Career Detours

by Jake

Pandora station: The Format

There's a saying that I've heard from several of my Christian friends and that is "if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans".  Whether you believe in God or not, I feel like this statement can ring pretty true because our plans rarely work out the way they are supposed to. 

My high school self thought that I'd be married and working for ESPN by the time I was 26, but that clearly is not where I am in my journey!  This isn't to say that I am not accomplished because I did not realize these goals, but instead that through the different trials and turns in my life I have developed a new set of goals which may not even have everything to do with a career.

In our consultant meeting today one of my colleagues, Renee, brought a new Career Success Guide to our attention from our website, which deals with "bridge year" options (link coming soon).  These include a lot of short-term internships and jobs that give students experiences that may be related or unrelated to their field of study.  I jokingly said that I should look through these ideas for myself, until I realized that that wasn't such a crazy idea.  In the past week I have started looking at some alternative options with organizations I have a particular passion for.  Unfortunately the International Justice Mission and The Mentoring Project do not have paid internships and Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) doesn't seem to pay much to anyone who doesn't know some Korean.  Other options exist, though, and I have several of them spelled out on a sheet sitting in front of me.

There is a certain excitement that comes with being thrown off of your planned path.  For the Js out there (Judging, Myers-Briggs Type), having the structure of a plan is what helps you sleep at night.  For the Ps(Perceiving), though, your engine fires up when you hear of opportunities that are seemingly unrelated to your unintentional path. 

Dear Js: This is not a bad thing!  Keep your eyes open and your ear to the ground because opportunities are everywhere, you've just got to be ready to open the door when they come knockin'.

My advice is to give opportunities a shot.  There's always been a part of me that wants to give it all up, move to Asia, and do whatever I can to help shut down human trafficking.  This may not be a feasible option considering I don't have a lot of the qualifications for jobs that will let me do this and pay off my student loans, but you'd better believe I'll keep searching for ways to contribute. 

Until then, I'll work on doing my part to raise awareness in the States.  I don't really have a plan, but I've learned that making a plan isn't always the best use of time, anyways.  Right, ESPN?