“What do you want to be?” It’s the dreaded question that often pops up in small talk conversations whether at a family gathering or a school event. I for one hope that question retires and people ask “what work do you want to do”, but this isn’t a philosophical blog post. This is a blog post to ask you to take a moment and think about the possible opportunities you are considering, and perhaps actively pursuing. Don’t take this encouragement to mean you have to change the opportunities you’re considering. This encouragement is more about pausing and really looking at the possible opportunities you’re considering and pursuing to evaluate if a change is needed.
Before we get to that, here’s a little guide about how we think about possible opportunities. You can read more about these here on our Duke Career Hub site.
- Fields –Field is the broadest categorization of people who are working on a common endeavor. Sometimes this category is also called a profession, industry, or sector. You may have interests in several fields or just one.
- Organizations – Organizations are the individual brands that have a shared infrastructure, like payroll and operations. Within an organization, there are additional shared elements, like culture, mission and goals. A synonym for organization is company, however, we use the word organization to be inclusive of education, non-profits, and government.
- Roles – Roles are commonly identified by the job title and includes the tasks that you perform, knowledge you have, and the level of responsibility.
- Constraints – Constraints are limitations or restrictions and we all have them in our lives.
Below are three questions to consider your current state of possible opportunities and whether you need a reset.
What are the possible opportunities you are considering?
I’d love for you to write your answer down, or type it out, so you can see it in print. You’ll probably know some of these off the top of your head because you’ve thought and talked about them. I also want you to look at your actions over the last few months. What fields, organizations, and roles have you applied to, attended events, or researched? These actions may have been intentional or not; regardless, your behavior is an indicator for what you are considering as a possible opportunity.
With each possible opportunity, write a sentence or two about why you’re pursuing this opportunity to be clear on what is motivating you in this direction.
How have you learned more about these possible opportunities and tested your assumptions?
If someone were to ask you to explain a role, organization, or field of interest to you, could you do it beyond a wikipedia definition? This is one test to see if you are developing an understanding of possible opportunities of interest. If the answer is no, it’s a sign you have more digging to do and are potentially moving forward with interests based on very surface level knowledge. Or, it could also be a sign that you aren’t as interested in this opportunity as you think.
This section of the Duke Career Hub gives you ideas about ways to explore possible opportunities within fields, organizations, and roles further. Consider these and also think about broader resources to gain insights. A favorite of mine are podcasts and LinkedIn posts where you can learn directly from people doing work you’re interested in. And make sure to incorporate informational interviews into your strategy for connecting and learning from others.
How do these opportunities align with what you want, like, and are good at?
This is an important question to your overall search plan and in knowing if you need a reset. So important that we have a dedicated section here to help you think about what you want, like, and are good at. Go back to the first question in this post where I asked you to write about why you’re pursuing specific opportunities. How does that motivation align with what you want, like, and are good at? How does the possible opportunity align with what you want, like, and are good at? Alignment of these with your possible opportunities often indicates whether you will thrive in and enjoy in an opportunity.
If you don’t see alignment, think about why that is. Are you pursuing something because your friends are? (Consider this article on FOMO if that’s the case.) Are you pursuing something based on a constraint you have? (Think visa status, financial need, etc.) There are many reasons students pursue different opportunities. Working to get deep to your “why” and alignment is important in having a clearer direction.
Wrap-Up
As you worked through these 3 questions, did anything feel uncomfortable to you? Like you were pursuing a possible opportunity without knowing why? Or that you thought you were pursuing something specific but your actions tell a different story. This may indicate your next break would be a good time to consider a reset.
One final note, remember that Career Coaches are available for these conversations. We love them and offer support to students as they are working through this important work! Make an appointment with a Career Coach using this link. Reminder that coaches are available during academic breaks!
