We’ve all had jobs where frankly you would have preferred to gouge your eyes out with a rusty spoon than to work another day there. Ya know, the ones where you wake up in the morning and immediately contemplate whether you should go to work or simply throw yourself headfirst into a pit of lava (and finding a lava supplier ain’t easy, so you know they mean business).
But there are jobs out there, mystical jobs that don’t make you dread each morning. They make you happy to get out of your lil’ blanket nest and embrace the day facing forward. It’s the kind of job that feels like it was crafted for you specifically. But the ever-persisting problem is this: how in the heck do you land one?
Fret not, fellow working bees. There are ways.
Figure out what you wanna do
Look, it’s bloody difficult to make any change if you don’t really have an idea of where you wanna end up. It’s better even just to have a vague idea of the area you’d like to work in, because it’ll save you a LOT of confusion and give you something to say when your nosy family ask what you’re doing with your life over Christmas dinner.
Whether you’re fresh out of high school or have been kicking around in a job you detest for a while, an easy way to figure out the avenue you could take is to do a career quiz. Yes, I know that some of those can be pretty dodge, but some of them actually do point you in the right direction.
Give the Queensland University of Technology‘s quiz a squiz, it can give you a pretty solid idea of the sort of avenues you can pursue. This one is actually genuine – it was developed in consultation with career experts so you know it’s legit. Plus with new types of jobs being created every day (hello influencers and streamers, we’re talkin’ about you), the quiz helps align you with emerging career areas you might not have even heard of.
Try a few gigs out as a taster
Sometimes you gotta kiss a few frogs before you find your employment prince, but we can’t all try out every single job because frankly, who has the time? So once you’ve narrowed down your area of interest, maybe try a day or two of work experience to see if you could really see yourself doing it all the time.
As someone who slogged it through seven internships and innumerable work experience days to figure out what the heck I wanted to do with my life, I can safely say that they give you a great idea not only of what you’re looking for, but also of what you’re REALLY NOT looking for.
And it’s not just in terms of specific career choices – you’ll figure out quick smart if you want to work with people or not, or if you prefer something creative versus something a bit more analytical. It all adds up to help you figure out what you should be doing to enjoy your work life.
Turn your hobby into a hustle
We’re told all the bloody time that if you’re good at something, don’t do it for free. So perhaps it’s time to actually start taking that ol’ chestnut of advice and putting it into practice. I know, I know, easier said than done. But it IS doable if you really want to.
I mean, people have turned craft activities into genuine businesses, turned video gaming into professional eSports, and even turned documenting their own lives on camera into a bona fide career choice (sup YouTube). If you’re supremely passionate about something then why TF not?
If you genuinely love what you’re doing then it won’t feel like a chore, and the main thing when it comes to all this is that you don’t hold yourself back with a bunch of frustrating excuses as to why it won’t work, because you know it can. You just gotta figure out what it is that’ll keep you motivated and happy. Super simple stuff.
The bottom line is that it’s totally possible to score a gig that doesn’t make you want to scream bloody murder every time your alarm goes off. Take the QUT quiz if you’re still lost on where you wanna be and need some advice, but rest assured that we were all just as clueless as you are at some point.
