Cool Careers. Carolyn Boyes
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cool Well-recognised as a sought-after career. Classically cool careers sometimes take specialist training before you can do them, or may be particularly competitive to get in to. May gain you a friend at a party.
Very cool A more unusual career. A very cool career may be a specialist or sub-category of a classically cool career or a related niche career. Mentioning that you do this career at a party is bound to start an interesting conversation. There is very unlikely to be anyone else in the room with your career.
Unusually cool There are many careers that are one-offs, 21st-century only careers, or available only in a particular geographical location. An unusually cool career might even be a career that didn’t exist until you made it up. To find an unusually cool career, keep your eyes peeled for new careers in the newspapers and on television. Think about what you could add to your career to make it more interesting and more unusual. You will be the talk of the party.
How to build a cool career
Some of us find cool careers straight away. Others may need to develop a cool career out of a so-so start. The cooler the career you are after, the more unconventional it will be by our definition. As a result, you aren’t going to find this kind of career by looking in the obvious places. You need to take your time and really think about what you want.
BLAZE YOUR OWN TRAIL
People with cool careers are unconventional. They blaze their own trail in life. They decide what they really want and they choose a career that is likely to give it to them.
Expect to have a different life from the majority of people that you know. Perhaps you will travel more, meet more eccentric people, work different hours, but you should also have far more fun than everyone else you know. If what you do also makes for good conversation, even better.
To begin to decide on your own cool career, you will have to become your own career detective.
Five steps to decide who you are and what you want
1. Look at your interests. What do you enjoy doing?
Are there any particular activities or subjects that keep your interest? These might be a hobby rather than a work interest at present.
Do you have a real passion for any area of life? Forget at the moment whether or not you have any training in relation to the area. Simply think about what you enjoy doing. Here are some examples: the environment, playing computer games, cars and mechanical objects, influencing people, travel, science, helping others, directing and leading, changing the world, doing something personal and meaningful, collecting data or objects, writing or artistic pursuits.
When you think about what you really love, what career direction does that start to point you towards?
2. Get to know yourself. Take a long, hard look at your personality. Be honest with yourself. Your work is going to take up a huge part of your life. There is no point pretending to be someone you are not.
Are you a completer/finisher who always delivers tasks on time? Or perhaps you are much more a big picture, philosopher type who is great at ideas and strategic thinking.
Maybe you are a moody, artistic type who is wonderful at living in your imagination? Ask your friends for their opinion if you are not sure.
Psychometric profiling tools, such as MBTI (Myers-BriggsType Indicator), or specific career profiling tools, such as the Holland typing systems, are very effective for revealing your character traits. You may have to pay a career counsellor to help you but it could be worth it. If you are short of cash, there is a lot of information online if you search under the tools’ names.
Choose a job that suits what you are naturally good at rather than trying to change yourself to suit the job. Changing yourself will neither make you rich nor happy. Doing a job that suits your personality, on the other hand, will.
3. Look at your current skills. How many steps are you away from your ideal career right now?
What skills would you need to learn or train in to make your ideal career a reality?
What would it take for you to learn these skills?
Is it physically possible for you to learn them? For example, if you are already 70, it’s probably too late for you to be a Premiership footballer, but you might still be able to create yourself a career to do with football.
4. Decide what’s important. What is really important to you in your career?
Is it money? Status? Flexible hours? Security and a nine-to-five routine? Regular promotions? Adventure and excitement?
Perhaps you want to be your own boss?
Maybe you need company, or would you prefer to be by yourself most of the time?
Is location is a key factor?
Do you want to work in an office, or outside?
Would you like to dress up for work and look glamorous, or never have to put on a suit or smart dress?
5. Look around at what other people do. Other people’s jobs and career paths can be the inspiration that you need to think about your own career choices. Unconventional careers are comparatively rare so it is important to keep your eyes peeled.
Who is currently doing the job you really want to do?
Who is doing a job in an industry or area that you would really like to work in?
How did they get that job?
Ten steps to getting a cool career
Introspection is a good first step but it will get you nowhere if you don’t take action. We only create change by both thinking and acting ourselves into new roles before we take them on. If you are looking for an unconventional career, you need some unconventional strategies to help you find it.
1. NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK
Networking is the best way to gather information about unusual and unconventional careers. Most of the conventional job market is hidden. The unconventional job market is even more hidden. Search out success stories. Find out who are the top people in your chosen field, or role models who can teach you new things. Find ways to meet them. Don’t expect to find them in your existing social network. Break out of your existing social habits and meet new people. Remember the Six Degrees of Separation theory – we are each of us only six people away from anyone in the world. If you contact a friend they can put you in touch with another friend who can give you another contact and so on down the line until you meet the person you really want to get in touch with. Do your research and ask questions all along the way about what interesting careers are out there and how you could get started in your career of choice.
2. THINK CREATIVELY
Take the path less travelled. There may not be one career that suits you but several that will suit you at different times. If you have the chance, volunteer or do short contracts, trying out different jobs as much as possible. Each of them will teach you more about what you like and dislike. Remember, in this century we can invent our own careers by taking bits of different careers and giving them a new title.
3. LIVE WITH CONTRADICTIONS
If you can’t find the perfect career straight away, that’s OK. Just keep taking step after step and make