Beech Tree News Network

One of my granddaughters is a senior. That last year of high school is a year of memory making and wondering what to do next. I believe the decisions about jobs and careers are some of the most stressful decisions we make.

Thinking about that, I wondered how others felt about jobs and careers. So I asked friends and family, “Was it easy for you to choose a job or a career? What other career paths have you considered?” Their responses are listed below. 

-I wish I had chosen differently. I wish I had become an eye doctor now.

-My job just fell into my lap when God knew I needed full-time employment, but I do love numbers so it worked out.

-No, I dropped out of college, worked for a surveyor for a year until I happened to see some guys changing out a pole. That’s when I looked into lineman school. 

-It was not easy. I began college as undeclared. My father wanted me to be a math teacher, but I didn’t want to be a teacher. My first major – in my sophomore year – was recreation. I wanted to be a cruise director. Then I realized I wanted a family and that wouldn’t be an ideal vocation for that. Finally, after helping with Special Olympics as a rec major, I realized I wanted to work with students with special needs.

-I guess I would have liked to have been in law enforcement. But I just tried to make the best living I could.

-I just went into the family business.

-I didn’t plan; it just happened.

-No, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I never really considered another career. I think the reason for that was I was so impacted by two teachers whom I idolized.

-Very hard. That’s why I had three paths before retirement. Some of my other considerations were art (would have starved) and architecture (hmmm – more math).

-It wasn’t hard for me to choose one but has been hard to stick with what I chose. If I could start over, I’d have been a flight attendant. 

-I got married and had a family. That was my career path. I did work over the years at different jobs. I am now retired.

-Yes. I heard of a job opening and applied, wanting to work part time. The job ended up going straight into a full-time job. The rest is history. I thought about going back to college to pursue a degree in IT, but I never followed through on it.

-I went back and forth between teaching and being a pharmacist. I felt called to go into teaching, so that is what I went with. I have lots of ideas for another career when I retire.

-I never wanted to be a nurse. I was 17 and needed a job and the nursing home was the fastest place I could find work. I thought I wanted to have an office job or do hair and nails, but never had the talent for either. Nursing turned out to be nothing like I thought and was like an old shoe for me. It’s a career that has served me quite well, and I have no regrets. But if I had been braver and smarter as a young person, I would’ve gone out west and found a ranch to work, learned, and grown up to be a horse woman or maybe an animal doctor.

-This is a hard question to answer without explanation. I wanted to be a pilot when I got out of high school. But I felt called to the ministry and started singing and traveling as a sophomore. There was more emphasis on staying in ministry than attending college. As I got older, I realized how important education is, and many times it was hard to make ends meet financially while in the ministry. I started college in my early 30s. I began working on an associate degree in criminal justice. That spurred my interest in the criminal justice system, and I enrolled and completed the police academy. When I graduated from the academy, I essentially had two associate degrees and a license to enforce the law in the state of Missouri. In my fourth year as an officer, I was injured and could not continue my law enforcement career. I was forced to make another adjustment to my career path. I wasn’t sure what to do. I had enough college hours to substitute teach, and that’s what I did. I fell in love with teaching and mentoring kids. I finished my BA in criminal justice and immediately enrolled in the school of education at UC. The rest is history. Several degrees later, I still love teaching and advocating for kids.

-It was easy to choose my career path, but I’ve considered others: newscaster, attorney, and journalist most often. 

-I chose my career from convenience. I’d guide hunts or be a trapper in Alaska if I had it to do over.

-Choosing to work in the medical field was easy, but it took a while to decide what role suited me best. I like to joke about finding an easier job but really don’t want to be anything but a nurse.

Hannah Bronfman said, “I’m a firm believer that you don’t have to pick one career path.” My late husband believed that those who have more abilities have a harder time choosing their career paths. I agree. I also believe that when a person’s interests change, a change in work may follow. And that’s okay, too.