If you’re worried about not being able to make money doing something that you love, you’re not alone. There are students who love to write web coding, paint, dance, play music or utilize countless other creative abilities, but it might not be clear how you can best begin your work within one of these professional fields. Creative industries can be especially difficult to break into, and it can be discouraging at first to look at the potentially limited job opportunities available to you right after graduating from high school. However, if you commit to creating more opportunities for yourself, you can put yourself in the position to one day be paid for doing what you love.
Obtaining any position comes down to the need for experience. If you’re not attending college, it’s still entirely possible, if not more so, to get this experience. When you finish high school, you’ll be debt-free and will probably have very few or no bills to pay, and you’ll therefore be in a much better position than a college graduate with student loans to take on lower-paying or even volunteer positions. If your dream job does require experience, then the best way to reach your goal is to spend time working and building your skills. If you wait to pursue your ideal career because you aren’t qualified right out of high school and get a paying job instead, you run the risk of never being able to spend enough time building a solid experience base to showcase when applying for positions in whatever creative field interests you.
Even if you do need an immediate source of income, you should try your hardest to devote time to both a paying job and positions that offer experience in the field that interests you. There are countless organizations that are looking for individuals willing to “donate” their services and talents, and although you won’t be paid, there will be a much larger payoff in the future once you’re qualified for the positions that you really want. Non-profit organizations or organizations that ask for volunteers are great places to begin building experience and bolstering you résumé for the paying positions you’ll be able to apply for in the near future.
If you’re discouraged by the prospect of not making money doing something that you are passionate about, don’t let yourself feel down. Explore your options. You can look for paying positions related to what you want to ultimately do, but it may be more fruitful to look for volunteer positions instead. The short-term payoff might be less than you’re hoping for, but the long-term gains will exceed your expectations. If you can value gaining experience over earning money, you can better prepare yourself to pursue your dream job much sooner than if you get right into a paying job that offers you no relevant experience. By investing your time into gaining experience, you’ll be investing in yourself and your future rather than short-term financial gains.
Check out our blog posts soon to follow that will offer advice for working toward specific creative careers!
-Hope Swedeen
What’s your dream job? How are you planning to work toward achieving it?
Obtaining any position comes down to the need for experience. If you’re not attending college, it’s still entirely possible, if not more so, to get this experience. When you finish high school, you’ll be debt-free and will probably have very few or no bills to pay, and you’ll therefore be in a much better position than a college graduate with student loans to take on lower-paying or even volunteer positions. If your dream job does require experience, then the best way to reach your goal is to spend time working and building your skills. If you wait to pursue your ideal career because you aren’t qualified right out of high school and get a paying job instead, you run the risk of never being able to spend enough time building a solid experience base to showcase when applying for positions in whatever creative field interests you.
Even if you do need an immediate source of income, you should try your hardest to devote time to both a paying job and positions that offer experience in the field that interests you. There are countless organizations that are looking for individuals willing to “donate” their services and talents, and although you won’t be paid, there will be a much larger payoff in the future once you’re qualified for the positions that you really want. Non-profit organizations or organizations that ask for volunteers are great places to begin building experience and bolstering you résumé for the paying positions you’ll be able to apply for in the near future.
If you’re discouraged by the prospect of not making money doing something that you are passionate about, don’t let yourself feel down. Explore your options. You can look for paying positions related to what you want to ultimately do, but it may be more fruitful to look for volunteer positions instead. The short-term payoff might be less than you’re hoping for, but the long-term gains will exceed your expectations. If you can value gaining experience over earning money, you can better prepare yourself to pursue your dream job much sooner than if you get right into a paying job that offers you no relevant experience. By investing your time into gaining experience, you’ll be investing in yourself and your future rather than short-term financial gains.
Check out our blog posts soon to follow that will offer advice for working toward specific creative careers!
-Hope Swedeen
What’s your dream job? How are you planning to work toward achieving it?
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