Career search

Age: 34
Education: BA in sociology and Russian language
                  MA in Linguistics
Career Prospects: ?

 

 

I've been thinking about what I want to do career wise. I realized I needed to think harder and deeper than - I want any job I can get. There is so much uncertainty in our life that I find it easier to just allow myself to ignore such questions since they are overwhelming. But I do have control over some aspects of my future career and I need to identify them. Otherwise I fear the future - even in a changed environment - might result in my continued dissatisfaction. It wold be easy to go through life feeling overwhelmed but I don't want to live that way.

As part of my career assessment I think I need to analyze my strength and weaknesses. This was not something that my family or my education really prepared me to do. I feel very insecure in my career prospects because I am not sure that I am very good at the roles I have taken on (e.g., copyediting, teaching at the university). But admitting the possibility that I am not good at these jobs introduces the problem of not being able to do them (closing that possibility) and also not knowing what I might be good at. How does one realistically evaluate their skills at so late a date? Especially when one is not feeling particularly cheerful?

What I want is to have a career that is
- recognized as important/vital.

- one in which I am confident that I am improving one aspect of life in this world.

- paid adequately

- scientific

What I am concerned about is

- opportunity cost

- already spent six years studying and still have debt