learn to be brave and keep choosing what’s best for you, then pivot when you need to.
For many people, their career is their legacy, but there are so many other important and impressive things you can leave behind! And everyone should cultivate what their life looks like outside of work! How will you keep your life fun and interesting? Will you dedicate yourself towards mastering a skill, whether that’s golf or pottery? Will you volunteer for a cause that’s important to you and make the world a better place? Or will you express yourself creatively and fully?
Conclusion
Unfortunately, I do not have all the answers. I wish I could tell each person exactly what they should do with their lives. But your purpose is yours to discover, the adventure of your lifetime to figure out! You do not have to have your whole life figured out by any time frame or time line. This post on how to pick a career path is a starting point for you to jump off of and figure out which way to go. As long as you keep doing things that make you happy and make the world a little bit better, you will do just fine!
Figuring this out and living in a way that fulfills you is the reason you are here! Enjoy the journey or else you’ll keep waiting and waiting for something else to come, and then it will be all over! Life is short. Love hard. Do things that make you happy. Spend time with people important to you. At the end of the day, that’s all you need to do!
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