They Actually Pay Me To Do This?

Many people hate their jobs, but see it as a necessary evil if the mortgage is going to get paid and Junior is going to go to med school.  While paying the bills is of utmost importance, it doesn't mean you have to hate your job at the same time. If you're contemplating a career change (or if the current job environment is forcing you into an unplanned career change), give these few tips a look to help you find a new career you'll actually love:

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• Look to your hobbies - Love computers? How about a career as a developer or computer repair technician. Video games your bag? Look at a career designing and developing video games. It's magic when someone will pay you to do your hobby.
• Get feedback from friends, family and colleagues on passions that they see - Sit down with a few people you trust and ask them to give you some feedback on what they see as your passion areas. If you hear from several people that you have a passion, say, for working on automobiles, look at careers that involve cars.

• Do mini-internships - If you think you might be interested in a career but aren't sure, volunteer to do a four-week internship with someone already doing the job. There's dual benefit to doing this; you'll have a clearer idea of whether the career is for you and you'll do some great networking with someone who may be interested in hiring you after the internship.
• Talk to lots of people in different career areas - Find people in career areas, buy them a cup of coffee, and interview them. What do they love about their job? What do they dislike? If they had it to do all over again, would they choose the same career? Aside from learning a lot about different careers, you'll also build up your networking base.
• Do the "Up All Night" Test - Think about things that you love to do so much that you'd stay up all night either doing or talking about it. Maybe you'd talk into the wee hours about politics, or maybe you'd burn the midnight oil helping a friend with a problem. List out the things you'd stay up all night doing then look at jobs where someone will pay you to do it.
• Don't let someone project their passion on you - Just because Dad is a surgeon or Mom is a lawyer doesn't mean you have to follow suit. Your career is for you, not someone else, so don't be intimidated into a career because someone else says it's a good career.