The difference between a job and a career is the fact that you have wanted to do it for years. It is more than a position, it’s a vocation. When you love what you do, your vocation is your occupation and your career doesn’t seem like it is work because it feels like you’re on a paid vacation. Here are three rewarding career paths worth embarking on because you’ll do something you love and enjoy the impact it has on the world around you.
Education
First of all, education can be an extremely rewarding career path, especially if you love children. You could have a huge impact on your local community or decide to work with a community in need. You can work to instill confidence in children coming from a fractured community and show them another perspective on life. You could do that in many ways, for example teaching social studies and showing kids how to save from an early age.
You also work as a counselor and guide students into different career opportunities. You could be the person who teaches a child new ways of thinking and the opportunities they have in the world that leads them to a very different path.
You could also work at the collegiate or technical level, teaching adults who came out of failing schools unable to read. There are several famous financial gurus who are rich and famous simply for teaching people how to set a budget, pay down debt, and save for the future.
Teachers get to make a direct difference in people’s lives and most teachers revel in the fact that they were able to see their students become successful professionals, which is why it is one of the most fulfilling jobs out there.
Nursing
Nursing is considered one of the most rewarding career paths you could choose. You are constantly on the front lines helping people who are sick, weak, or in need of help. In this article on nurse advocacy that was published by USC’s Department of Nursing, you can make an even greater difference for your patients if you decide to become an advocate. For example, you could become a patient advocate guiding them through a complex treatment, coordinating care between specialists and insurance paperwork. Another option is working at the grassroots level in underserved communities, often making a dramatic difference by educating people on how their personal choices impact their health and that of their communities as a whole.
One of the side benefits of nursing over other careers is the sheer demand. Employers will often pay for your continuing education as you move up the career ladder, such as employers paying for someone with a nursing assistant degree to earn a bachelor’s degree or bachelor’s degree to graduate school. You can thus become a medical professional in two to four years now, immediately helping others, knowing that you can earn a living and be paid to go to school to improve your expertise any time you wish.
Engineering
Engineering is the “E” in STEM. It is the practical application of science to the real world. And it is indispensable. It is engineers who design roads to last decades, power plants that literally power our world, buildings able to tower a hundred stories. It is civil engineers who design the civil infrastructure on which all our systems are based from the water treatment plants and sewers that flush away waste to the pumps and pipes that deliver clean water to our homes.
Engineers make a difference and they are continuing to make that difference around the world as they connect millions of people to water, power, telecommunications, and roads at rates never before seen in human history. They may sit behind a desk designing products that save lives or revolutionize society, or they may supervise construction sites directing the skilled labor doing much of the hard work. But in every case, they are the problem solvers needed to make things possible.
Engineers also enjoy some of the best work conditions and salaries available. Furthermore, there are tons of different specializations available depending on your preferences and they’re all very different from one another. You could be a civil engineer and work on public works such as roads, bridges and other structures, become a naval engineer and work on everything from submarines to oil tankers, or delve into more cutting-edge sectors and become a nanotechnology engineer. The sky is virtually the limit for engineers.
Conclusion
All these fields have the distinction of being some of the most fulfilling occupations for new graduates. Education allows you to enlighten students of all ages and potentially change their lives dramatically for the better. Nursing allows you to save lives on occasion and improve the quality of life for all of those involved. Engineers directly change the world around us and are the experts who build the infrastructure that our modern quality of life depends upon.
