I saw a Career Coach....Yes, I Did!

Ok, so....yesterday, I met with a Career Coach to discuss...welll...my career! Perhaps, I'm having a mid-20s crisis (ok, late 20s, I am turning 27 soon)...late-20s crisis about what I really want to do with my life. Just because I have a degree in Finance doesn't mean I want to do Finance and Accounting. When I entered college I was thinking about majoring in Communications. The field offered opportunities in journalism, media relations, artistic expression and creativity. I also considered Marketing/Advertising because it didn't seemed so plagued by guidelines, rules and regulations. However, I switched from a 5 Year MBA Program to Finance because.....it seemed like a solid degree and involved a high level of analysis. Is it intriguing? No! I made a decision based on "this is solid degree that I can always fall back on!" So here I am, 4 years later at a fork in the road, wondering as Robert Frost said, "two roads diverged in a yellow wood....", but should I take "the one less traveled by"? Keeping with Finance, a career that I have successfully moved up the corporate ladder - Senior Finance professional in 4 years with direct reports....BUT do I want to continue on that path - going to business school, getting a CPA or CFA. Then, heading upwards towards the President, EVP and CFO level, hmmmm, not sure. However, I do enjoy figuring out problems, researching, analyzing and improving business practices - funny, in every finance job, I tend do that! Sure, we have job descriptions but I tend to embark on "process improvements". As my Career Coach said "that is you trying to find some area of creativity"! Essentially, I'm trying to make cardboard into an Origami!

At the end, the 2 hour meeting/consultation was EXTREMELY informative, helpful, enlightening and refreshing. I took 3 questionnaires the night before - Strong Interest Inventory, Manage (techniques for managing an employee) and the Myers-Briggs. We discussed the results from the questionnaires, my goals, the next steps and embarking on a journey which ends in life fulfilment beyond the dinero.

I'm a AER - Artistic, Enterprising and Realistic Themed Individual with a ENTJ Myers-Briggs Type. The next step for me is meeting with people in the fields of Advertising, Marketing, Journalism, Communications, Arts, Politics (I know!) and Public Speaking to pick their brain about their jobs and what it's like - basically, can I see myself doing this type of work? I'm also going to get my creative juices flowing and take some non-business classes!

To all questioning you careers and life passion, its never too late to figure it out. Meet with a Career Coach or get the book "What Color is Your Parachute" by Richard B. Nolles (recommended by my Mother).

And funny enough, I was watching this show "DC Cupcakes" on TLC (reality) where two sisters ditched their corporate jobs to open a cupcake bakery in Georgetown (shop called Georgetown Cupcakes)! So, it is really never to late to do what you "really" want to do with you life!
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