I’ve never known what I wanted to do when I “grew up”. Oh, I vacillated between the usual things, like being a vet (I’m allergic to furry animals), a doctor (“unpleasant” odors make me ill), or an architect (I can’t draw to save my life), but I never managed to settle on any one thing.
In college, I started as a Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology Major, but ended with degrees in Anthropology and Spanish Language and Literature. During my time at university, I discovered I love to learn about everything– science, art, history, religion, literature, architecture, language etc. However, a love of learning didn’t exactly translate intoa clear career path. After much career testing, research, and deliberation, I decided that being a lawyer would fill my mind with lots of learning and my wallet with lots of money, and promptly found a job at a mass tort firm (so I could try it out before committing myself to hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of debt).
Being the type who loves new places and faces, I traded mountains for the beach and west for east, and I plunged head-first into a field I knew absolutely nothing about. Within a few months I knew that being a lawyer wasn’t for me, but I was still no closer to knowing what I wanted to do. I only knew what I didn’t want to do. So I decided to do something no one expected of me (myself included). I quit my job, packed my bag, and went to Europe for seven months to work on organic farms and visit family.
I hoped to have my “career epiphany” during my excursion, but it never came. If anything, I returned home more conflicted than when I left. I found that any task I tackled I did well, and even if it wasn’t my favorite thing to do, I would find something about it enjoyable. With this in mind, combined with my love of learning and my desire to stay busy, I started my job search.
I applied to jobs all across the board, and interviewed at a few “traditional” institutions, but nothing really clicked. The whole process of finding, applying to, and interviewing for a job was exhausting and frustrating. The day I applied through my Facebook profile to Work4 I was so surprised I actually posted the below to my wall:
Because of the nature of a startup, I knew that I would always have something to do, and that most likely I would have the opportunity to have my hands in a little bit of everything. There would be room to grow and learn new skills, but there would also be the security of a regular paycheck. Not to mention I had the feeling my co-workers would know not only how to work hard, but how to play hard as well. It was everything I wanted.
I’ve been here a little over two months, and Work4 has exceeded my expectations. I even think I may have even exceeded the expectations others had for me . I still don’t have a “dream career,” and I probably never will, but as long as I get to keep learning, moving, and growing I’m happy.