By Kristen Pearson
Contributor, Career Services
This week I wrote two blog posts that discussed the need to be realistic in career planning and creating job searching strategies. While writing this series, and reminiscing on the points I make in part I and part II, it hit me like a ton of bricks: I neglected to bring attention to one of the most lessons found in a realist’s guide to job searching: shooting for attainable goals.
Dictionary.com defines fairytale as, “an incredible or misleading statement, account, or belief.” I have noticed that this definition can be related to more than just children’s books and movies, having some purchase in the career world as well. One of the main culprits I blame for today’s inspired career fantasies is television. With shows like, “CSI,” “Law and Order,” “Suits,” it is easy to, like Elle from “Legally Blonde,” decided suddenly, “I’ll just be a lawyer today.” But what’s at issue is that this method of selecting a career fails to account for or appreciate the years of higher education and training required, possible internships and practicums involved, as well as age restrictions. For example, drowning in a sea paper work for 30 plus years may push you to a point, professional, where you are agonizing for a change. You make your mind up that you are switching careers and want to become a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), unaware that if over the age of 37, you will not be a Special Agent for the agency. (To work in the field for the FBI as an agent, you have to apply when you are between the ages of 23 and 37.)
Looking more closely at crime scene investigation, again, I hate being the bearer of bad news, but the show CSI does not depict the actual job. They show a position that encompasses a multitude of areas: a police officer, crime scene investigator, forensics specialist, etc.
As many of us were told when we were young, we can be anything we want to be. Unfortunately, as we grow older, certain opportunities may close to us (as with the Special Agent position mentioned above). There are very small windows of opportunity and sometimes when those windows close, they do not reopen. While not wanting to seem like a Debbie Downer, it is important to approach career planning and map your professional aspirations with a realist’s toolkit. Though we may want life to be a fairytale, attaining a dream position requires planning, perseverance, and usually, years of training and education. To this end, make sure to conduct research and do away with the expectation that a fairytale career will suddenly fall into your lap – you must find, and plan, far enough in advance, for it!
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