Just turned 25 and still no idea what career I want

LegacyUser

Feeling a bit lost at the moment in my life to be honest. My issue is that i've just turned quarter of a century old and im no further into knowing what career I want in life. I have been like this for a long time - kind of unsure what I want. I'm an intelligent guy with a pretty good degree in finance but after a years experience in my field I assessed my situation and felt I never really looked forward to going to work. Working 40 years at a job where i'm just waiting for 5.30p.m every day is no way to live. The money was good but the passion wasn't there. It was the same in my college course but I stuck it out because I wanted a solid degree.

I've never really "wanted" to be anything. I had the dream like every young boy about being a pro football player but obviously that only happens to a select few. But in terms of realistic career ambitions nothing particularly springs to mind. I guess I just feel bad when comparing myself with other people my age, my impression is that most people have this part of their life sorted or are working towards something. I'm in a stage where I love to travel and i'm spending most of my money on doing that, funded in part by working in the countries I travel to. But obviously this is not a lifelong thing and sometimes I worry if i'm wasting my time by travelling. I enjoy it but it's hard and there are periods where im making nothing and I consider coming home - i'm currently on a working holiday in Canada.

I guess if I had a gun to my head and had to name something I'd like career wise - it would be location independance. So something that would enable me to travel and work at the same time. I'm not sure if this is realistic. I feel guilty for going around the world working low paid jobs, while most people would probably advise me to be more sensible with my time and money and come home to find out what I want in life. After a couple of years of feeling like this I thought something might come to me, some idea of what I want. I guess im just looking for advice. Am I stressing too much about this? Am I wrong to compare myself with other my age? And are there others who take a long time to figure out what they really want? Thanks for any help.

bee06

If it makes you feel any better I'm in my thirties and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I've been working for over 10 years and I know what I enjoy doing work wise at this stage so I let that guide me regardless of industry or job title. If you can figure out what you enjoy doing skills wise then start looking for jobs that involve those skills. Having the ability to travel probably does limit things alright but there are companies who have multiple sites throughout the world that might enable you to travel.

fermanagh_man

when your 30, 35, 40 you will look back and realise how young 25 is. I'm in my 30's now and 25 seems like an eternity ago

Keep doing what you love - if it's travelling why not spend the next few years travelling? Even if it's teaching English, bar work etc.
you could end up meeting the love of your life in your next destination??

There will be people who tell you to come home and be sensible and work and save for mortgage but where's the fun in that when your 25?

Plus with your finance related degree I'd be fairly confident you will walk back into a job in Ireland

zoobizoo

Heard a guy on Radio One's business show this morning - he said a good place to start is to decide on what you don't want to do...

2011

Don't worry OP.
You are only 25, that is far too young to have your whole career planned out!

I'm well into my forties and although I love what I am doing now I may yet change my mind. Let the "not knowing" be part of the adventure of life.
Just follow your heart, believe in yourself and trust your instincts.

As an immature git I taught adventure sports for a living until my early twenties. Then following a four year electrical apprenticeship I worked as an electrician and other craft related roles for another 10 years or so until I made another dramatic change to my career at the age of 36. I may yet change again.

R.D. aka MR.D

Don't stress about it. I'm almost 28 and still have no clue. I thought I had figured it out and was happy in the job that i'm doing now and have been doing for the past 3 years but recently, I realised that it's not for me and I'll probably move onto something new next year.

Don't compare yourself to others. You're not them. Life would be boring if everyone did the exact same thing.

castaway_lady

For a start there's very much a sense of 'what other people think is the right way' in your post. Why?
Secondly these days not many have 100% figured out at 25 what they're going to spend their life doing, some have FOR NOW but often change that mind in their 30s and maybe again in their 40s.

You have age on your side at the moment now to test a few theories. All you really have to be able to do is to support yourself where ever you decide to go. That's scratching your itch at the moment so why not give yourself a bit of mental space to enjoy that.

If football is an interest still you could always look at combining that with your finance degree to look into work in sports management or being an agent? Time is on your side now to look into some short term work there maybe? Test the theory.

You like travelling, maybe there's a niche in the travel industry for you? Any degree is only small step 1 on the career ladder, what follows is much more important in the long run of things. You seem mentally chained to this degree field which is not the case in reality.
It is very valuable at this stage to know what you dont enjoy and rule that out for medium to long term. It would be far worse if you had no options...instead you have the world of options....

porsche boy

Hey OP, I'm 36 and haven't a clue what I want to do. Further more I only have a rough notion of what I'm currently doing.
I have decided though that there are many disenfranchised people that spent years studying for something and getting paid a good wage but feeling trapped with life and fustrated with their lot.
I know what I like doing and base my work life around that. The old saying is true, do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life. I regularly stay back after closing to finish a job or get a jump on the next day.
Work to live, not the I the way around but don't do a job the destroys your soul in the process.
Good luck OP and enjoy life instead of worrying about the outcome.

LegacyUser

It's ok OP - I'm 32, haven't a clue what's next. I was happy enough until the recession happened, and since then I've spent 4 years in a job I loathe and am trying desperately to get out of, but just don't seem to have any luck with it. Like you, I am not built for a job where I count the minutes down to 5:30 pm everyday. There has to be more to life than this, and I personally just don't know what to do next.

Unlike you however, I have a mortgage, bills and a child. (hence the fact that I've stuck this out for so long - I'd walk out of it in a heartbeat if I could).

The way I see it, I have a good 35 years of work ahead of me and I'll probably change careers a few times. I like variety, personally. It's convincing companies to take you on, that it's ok to have a varied background, that I find is the problem....

Don't be afraid to do what you want. Don't worry about what other people think you "should" do. The only advice I will give you is try and make sure you put a bit of money away every month - even if it's just a case of setting up a SO of 150eur a month to a single savings account back in Ireland, do it. That way, if you come to a stop at any point and have to have a serious think about what's next, you have some resources to work with.

By the way there are plenty of jobs that allow travelling and pay well. I know I work with companies who have consultants in oil and gas, who spend the year travelling the world, working both as independents and under the umbrella name of their companies. In areas of the public sector, you would do a lot of travelling also (actually, your degree would probably suit that well). Generally large companies who offer consultancy services, like Accenture, McKinsey etc would have roles that involve a lot of travelling.The world of work has changed so much, the idea of one job for life is dead in many ways.

You're young yet, you have years ahead of you and believe it or not, most people have a minor life crisis at 25 (I know I did). Take all the opportunities you can get and enjoy it

LegacyUser

My dad totally changed careers in the his late 40s. My mother had her career forced on her by her parents and hated it but moaned she was stuck and never did anything to change it till she finally retired. The people I know who are happiest in their jobs are the ones who found them via doing things they enjoyed rather then following a set 'career path'

ongarboy

Also bear in mind a job for life or a career for life is getting increasingly outdated these days and not people who move from one career or job to another are not frowned upon as used to be the case. It is actually an attribute as it means you have had exposure to multiple industries from which you can bring transferable skills across and reduces the risk of becoming institutionalized.

You say your degree is in finance and that after a year in that world, it doesn't appeal to you. There is such a broad spectrum within the world of finance so it doesn't mean you are limited to balancing books, issuing NAVs for funds or counting numbers. Within finance, most entry level positions start off as above however they can easily gravitate to more specialist or niche divisions within the financial world once you acquire subject matter expertise and proven ability. Within a financial institution, you could end up working in client relationship or marketing if you get a buzz out of meeting people and are extroverted, likewise with sales if you enjoy the buzz of meeting targets and closing the sale, IT if you have an affinity towards the technical aspects of finance solutions (eg the applications that support or deliver the product), business analysis where you act as the liaison between Operations and IT for delivering solutions (if you get satisfaction out of problem solving and have good analytical ability) and/or ultimately project management if you enjoy managing the delivery of change to new or existing products/solutions.

I just wonder at 25 would it be premature to completely write off Finance considering you would have worked hard to attain a Finance degree only a few years earlier when per my advice above, there are so many strands to branch out in. Also, you can generate so many transferable skills from all of those roles above that can apply to nearly any career and would be respected by interviewers in all those different careers (exemplary customer service, communications, time management, meeting targets and deadlines, displaying initiative and innovation, attention to detail, handling difficult and pressurized situations etc).

25 is not old and if you do not have a clearly defined alternative career that you want to move to, I would recommend laying some roots in some role soon. While exposure to different jobs and/or careers is an attribute, it would only be so if you spent a couple of years in each of such roles and in an upward promotional trajectory between each role so that future interviewers can see that you are progressing. Going from one short term gig to another in various countries on work holiday visas is fine up to a point but once you start approaching 30, this may act as a detriment to securing jobs if it appears on your CV that you are still a wanderer who hasn't made up their mind.

Finally, maybe it would be worth consulting a life coach to help you choose a career path that is naturally in line with your interests/strengths/motivators/anchors.

lazygal

I did a finance/business course in college and never really used the degree itself, but obviously the experience of college and the skills gained have stood to me. I don't think you have to end up working in a sector just because you got a degree in that area. At 25 I had a few jobs under my belt and kind of drifted along. I'm now working in a job I enjoy, but I have changed my priorities completely since having children. I'm not overly ambitious and what I want from a career had changed in a big way.
What you want and need out of life and work at 25 won't be what you'll always need. I've never really been a long term career planner, but I have worked in a couple of very different fields and completed additional qualifications to ensure that if we move abroad I'll have marketable skills. Maybe going to a good career coach would help. I know someone who did so and ended up working and studying in order to change career, and now works in a totally different field to when we graduated college.