So, as time time winds down with this internship. I am left to contemplate how I will proceed from this point. This means that I must plot the famous "next move". I'm sure I'm not the only one in my position seriously thinking and very concerned about what to do next.
Someone told me that it would be best for me to make my next professional move in doing something I am deeply interested in doing. Something that would develop my academic knowledge in "my field". To this I must ask the question:
Is now truly the time to explore doing what it is that I am interested in, or is now the time to explore doing what is available?
That is not to say that this is truly a dichotomous choice, but to an extent we can't always do both in tight times. I believe that we should optimally do the jobs that we want to do, rather than those that we must do. This however ignores the extremely competitive job market that we are all faced with, and I think it ignores the local limitation that I face if I were to choose to finish my MPA at ASU (oh the acronyms). Going through the process of getting more experience (especially if it were to be without pay), chafes against my principles as well as my reality. In reality I am a person that needs to support himself financially and has extremely limited resources to do so.
My only solution for the recent months has been to put in application after application for professional work. If that proves unsuccessful, then that means that I must apply for other types of work. This is an interesting problem that is faced because the premise of being more education offers someone better professional opportunities is being challenged outright. I am at this point led to the conclusion:
If digging ditches offers opportunity to support myself now, where my academic and professional experience doesn't, then there is little excuse to NOT dig ditches.
This statement I mean in both a figurative and literal manner, but I welcome any discussion that this may spark
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I can totally relate to this, I find myself thinking the same thing. I was really torn on where i want to go after school. I have always been a huge fan of art and an artist myself but i feel in love with politics and development. Not even close to each other so i took on two internship in differnet fields and not going to lie I love art but but it will be a hobbie for me not a job. Goodluck
ReplyDeleteI have found that, particularly during tough times, you can seek to achieve both. The key is to engage in "professional interviews." By this, I mean that you identify the general fields you are interested in pursuing, a few organizations that are within each field of interest, and then meet with a few key people in each of those organizations. You meet with these people, share both of your "professional visions," ask them for guidance, get recommendations for other people to meet, and to keep you posted on any job opportunities. It works incredibly well to not only hone in on what job you would be passionate about doing...but landing that job. And...you stand to bypass a good portion of the formal job application and interview process.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend reading "What Color is Your Parachute."