Jim walked to the heavy wooden door and squinted at the small sign thumbtacked to it. He read: Your next job is in this room. Further instructions inside. He looked around, wondering if this was some sort of Candid Camera routine. Seeing no one, he took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. The room was dark and smelled like a musty attic. He felt along the wall, found a light switch and flipped it. Bright light filled the room, revealing a jumbled pile of shoe boxes reaching the ceiling. Jim's heart sank as he again thought this must be some kind of joke.

Then he spied a slim yellow envelope at the bottom of the pile. He ripped it open, found a single sheet of white paper and read: There are 12,000 different types of jobs in the United States. Each box in this room contains a description of one job. The boxes are sealed and the job's name is written on the outside. The boxes are in no particular order. You only need one job. Good luck eliminating the other 11,999. "This is unbelievable," he muttered. "All I want is to find a job. But how in the heck am I supposed to find anything that I can do in all this mess?"

You too may feel like Jim. You can't go back to your last job or any other job you've had. Yet you sure want to get back to work. But between where you are now and where you want to be are so many possibilities and a few  good ways to make choices.

Thinking of possibilities can be hard because we often wear blinders that block our view. In the case of brainstorming career possibilities, these blinders come in the form of thoughts. As you look over lists of jobs, trying to identify ones that interest you, you may find yourself thinking:  

While some of these thoughts may be accurate, when you allow them to squelch your possibility thinking, you’re short changing yourself. The first step in finding a new career is listing lots of possibilities. The list grows when you focus strictly on interest. If a job interests you, if you would like to learn more about a job, write it on your list of possibilities. Sure, a job may be eliminated later, but learning about it may lead you to a job that will work for you. So, for now,  take off the blinders and list all the possibilities you can think of.

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Other Resources to Use

Many of the jobs on these lists will be familiar to you. However some may be unknown. To learn about unfamiliar jobs, you'll need some books you may already have used:

These books are available at your local library. They are easy to use. In a short time you'll be flipping through those books like an expert. You may also find these resources online.

Of course, the jobs in these lists are not your only possibilities. As you work through the lists, you may think of other jobs of interest. Perhaps a listed job reminds you of one that isn't listed. Or maybe there's another job you've always been interested in. Write those jobs down.

Exploring these lists and jobs can be done easily in a couple of one-hour sessions at the library. Go when you are fresh and ready for some possibility thinking. If a job interests you, mark it. Don't ignore it, or talk yourself out of it. Once you've chosen some jobs of interest (and frankly, the more the merrier), you'll be ready for the next step and one step closer to your next job. Talk with your vocational counselor about the jobs you have listed. 

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