I don't have any passion

LegacyUser

So my problem is that I graduated college in May of last year, yet I'm still unemployed. The reason being, i'm not sure what I want to do with myself. I don't have a passion for anything that is transferable into money. The course I picked was finance/maths related, but to be honest I only picked it because of the decent monetary rewards if I get a job. But thinking about it, I don't even want a job in that field. The whole cut throat nature of high paying office jobs annoys me, the whole answering stupid interview questions like "why are you unique", "what makes you a good team player", just makes no sense to me because most people who get jobs just learn the answers to these questions. I'd much rather a job where I can be myself isn't of spouting superficial bullsh*t in the hope of employment. I am good at learning languages, I am good at solving problems, but I've no real drive towards anything in terms of a career. Nothing interests me and it's a horrible feeling. How do I find my passion? I'm not sure I want to commit to going through the motions of working without enjoying it.

AnonMouse

I can relate to how you feel in terms of not wanting to work in a career that doesn't interest you. I find it very difficult to do and ideally, I would love to work at something that I am passionate about. My train of thought is that it wouldn't feel like a job if I am passionate about it.

I've recently started doing a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) course and I am hoping to go abroad teaching English in the near future. This kind of job would appeal to me as it involves helping others, interacting with people and doing a bit of travel, all of which I am passionate about.

Perhaps the TEFL thing might be a good idea for you, since you said you are good at learning languages. You might be good at teaching them as well.

To answer your question about finding your passion - you won't find it until you try new things, hence my suggestion of doing a TEFL course.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do

theg81der

Hello OP :-) whats your hobby? Is there any single thing your passionate about? What about doing a course - like lets say computing which is never a waste to keep you nusy and give u time to think?

gugleguy

I don't know how old you are. But, OP, I feel that down the line, you're older self is going to regret your lack of drive now. I know of some who were dealt a "bad hand" at the end of their college course in their final year, yet still, well clambered out of the wreckage. They went on to receive a thankyou letter from their company for 10 years service. I will say to you what I said to somebody who thought that they had to write epic proportions for their studies in an earlier thread: man up. for your own good.

Potatoeman

There a two potential downsides. If you work for money alone you might hate your job but if you do a low paying job you enjoy you might also regret this too.
Those interview questions are meaningless and I wouldnt look too much into them. An interview is a short time to talk to someone so just prepare answers.

woodchuck

OP I mean no offense, but I think you need to get your head out of the clouds. It has been well over 6 months since you graduated... what have you been doing that whole time?! I've absolutely no problem with people trying to figure out the right job for them, but that doesn't mean you should do nothing in the mean time. How are you going to figure out what you'd like to do if you don't give anything a go?

You seem to have this preconceived notion of what working in an office is like. Stop thinking of it as not wanting 'an office job'. A lot of jobs just happen to be based in an office... it's a location, nothing more. And all jobs are competitive.

In terms of your attitude towards interviews... that's just the way it is. Unfortunately you do have to jump through these hoops to secure a job. Get over it.

Stop putting so much time into trying to figure out what your dream job is... start doing something, anything, and eventually you'll figure out what is right for you. You don't really start to learn what your likes and dislikes are in a workplace until you gain some real experience.

LegacyUser

I've been thinking of doing teaching abroad also, but i'm quite shy and not sure I have the confidence to teach a big group of people. It's not that I don't have drive, I do want to succeed at something, I just don't know what. Ideally if I was to pick a passion it would be travel. But I can't survive until death by working whilst travelling, and I don't know what I'd d other than teach. I'm 23 at the moment, and since finishing uni I've travelled for 3 months and done nothing for 4 months. I've tried keeping busy by learning languages. I think the isolation of unemployment is making my shyness issues worse though. Aswell as thinking interviews are a load of superficial waffle, I don't think I even have the confidence to do one. Especially of the difficult kind that finance/mathsy job interviews entail. But the key issue is a lack of passion for any kind of career. My ideal life would be working while travelling the world, but even just working whilst enjoying my job and being passionate about it would be a start.

Maura74

OP you need a job to get a job so speak. You need something to go on your CV. Do you have enough money to keep you afloat until you find your dream job?
The only way you can sample a company to see if you like it is to volunteer to work for nothing and if you like you can apply for it but they may not like you and not get the job.

You could of course become self-employed and that way you can do exactly as you want to do as you will be the boss.

Find out want you want to do in life and give it a go. No body is going to come looking for you to work for them. You need to prove yourself before companies come head hunting you.

http://intensiveactivity.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/cait-reilly-forced-labour-case-goes-forward/l

thegreatgonzo

ZeroEnjoyment wrote: »

So my problem is that I graduated college in May of last year, yet I'm still unemployed. The reason being, i'm not sure what I want to do with myself. .

I think few people in their early 20's do and just fall into it by trying different things. It would be a mistake to wait for some divine inspiration though, really just take any job that comes your way and work it out. People often criticise the 9-5 office scene but I had an office job once and it was great. I met some brilliant people that are still my friends and I had good time off etc.
Unfortunately a lot of industries are competitive or cut throat as you call it, it wouldn't be just finance so I'd keep that in mind. Interview questions can be trite but it's an interview, not a social event so learn the techniques and get good at them.
I had loads of jobs before finding something I really enjoyed. Now I'm doing something completely different again. You have to keep learning from experiences and developing interests and hobbies to give yourself an career path and an interesting CV.

dearg lady

I despise interviews so I can relate, but honestly, you'll have to answer those kinds of questions no matter what kind of job you're going for.
Two things stand out, you're unsure what you want to do, and your shyness is an issue. Both those things can be helped by getting a job, any job! Maybe some temp work, or internships, to let you try out different place. Working in different environments with different people will really help with your shyness and improve your confidence too

ongarboy

Most people who are lucky to find their dream job do so after enduring numerous jobs that they dislike or are not cut out for. It helps give them perspective and clarity for what they really want and what they definitely don't want if they are unsure. Similarly, many people fall into roles they never dreamed they'd be interested in (just so they can get a wage and pay their bills) and as they become accustomed to it, they may find they have a natural talent or gradually acquire a desire for it, particularly if they show ability and it gets recognised through promotion to even more interesting and responsible roles.

Sitting at home and pondering your future without getting out there and doing something in the interim is not going to bring you clarity. Making a sweeping statement that you could never work in an office is naive. Office work is not all about data entry and filing. People devise everything from cures to cancer, atomic bombs, organising aid relief to third world countries, running towns, cities, counties and countries, making people rich, running cultural events and festivals etc etc etc from the confines of an office.

Why not apply for a few roles that you are eligible for through the strength of your degree so that you start building up your CV. There are so many transferable skills from an office based finance job that are applicable and most relevant for nearly every other career or field (skills such as how well you work with others and/or on your own initiative, successfully meeting urgent or critical deadlines, customer service skills, interpersonal skills, time management, project management etc etc) that if you eventually opt for a completely different career you can bring all those valuable and equally relevant skills with you and have them on your CV.

By the way, most modern interviews use competency based questions where you need to give numerous examples of times you excelled or accomplished in various situations using fact based past experiences. It's not that easy to just make up standard answers to those questions and any experienced interviewer will be able to see through made up or textbook responses particularly if you are up against many other equally or more qualified and interview prepared candidates. The "stupid questions" you refer to may only be asked to supplement the competency based questions but interviewers minds are generally already made up by the quality and credibility of the responses to the competency questions.

It's a new year and a good time to start changing your attitude. Lucky you if you can afford to not work while you wait to find your passion but that will eventually catch up with you. Thankfully, job creation is finally increasing again so get that CV out there or you will find yourself left on the shelf if you have to explain why you were idle for so long in future interviews for jobs (dream jobs or otherwise)! Best of luck!!

endacl

Passion is a nice aspiration OP. Reality is reality though. If you're soon after graduating, I'd imagine you're early 20s? I've just gone 40. Just starting career number three. Passionate about this one. Career two was fun. Interesting but not 'passionate'. Career one paid bills and got me up and moving.

Get up and moving. It's far too easy to disappear up into your own head in your early 20s. Get up and moving.

R.D. aka MR.D

if you want to work and travel then why don't you do that?

I know lots of people who do that. Most people either work for a year somewhere with a good salary and then travel for 6 months or a year and then repeat the process or they get seasonal work in various countries and move from place to place.
(i guess technically, i'm doing the former.)

I don't know what kind of finance you studied but a friend of mine was traveling around the world while trading commodities and living in various cheap places. he made a good living at it while also studying for some professional exams that i don't understand but it was all finance related!

Maura74

OP you will not find your passion by just thinking about it, you got to get out there and work at different things to know what you consider is your passion. The longer you wait the harder it will be.

Porkpie

OP, I know this probably won't help very much but if it's any consolation, most people are not happy in their jobs. Only the lucky few actually enjoy their job, at least that's how I see it. It's a job at the end of the day - we all have to make the trade off of putting in the hours' work so that we can enjoy the benefits of having money to socialise, go on holidays, etc.

I'm in my mid thirties and I still haven't found my 'ideal' job - I don't think it exists!