It’s been about year since I graduated with a B.A. in English. My first 6 months post-college were spent living at home with my parents and 19-year-old sister. Quite unprepared (I graduated abruptly 2 quarters early), I was suddenly onto the other side of the “real” adult world, without much consolation from the rest of my friends, who were all stuck with 6 more months of college left.
I spent most of this time at home soul-searching and reading up on what I might possibly like to do for a career with an English major. Barnes and Noble and any one of the numerous Starbucks that were splashed around my town were my primary haunts. Finding myself back in the suburban desert town that I was both fond of and resented, I felt an increasing urgency to find paying work and some direction for my life.
One of the books that gave me a jump-start in some sort of direction is, “Now What? The Young Person’s Guide to Choosing the Perfect Career” by Nicolas Lore with Anthony Spadafore. Purchased on a lark during a muggy summer day, this book planted an idea of a career in my mind that persists to this day.
“Now What?” takes a very individualized approach to finding a career that fits each person’s unique skill sets and personality traits. Instead of trying to fit yourself into a box for a certain job, the emphasis is on finding a job that fits YOU, and your existing personality. Much of the book is based on personality tests. The most rewarding part of the book for me was at the end, where they have many pages of charts based on Careers, Personality Type, and Spatial, Non-Spatial, or Tangible categories.
