How do people decide their job

cgk1

emmany said:

cgk1 said:

I'm currently an academic - I decided to become an academic - neither 1 nor 2 applies to me. 

What were your other choices at the time if you don't mind me asking?

I was an IT consultant established in my career and fancied a change.

fred246

When we moved into our current house we used to have big parties with the neighbours. The houses are all reasonably big so most people had good incomes. It was fascinating talking to people about how they made their money. The footballers were just good at football. Their agents and advisers handled the money side. The lawyers and doctors weren't necessarily into money they just got paid well and bought an appropriate property. The business people were obsessed with money and obvioulsy only took jobs if they were well paid. A lot of them did get their jobs by chance though. The one thing I would say is just keep moving on. If you are stacking shelves for a minimum wage and are doing a good job you could be there for life. It is up to you to move on to something different. No-one will do that for you.

StaffieTerrier

I researched the career I wanted then went out and got the relevant qualifications and experience. 

eamon

Meanwhile some of us after over 30 years in the workplace still have no idea what we want to do.

epm-84

Initially I did a degree and the job I started doing was related to the role I wanted to do, but wasn't the exact role.  Then following redundancy and a lack of equivalent alternatives being available I undertook a role which related to another of my interests and used transferable skills from my previous role.

bap98189

emmany said:

Besides this epidemic that's destroying everyone's lives anyway.
Pretty much everyone I've met falls into two categories:
1. They knew a friend or relative
2. It was the only thing at the time
Does anybody actually choose their career path or does it choose them? 

Yes. Lots of people do. But you first need to know what it is that you want to do, and then figure out what you need to do to get that particular job. For example my brother is a vet. He decided aged about 14 that was what he wanted to do, so he started looking for the required work experience, chose the O-Grades and Highers that were needed, and eventually got accepted onto a vet course at university. 20 odd years later he is employed as an equine vet.

theoretica

I guess I could say my path chose me - I did the degree that I thought I would enjoy most, and the holiday job that was interesting, and another degree I thought would be fun and then realised I could apply for all sorts of jobs and again went for what seemed to me the most varied and interesting.

MEM62

I drifted into mine and it has been good to me.  I am in the Freight Forwarding industry and it's one of the few where you can get a long way up the ladder based on raw talent and ability rather than having a degree.  My other half is a Surveyor and that is something that she wanted to do right from early on in secondary school as a result of a conversation with the school careers adviser.  Do schools even that those these days?   

Stigy

I chose my career path. I'm not a graduate, nor did I ever want to be to be honest ((although I'd imagine had I gone to Uni, I may have had more options career wise). I joined the railway in 2006 and I'm now a Trainee Train Driver.

ginger_chocolate

My first ever full time job I took because I needed money, and it was the only thing available at the time with my relatively limited work experience. I used the opportunity to learn some generic admin and customer service skills - then started scouring job ads for things that looked more interesting, applying for anything that took my fancy and fit with my new  (still fairly limited) skills. I tried a few entry level and just-above-entry-level jobs in different areas over the course of 7-8 years or so before I found a sector and type of work that "clicked" with me, then I stayed in that industry and worked my way up, eventually completing several professional qualifications along the way. It's not what I imagined I would be doing twenty years ago, because I didn't even know this job or sector existed back then. I ended up here because I took an entry level job - but rather than stay in that entry level job, or move to an entry level job in another sector, I chose to commit to this one. 
I think it's a mistake to see a career as the result of a single choice one makes in early adulthood. More likely it's the result of a series of different choices and experiments in response to your circumstances at the time.