kothoughts Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Helllllloooooo I'm unhappy with my current career, so I've been doing "some soul-searching" to find myself again. I've been going through the self-ID exercises in "What Color is Your Parachute" in order to rediscover my transferable skills and interests. Chapter 9 in the book asks me to pass these two lists to other people to see what careers (fields, titles, positions, etc.) they elicit. I'd be much appreciative if you took a stab as well... Skills: Create, Invent Solve Problems Imagine Make, Produce Construct Shape, Sculpt, Model Fields of Interest: Emerging Technology Science Nature Strategy Games (i.e. board games) Thanks for any input you can provide! Link to comment
loyal Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Landscape Architecture? Video Game Design? Link to comment
Wiseman2 Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 What is your education and experience? What are you qualified to do? Finding happiness is a combo of matching your talents, education, etc with your passions. Get an excellent profile with a good head shot photo up on LinkedIn. List your education and experience. Update your resume. Upload your contact lists and see who is on there so you can start making "connections". Find former classmates, coworkers, etc. Truth is..."who you know" is still very important. Join groups and clubs that reflect both personal and professional interests. For example join your high school and collage alumni associations. Join any associations that reflect you professional experience or interests. Also join some groups or clubs that interest you and reveal a civic/volunteerism side. The environment, animals, whatever. Become a well rounded person. Be much more specific when referring to your skills and interests and demonstrate competence in those through examples. Anyone can say "I'm creative", etc. Link to comment
melancholy123 Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Ever thought about starting your own business in a field that interests you? I've been self employed for 26 yrs and wouldn't have it any other way. Link to comment
Batya33 Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 What comes to mind is potentially a degree in one of those fields plus internships. What is your degree /educational background in? I agree that create and imagine are far too broad. Link to comment
jimthzz Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Your filtering process is not complete, as others have written. Keep going! Link to comment
catfeeder Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 That 'skills' list contains abstractions, not actual marketable skills. What field are you leaving, and which skills from that field are translatable to something else? Do you want to pursue more training, or do you want to make a direct transfer? Link to comment
abitbroken Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 What is your current career? Most careers require a certain amount of creativity - even if its not inventing something, but thinking creatively. Link to comment
kothoughts Posted July 29, 2019 Author Share Posted July 29, 2019 What is your education and experience? What are you qualified to do? Finding happiness is a combo of matching your talents, education, etc with your passions. Get an excellent profile with a good head shot photo up on LinkedIn. List your education and experience. Update your resume. I have a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. My work experience has been in technology consulting. Most of the work was very technical and detail-oriented, which I am not suited for. A bit of the work in user experience and design, which I did enjoy and feel suited for, but I do not think I have enough background here to be hired full time as a user experience designer or similar. Be much more specific when referring to your skills and interests and demonstrate competence in those through examples. Anyone can say "I'm creative", etc. I realize this and it's frustrating. I'm fairly honest about my abilities, and I would never say that I'm hyper analytical or great with logistics, but I really am creative (imaginative, out of the box thinking, crafting). You're right, however, that everyone can and does say they're creative. But because I've been in a non-creative profession for so long, I do not have any great examples that I'd feel comfortable demonstrating in an interview. I mean, I wouldn't bring creative writing or some woodworking I've done to an interview. I feel stuck because I have a work background that has not made use of my strongest abilities, and now I am having trouble conveying that I have them at all. Link to comment
abitbroken Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 How can you not be suited for something you have a degree in? I mean, if you didn't have an aptitude for it, you would have failed your classes or wouldhave not been accepted into the major. engineering IS creative because you take that creative idea, and work it into something concrete - where it actually can be made and is not just in someone's brain. Its creating even if you don't think its creative Link to comment
catfeeder Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 A bit of the work in user experience and design, which I did enjoy and feel suited for, but I do not think I have enough background here to be hired full time as a user experience designer or similar. Bridge this gap by pursuing technical writing experience, training development and UX design as a junior on the team. You don't need to apply for senior positions, and you might even pursue jobs in your current field that cross over into these areas to gain more experience. Some classes in the field can also help. Stress this experience on your resume as well as listing the course work you take in it, and this will flag the resume sorting algorithms to raise your resume for such jobs. Everybody needs to junior in new fields before they can senior. Seek support positions in this field and build your experience and skills over time. Link to comment
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