Career Advice

I think volunteering is a fantastic way to find out what she might like.  How about helping another homeschool family for a little while?  A library?  A preschool?  A hospital?  Veterinary clinic or animal shelter?  Special Olympics? Food pantry?  Mental health coalition?  Soup kitchen?  Christian social services?  Maybe something will click somewhere.  Maybe she’ll only discover what she DOESN’T want.  That’s still ahead!  I remember deciding I did not want to be a nurse like my mom after volunteering at a hospital for three years.  I DID consider going into geriatric social services after volunteering with the activity director of a nursing home (where I also worked part time). 

I’d also encourage the possibility of part-time classes from home on different topics that might interest her. Poetry?  Economics?  Artificial intelligence?  Or a reading list chosen from different areas–books written by doctors, nurses, teachers, businessmen, missionaries, etc. 

If you have a community college nearby, they can be a great source of low-class exploration.  Our local one has a health careers center, a technology careers center, a child care and teaching careers center, where you can meet with students, teachers, and people who do that job in the community as you explore whether you want to go to school for it at all. 

Hope some things help!  My problem was always that everything looked so interesting, I wanted to do EVERYTHING.  LOL  I changed majors 11 times in college. 

The one thing I always tell teens heading off to college – or those of that age – is something I wished someone had told me (not that I would have likely believed them) so I didn’t have to waste my 20s figuring it out for myself:

Most people either work to live or live to work. Sometimes you can do both. You basically have three choices:

1. Find something that you are gifted/skilled at and passionate about. It may be what God is calling you to do. It may not pay well. It may not have fantastic odds of success, fame and fortune. Might have lousy work hours and/or no benefits. But if it is your passion and your gift, you should pursue it. Learn to live with less and not buy into our materialsitic, consumer society. You will be “paid” in your satisfaction, that you are making a difference and that you have landed exactly where you should be.
2. Find something that you can do well enough to make decent money, then use your “riches” to serve God or follow your heart with volunteering, donating, sponsoring, etc. This choice enables you to have the luxury of a good income that you can use to further your passions and gifts.
3. Find a job that does both – most doctors or lawyers still go into their professions thinking that they can make a positive impact on society as a whole. Many lose that vim and end up making a positive impact on their net worth instead, but that doesn’t have to happen. If you know God is leading you toward a profession that just happens to be both something you are gifted at AND something that is lucrative, don’t resist! 🙂

I wish someone had explained things to me this way…. That I could get a decent job with good vacation time and then let it enable me to pursue my hobbies or even missionary work, even if the decent job itself wasn’t the most glamorous. I once worked at a recyling station and all day I sorted some really nasty, dirty trash… but I felt like i was helping the greater good. Even though it really didn’t pay well and it was very exhausting, I felt content with my contribution.

Then I went back to college (after I wrote out all my interests -still haven’t figured out the gift/s) and majored in Parks and Recreation. My very first instructor told us that as recreation employees, we’d never make any money and that we’d have to work evenings and weekends our whole life if we stuck with that major. That we’d always we working while everyone else was playing. At that point, almost 2/3 of the class got up and left. Those who stayed (including me) were passionate about their choice. (This might be why Nature Study is my fave subject!)

Anyway, I think it’s great for your daughter to be thinking about her options so seriously. The sooner she figures it out, the better. Not that she should be in a hurry, but she should be focused and listening. But once she has that conviction and passion, she can get on to the Lord’s work.

HTH. Jenni

My friend has two home schooled daughters, 19 years old and the other is 16. Sweet, talented young ladies who have learned many skills the past few years. The oldest graduated and likes to cook and bake, and recently began her own business of baking and sells her things at a local farmer’s market. She is gaining more business each week. She also teaches kids sewing lessons. She is not making a ton of money, but she enjoys her work and has learned a lot.

Not sure if this was helpful, but it just came to mind and I thought I’d share. 🙂