More Than Volunteering: Career Ideas For Those Who Care

Caring people love helping others without expecting anything in return, which is often why they volunteer in their spare time to help local charities and the wider community. While volunteering is a fantastic thing to do and can help in so many different ways, if you’re someone who wants to be able to help more than volunteering a few hours a week, then perhaps it’s time for a career change. 

The fact is that you can make a difference in your career, alongside your volunteering, if you are selective about the kind of job that you opt to do. For caring people, who are usually selfless and like to help others as much as they possibly can, a job that allows them to care more is a great step, because it means that even when they’re not able to volunteer, they’re still able to help others. 

The good news is that when it comes to finding a career that focuses on helping others, there are plenty of options to choose from. It’s just a case of finding the option that’s the best fit for your skills and experience, as well as your caring needs. 

Wondering what your options are? Check out the ideas below for some new ideas! 

Move into education 

A career in education allows you to impact individual people—as well as the wider community—in a very direct way. You have the opportunity to nurture your students and watch them grow and develop as a result of your help, assistance, and care. However, getting into teaching does require a number of degrees, certifications, and specialist training programs, so it may be a career move that takes a while to achieve. Yet if it will make you happy then it’s a worthwhile step to take. 

Become a carer or enter the nursing industry

Another option, if you’re someone who cares a lot, could be to consider moving into a career in professional caring. Believe it or not, most caring roles allow you to train on the job while undertaking a small number of outside courses, meaning that moving into a career in care is actually far easier than you would think. There are also some fantastic resources to getting to grips with what career opportunities are available for you in the care sector, such as websites like careasone.com, for instance. 

If you are interested in entering the medical field but do not want to spend a better part of a decade in school, exploring the nursing path. You can become an entry-level Licensed Practical Nurse in fewer than 12 months after high school. If you want to go a step further, you can become a Registered Nurse (RN) in fewer than three years with an associate’s degree from an accredited college.

Work for a charity 

Another option, if you want to make a difference, is to sign up to work for a charity. Charities don’t only need volunteers, but they also require a number of full-time staff to help manage various aspects of their day to day running, from their marketing to their accounting, and everything in between. So it’s always worth keeping an eye on charities job sections. Look for national charities and international charities to work with, as often smaller, local charities cannot afford paid staff. 

There you have it, a few ideas for ways in which you can make your career more caring and do more to help others while you work.

More than Salary: The Best Job Picks for Flexibility, Creativity, and Advancement

If you are looking to advance or completely change your career, there may be a myriad of reasons why you’re looking for something else, or there may be one that is more obvious than others: salary. The reason most of us go to our jobs most days out of the week is not merely because we enjoy going, although having a career you like is huge in making sure you are not just living for the weekend. 

Is salary the main thing you should be looking at when looking to change careers or are other aspects of a new job just as important? Perhaps you’re looking for a more flexible role where you can set your own schedule. A great example is Primerica where there are various roles available. Take a look at Primerica reviews.

Aspects of careers that you may want to consider before jumping ship at your current position include health and retirement benefits, bonuses and commissions, paid time off, flexibility, creative aspects, and last but not least, room for advancement in a position.

Some careers that pay well may not offer all of these benefits, so weighing these things depends on your individual lifestyle, what you value most, and how you think each of these will most greatly impact or change your current lifestyle. So, which career path might be a great option for you? 

We’ve compiled several jobs that fall into three categories of flexibility, creativity, and room for growth; each of these positions does not sacrifice salary, either. 

Careers with higher than average flexibility

• Statistician. This career is in high demand, offers some other aspects such as creativity, but its best benefit is the flexibility in scheduling. 

• Accountant. This career path has a lot of flexibility without sacrificing wages. Working remotely or creating your own schedule is a huge benefit. You can check out an average accounting career salary here.  

Jobs that offer creative aspects

• User Interface Designers. If you enjoy working with computers but want to seek something that requires creativity, a UI designer can be a fantastic career that also pays well. 

• Technical writers. While “technical” might be in the name, a technical writer requires you to be creative in multiple ways; the writing itself needs to convey an idea to various audiences, and it is up to the technical writer to make creative problem-solving decisions on how to approach a project. Creativity comes in many ways, with trouble-shooting requiring creative thinking. For a list of other positions great for problem solvers, check out Business Insiders list. 

• Entrepreneurs. When you go to business for yourself, you will work harder than you have ever worked before, but you will also be able to be incredibly creative as you form your business. 

Easiest careers to advance

• Tax manager. This position was recently quoted by CBS as having the best career advancement opportunity. 

• Communications manager. If accounting and finances are not your ideal cup of tea, consider something that has you interacting with people throughout the day to compile media reports, marketing materials, and press reports. 

When you are looking to advance your career, or completely change it, make a list of the things that you find are most important to you so that you can make a sound decision that is based on more than just the direct income. When you are deciding between two positions that are relatively similar, make sure to balance health benefits, paid leave, and retirement options. Don’t forget that you’re going to be spending around 40 hours at this job a week, so find a career that allows you to enjoy what you do. 

7 Ways To Boost Your Career

One of the best things that you can do for yourself in life is to ensure that you are focused on your career. You are always going to find that you have certain struggles and that different areas of your life feel tough from time to time. And yes, in some cases, the source of that stress can come from your career.

However, you do also spend a lot of your time working. So, it’s safe to say that it’s nice to be able to get a lot of satisfaction out of your career. Not only do you often dedicate forty years of your life to something, but you spend forty plus hours there a week – and it can feel like a lifetime. So it’s nice to do something that you love.

Now, that can often seem easier said than done. It’s nice to know that you can do something that you love, but what if you’re not quite on track yet? Or what if you don’t even know where to start? If you’re studying for your master’s right now or you’re even thinking of a career change, then it’s time to get serious about your career and what you can do to help things take off. Let’s take a look at seven steps you can follow to boost your career and make sure that you get to where you want to be.

1. Set Goals

To begin with, the best thing that you can do for yourself is to set goals. Because if you know that you want to be a writer or a lawyer or a doctor or anything else, it’s going to take both time and work. And that means you need to be very clear about what you want to achieve. Creating goals can not only make sure your visions are clearer, but they can help you to hold yourself accountable for achieving them too.

2. Create A Plan

Now, you also need to make sure that you create a plan to go along with the goals. Because the goals are just the starting point. You then need to be able to map out exactly what steps you have to take to reach that goal. Ideally, this will be over a year long period, five-years, or even ten. Then, you know what you need to do first to get things underway.

3. Further Your Education

One of the first things on your list could be to study. If you are finishing college, you may not be able to go on to grad school to be able to move forward. And if you’re changing careers, it may be that you have to go back to school to retrain in the right field or even study online.

4. Nail Your Productivity

Now, something that is going to help you to get to where you want to be sooner than ever, is productivity. If you’re always putting things off, it’ll take you longer to get there. Whether this means you need to focus and get help with online study or you need a new system for work. It’s better to try and identify what’s slowing you down and minimize distractions so you can get to where you want to be.

5. Network Like Crazy

The next thing that you will find helps your career is networking. Never underestimate it. Meeting people and connecting can help your career grow in ways that it would not have done without it. It just means that you need to put yourself out there and see what kind of opportunities come your way. This can work both online and by going to different networking events too.

6. Create A Side Thing

It can also be a good idea to have something going on the side too. When it comes to getting into different industries, it can help to have a portfolio. When that’s the case, having a blog or a side hustle or hobby that you have can back up your reasoning for wanting to get a job or promotion.

7. Keep Going 

Now, nobody said this was going to be easy. That much is the case no matter what industry you’re in. So, when you know that you want to get to a certain place, you just have to keep going. That’s all it is. As long as you have grit and you’re willing to keep going, you can go for it. Keep your goals in your mind, work through your plan, and before you know it, you’ll be setting new goals to help you boost your career.