Quote:
Originally Posted by fierce_flawless
Economics. Eww... too much math for me!  More power to you though.
If I didn't live in Texas I would consider something outdoorsy. Horticulture, Landscape design, parks & wildlife. It's too hot here though! I am uncomfortable unless it's under 75 degrees.
I don't know why, but most delivery or driver jobs (auto parts, delivering food/drinks to stores, whatever) seem to be staffed by guys, and I'm female. I don't know if that will be a negative or not in getting hired... but it's always guys doing it even when it's not heavy lifting.
I could handle being a property manager, showing apartments or rental homes, collecting rent, dealing with repair issues...I would even clean/paint and do make-ready (well, I can't do plumbing or any of that). The contact with the "public" would be brief. It seems like the fun of real estate (seeing lots of different places) without the pressure to sell, but I have no idea how to get into that field. Every prop. management job I've seen requires previous experience. |
Reading your initial and subsequent posts brought out a small but increasingly lengthening smile across my face as I recognized my traits & personality in you and in the career dilemma you have.
I am like you in many ways and I have the exact same wish for how I wish to spend my time when working.
But I can see that others on this thread don't understand you, mostly because they can't unless they are like you.
Those who think that sales is an avenue just because you are away from people don't understand the nature of introvert people (with all the nuances and variants).
For extroverts, they are energized by people.
For introverts, their energy is drained by too much contact with people.
Selling involves being the focus of attention and being put on the spot.
If you are a reserved sensitive person, that's the last thing you want.
If you've gone to a party, have you stayed for more than an hour?
And did you go early before all the boisterous noisy people arrived?
I spent many years in unsatisfying work, and even several years in ad sales before I knew myself well.
I was so unhappy but didn't know why. I eventually went to a career analysis company (before such things were well known) and they told me I must be dying inside, which I was.
Those sales years were the most anguishing years of my life, but I did enjoy the travelling/exploring around in between going to sales calls.
Sales is all about personalities - if the customer likes you, they'll buy from you, all things being equal.
I didn't understand that and I was never personal with my prospects and customers.
For many years now, I have worked in some form of data administration which engages me heavily with a computer and I now sit in front of a screen all day long and mostly I do not speak to anyone and prefer not to use the phone either.
The work is not technical as I am not that way minded. I just have a super eye for detail and love fixing errors, researching info and correcting/finding various bits of information to add to databases, etc.
I can work anywhere with an internet connection but many companies, my employer included, have this funny thing about staff being "in the office" and I can't seem to get them to change their attitude on that.
I can have the odd day working from home if there is a reason and when I do so, I am far more productive and happy and am not at all self conscious when using the phone like I am in the office, which is an open plan hell.
The problem with this work is that I have been getitng increasingly intolerant to office life and all the social hooey that goes on each day: greetings, the never ending "what are you doing this weekend/what did you do at the weekend" blah blah and blah and even the "what did you do/see/eat last night" for the extreme socialites.
I realize many people are genuine and all this is just social small talk, but to me and others, this kind of stuff is so "will-to-live sapping" and so I avoid it as much as possible.
We recently moved offices and are now grouped together with facilities staff who spend a lot of time talking to each other and to people on the phone, shouting, laughing and all at the top of their voices.
They don't seem to have a variability setting and there's no subtlety with them. Their office phone ring tones are loud and outrageous. I am mortified if I forget to put my cellphone on silent.
Its like a chicken coop in the office most of the day and so without my headphones listening to film score music or Pandora, I just wouldn't be able to stand it and would have to quit.
There are people who think nothing of talking most of the time but that's how they are and there's nothing inherently wrong with that, its just for someone like me and you, its an assault on my sanity.
I too would like some kind of outdoor, forestry, woodlands job, even on a farm. These don't pay well and the work will be hard but maybe the happiness would make up for it.
I have also worked in property management but I would caution you about this avenue.
It may seem to be a suitable job for your personality type but what I found is that while I was really well organized and perfectly competent in my tasks, dealing with people was the biggest problem I faced, when people where not being reasonable or had higher expectations.
What I could not do is find a way to handle someone who is wild or belligerent or unreasonable or overly expectant or impatient, or who would make huge dramas out of nothing.
It used to drain me dealing with such people and who would then go off and think nothing of what had just taken place, while I spent some time wondering if I had done the right thing or said the right things or why didn't I say this or that...
You have to be thick skinned in property management and be a much less sensitive person than I am. If you are sensitive, you won't last in property management.
I was also told that being a sound engineer would suit me and that i have the aptitude for it.
While this does appeal to me very much, that profession has been decimated by the growth in home recording and the cost to learn the craft is high and getting a job in that field is essentially almost impossible without several years grafting and then getting something through connections. So I will just look to that as a hobby perhaps.
Take a look at this list for possible ideas.
http://listphoria.blogspot.com/2010/...e-to-work.html
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Some people can't understand
