Serious Business and Marketable Skills.

[wolven7]

Dethklok - [Better Metal Snake]--- I've often said that I don't really have any marketable skills; that I have a vast body of knowledge and intuition in diverse areas, but no real idea as to how to parley that into job opportunities. Not something anyone really covered for me, in my eight years of "Higher Education." Should have taken some business classes.

Vermillion Lies - 01/03/09 - Mannequin--- Anyway, I keep saing these things, but I don't know that they're widely true. So, it's time for real, serious questions, for those of you who know me, and/or have been paying attention.

1) Of the things you know I can do, the bodies of knowledge I have, and the solutions I've provided for certain problems, in the past, Which Of These Would You Pay For?

2) Do you know of the best ways to go about finding technological firms, ThinkTanks, or consultancies, looking for philosophers or students of Religions? (The Bastard Fairies - [A Venomous Tale]). The Internet has been surprisingly little help in finding useful information toward these ends.

3) Any other, unsolicited advice you feel like doling out? I mean, I know I just solicited it, but don't let that stop you.

MDFMK - [Hydro-Electric]--- I honestly just feel adrift, without any real understanding of how to proceed in the direction of a meaningful career involving anything A) for which I went to school, and/or B) at which I am good.

So. Time to put on my Big-Boy Pants, suck it up, and ask for help.

Help?

Comments

part 1

[raoin.livejournal.com]

as a person not currently working a job for which i went to school, i dont know that i'm going to be able to offer a whole lot of advice. but i am feeling very much like commiserating, and since that's often rare for me here's what i have:

i went to grad school thinking i would go on to do PhD work in the field of my MA. i thought i would get my PhD and then go teach religious studies at a school (any school) and that would be my future. having finished my MA i have realized that while i have an intellectual interest in religions, i do not have an academic one. i could, probably, get into an alright PhD program and get that final degree - but i would always be the odd-man-out and my disinterest in going the extra mile to get published and involved and so on would mean that i wouldnt be very competitive in the job market or well-known among my peers. moreover, grad school basically wiped the creative-writing side of my brain blank and its only been in the last few months that i've been able to pick up poetry writing again.

that being said, when i look back at my choice: A) get an MA in religious studies or B) get an MFA in creative writing... i dont think i would have been any further ahead if i had gone the MFA route and indeed would probably be even less employable than i am now.

but, more importantly, i realize now that it was a choice i basically forced myself to make. i saw it as a binary-only choice. instead of seeing that i could do anything once my BA was complete, i saw only the insistent vision that i needed to go on to higher education if i was going to "do anything with my life." the song from Avenue Q about BAs in English was parading around in my head and i was determined not to spend my late 20s wandering around not knowing what i was doing.

it has since become apparent that anyone who spends their late 20s wandering around knowing damn well where they are headed and what they are doing is likely to be a pod person or a mutant and that it is much more normal to spend these years basically just trying a bunch of different things and trying to pay one's bills while also trying, in some cases fervently, to spend as much time having fun as possible.

...

part 2

[raoin.livejournal.com]

...

what i'm getting at is the following: i know you want to be employed in a field and at a job that makes use of your diverse (and in some cases unique and obscure) talents and i want you to have that too. i want it for me as well. and i want it for ryam. but i dont know what that job is or where it is. not for any of us. and i dont think that anyone particularly does or will. i think that, however, finding that job might be a lot like following a trail of breadcrumbs... you pick up one crumb at a time. so i've been thinking about the following process for me:

1) (Overall Goal) i want to eventually spend all my working time helping people around the country defend their first amendment rights. i want to help people around the country defend the values this country was founded on.
2) (Break My goal into parts) helping people, civil rights, American values, defending others, protecting my ideals
3) (look at types of jobs pertaining to small parts of my goal) social work, law, civil service, law enforcement, legislation
4) (look for jobs i qualify for right now that are in those fields) this is not as easy since i have very few qualifications, but it does seem to help me see where i would want to pick up some classes (law degree?) and it helps me to see whether or not i'd be willing to do the entry-level work necessary to get into those fields. (for instance, would i really want to try to become a police officer if i thought it would help me get into the FBI? could i stand being an unpaid intern in order to work with a lobbyist or legislator at the capitol?)

this is all just my ideas on my problem. there's considerable agony over the idea of going to school again and a lot of unwillingness on my part to leave a job that pays my bills and provides a small amount of benefits. its boring, vexing, has nothing to do with anything i am interested in, and i feel undervalued. but its not forever, so its just a place to be before i figure out where to go next.

you are a young man, with a healthy amount of basic and necessary skills: 1) you are an effective leader and have had leadership experience.
2) you know how to communicate complicated ideas to large and small groups of people using spoken word as well as written word.
3) you know a lot of people, some mundane some famous, and you are capable of bringing diverse groups of people together.
4) you are capable of the creative organic thought processes necessary to make leaps of intuition and bridge unknown variables.

all of these talents would be useful in any job, and they are all skills for which i would pay.

sorry this has been all largely rambly and not put together. i mostly just wanted to say, you might have to build that job you want from out of thin air, but you dont have the component pieces yet. getting those pieces might take years but you have 50 or 60 more working years ahead of you. i know you are capable, you just have to take it one stage at a time.