Choosing The Right Career
In my last year at secondary school, I applied for a course at university doing Accounting and Business Law. I was so sure it was the right path for me, organising finances to ensure any company I would work for would be profitable. After experiencing what accounting was like, with all the technical terms and procedures, it got overwhelming. I hoped it would get easier, but after sitting the final exam, I knew. My mind went blank, I didn’t know what to do, I was panicking. I was even crying during the exam, but luckily it was online because of COVID so no one could see. I’m glad I went through that. I realised that, just because I love maths and calculating different things, that doesn’t mean it has to be my career. I want my course and my future career to be something that won’t stress me out to that level because my career is for my life.
Throughout my first year in university, I took other business classes that were more theory-based. I enjoyed those classes because they were fact-based, not filled with numbers and calculations I could get wrong.
In the theoretical classes, there is not just one correct answer – as long as you make a valid argument, there are many correct answers. So, when thinking about what I wanted to change my career path to, I took a number of things into consideration, like that I care about people and want to help people in any way I can. I also thought about how I preferred theory-based classes instead of calculations. I got help from the advisor at the university who suggested different courses that they thought would suit me and, at the end of first year, I changed my course to Human Resources and Business Law. I kept the law side because I enjoyed it, and it is interesting learning all about regulations. However, that wasn’t the end of my being unsure.
In my first semester doing Human Resources and Business Law, I was enjoying it. I was doing well in my classes and making friends. However, when the second semester was about to start, I was looking at the work I would have to do for my Business Law class and it clicked: after I graduate, I don’t want to go into law. Thankfully, I had an elective class about business systems. This class made me happy – and again, I won’t do this for my career – but I chose to change my business law class to the elective class because the class made me feel much better. I had friends that made me laugh so much, and we supported each other through the class work. That is what I needed, not a business law degree that I wouldn’t use.
And that is my journey through university so far… I have changed my course twice and it is the best choice I’ve made.
1. It is your life, and you should anything that makes you happy (It’s your future)
Always remember it is your life and no one else’s. I know when I wanted to change my career path, I was scared of the people around me potentially judging me for being indecisive.
However, after I took the step to change my course, I realised that they didn’t care about what I did just as long as I was happy. So, I now live my life for me and no one else because, as long as I am happy with what I am doing, everything else follows. I also believe that when you do this it makes it easier to find your passion because you aren’t trying to hide your true self. Be your authentic self.
2. There are no deadlines when you need to decide anything. You can change what you want to do at any point in your life.
You can’t let the pressure of the people around you and the “norms” of the world define how you live your life. A way that helped me stop caring about the pressure of the world was finding confidence in myself and putting myself first.
I did this by doing things that I love. Start off small like making time to read a book or go hiking. This will make you feel better about yourself – your inner critic will be calmed and you'll be able to connect with your skills and abilities. This could help you decide what you want to do in your career. You just need to find your passion.
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