Posted: 9/30/2013 7:20:41 AM EDT
|
I'm 27 years old, have been in the finance industry since graduating, no longer wish to continue in finance but honestly have no idea what I want to do instead. Anyone been in a similar situation? Any good books on the issue? Thanks.
|
|
I did that same as you when I was that age. It's very common to make a change where you are.
Take a few months to clarify what you really want to do. Get some training for the new field. Give yourself a year or so to find exactly the right starting position. It will take some time to make the transition. But afterwards you will be glad you did. Oh, and one word: Plastics. |
|
A long time standard in the career industry is a book called "What Color Is Your Parachute". It has a lot of excellent advice on career selection. You might consider that. Secondly, do something you like. Even if it initially pays less. If you truly love your work you will excel at it and quite probably make a good to excellent living and have fun along the way. It is very hard to excel at something you just don't enjoy. Think about the career field. Is it a positive thing or negative. Again, it can make a difference. Example - Working in an auto repair field is probably mostly negative. People are upset their car is broke, they want it fixed NOW and it is always too expensive, so most of your customer experiences are going to be unpleasant. Lawyer - everyone who comes in is being sued, suing someone, has charges filed against them etc. Pretty much all adversarial and negative. Working at Disney world - everyone is on vacation and happy.(maybe not the best example but you get the idea) Helping others can be very rewarding. But take a look at the career and go for the positive stuff, unless you just like conflict. Best of luck. |
|
Quoted:
A long time standard in the career industry is a book called "What Color Is Your Parachute". It has a lot of excellent advice on career selection. You might consider that. Secondly, do something you like. Even if it initially pays less. If you truly love your work you will excel at it and quite probably make a good to excellent living and have fun along the way. It is very hard to excel at something you just don't enjoy. Think about the career field. Is it a positive thing or negative. Again, it can make a difference. Example - Working in an auto repair field is probably mostly negative. People are upset their car is broke, they want it fixed NOW and it is always too expensive, so most of your customer experiences are going to be unpleasant. Lawyer - everyone who comes in is being sued, suing someone, has charges filed against them etc. Pretty much all adversarial and negative. Working at Disney world - everyone is on vacation and happy.(maybe not the best example but you get the idea) Helping others can be very rewarding. But take a look at the career and go for the positive stuff, unless you just like conflict. Best of luck. +1 - This is a common issue, and there are lots of resources out there. I'd also recommend seeing if there is a Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation office near you. They've doing standardized aptitude testing forever (they used to be part of GE, IIRC) and I found it helpful when I was trying to decide what to do, and plan to have each of my kids do it. The tests seem a little old fashioned, but the feedback helped me. ETA - Have you considered public accounting? As a Finance guy you are probably close to meeting the 5-year education requirement and would bring a useful perspective to the field. I enjoy practicing public accounting. Very few of the negatives RPaxton alluded to (besides long hours in some firms). I enjoy a wide variety of tasks and projects and long-term constructive relationships with clients (something I didn't get when I practiced law). As to law--only go if you can get into a school that is highly regarded in the market where you want to work and you are confident you can graduate near the top of your class. IMO we are in a "law school bubble" because law schools are cash cows for universities, and they don't care if many of their students can't get jobs. They still have the cash. 
|
| You may also find that you don't need to leave the current occupation, only just expand on an interest or hobby. OR, perhaps you just need to get away for a while. Take six months and hike part of the Appalacian (sp?) trail, climb a mountain, go to Tibet, or such to clear your head and reorient yourself. What you want may be more obvious then. |
|
I agree about real estate. And OP, I did two internships from 2001-2003 with Merrill Lynch and Wachovia Securities. That was enough to make me never want to work in that field.
I went with my childhood dream and became a cop. I mean, dag killer. But there are a lot of skills that will get you ahead. No one wants to work white collar crime, and if you're good with finances you'll be golden. |
|
Quoted:
I'm 27 years old, have been in the finance industry since graduating, no longer wish to continue in finance but honestly have no idea what I want to do instead. Anyone been in a similar situation? Any good books on the issue? Thanks. What do you do in finance? Can you be more specific? There may be other directions you can go in the industry that may be more to your liking. |
|
Quoted: You may also find that you don't need to leave the current occupation, only just expand on an interest or hobby. OR, perhaps you just need to get away for a while. Take six months and hike part of the Appalacian (sp?) trail, climb a mountain, go to Tibet, or such to clear your head and reorient yourself. What you want may be more obvious then. This. Quit work for a while and travel. |
|
Quoted:
What about real estate? The market is picking up in some places. Commercial real estate has been going full bore for some time now. We have been above 2007 pricing for some time now. Real estate can be interesting but don't fool yourself - it is not easy to get into. You will have to do financial work for some time unless you want to go into brokerage or property management. If you don't like doing finance related work then you probably won't like commercial real estate. This is coming from someone in the commercial real estate industry. |