As most of you know, I'm thinking very hard about this crazy career path of mine. I haven't closed out the possibility of parish work, but I also know there's no guarantee. The longer I'm not in parish ministry, the more unlikely it seems I will return
.And so I've been working through Richard Bolles' great book, "What Color is your Parachute?" I've gotten to the part where I've sussed out all my interests, transferable skills and all the rest. I look at this list and I have no clue what kind of job this might mean.
Here's where I need your help: Would you please look at the list below and let me know what jobs come to mind to you when you see them?
What job do you think of that uses
1) Analysis
2) Preaching
3) Gathering information/doing research
4) Writing
5) Designing/developing
especially in the fields of
6) Africa
7) Media literacy
No fair saying preacher!
5 comments:
Writing or research for a non-profit, of course. Other than Kiva, I don't know if any of the big ones (Heifer Int'l, Oxfam, etc) are nearby. Alternately, there's writing for publications/websites that cater to your interests, thought that's an incredibly competitive field.
There's also teaching, which is kind of like preaching.
Having a job that can be summed up in one word (preacher, architect) can make it quite difficult to branch out into new avenues, I think. Maybe that's just because I have no idea what I want to do next. (Post baby, I mean)
Elementary school teaching. Try a state with alternative certification procedures and not likely to default on its debt (i.e. not California).
I see this list, and I think: writing, editing, publishing, web design, mission work, international affairs, United Nations, International Council of Churches, so on and so forth from there.
I don't actually find teaching remotely like preaching myself, although some of the skills carry over from one to the other - but I bet you'd be a great seminary professor if you wanted to go in that direction and still keep the right to talk about religious belief in the classroom.
I see teaching at the college level, writing and speaking on behalf of a non-profit advocacy organization, research for a think-tank. If you haven't already, you might meet and chat with Rev. Bill Rankin of GAIA.
On a separate, but related note, should you have any desire to read another book in the ongoing search for personally and professionally fulfilling employment, I remember a friend of mine raving about her daughter's book:
Barbara Sher and Annie Gottlieb, Wishcraft
and I've just discovered that it has a blurb by Richard Bolles, so apparently that wasn't just a fond mother speaking.
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