Everyone needs money. If your parents are wealthy, you may never need to work a day in your life. However, there are not that many individuals who fall into this category, and the average person needs to work to support themselves.
That means you need to find a job at some point. You might do so after high school, or you could go to college. You could even stay in school and attempt to get multiple degrees, adding not only versatility to your career arsenal, but also the potential to generate even more income. While money shouldn’t be the biggest motive when planning your career, it does play a pivotal role, meaning that at some point a salary comparison will be in order.
The fact is that once you’re an adult and you have a job, that job and your career, in general, will impact your life in multiple ways. It’s true what people say that your job is not your life, but in some instances, it might as well be. What you do becomes so critical, so it’s worth talking about how much your career path affects your lifestyle.
The Danger Factor
There are millions of different jobs and career paths. What you do will matter in the sense that some jobs are dangerous, and you need to acknowledge that as you get into them.
For instance, maybe you become a construction worker. That’s a profession that has a very high injury and death rate because of work-related accidents. You can always report an unsafe construction site, but there’s an inherent danger any time you take on a job like that.
If you take on a dangerous job, your family might not like that very much. You may start on a particular career path, but once you marry someone or cohabitate with them, they may want you to try something else. If you have kids, you may feel pressure to get a less perilous job for their sake.
More Or Less Money
Then, there is the matter of how much money your job allows you to make. When you take on a job and figure out a career path, it helps to think about what the top salary or position can be.
Take a food-service industry job, for example. If you’re desperate for money, you can probably find yourself a job flipping burgers at McDonald’s or Burger King. These are not difficult jobs to attain since you don’t need a college degree.
When you take on that type of job, though, you have to realize you can only rise to a particular position. The top of the food chain for that job would probably be the manager. Even that position will only top out at about a $70K salary.
If that sounds okay to you, you might continue on that path. However, if you want to make more money than that someday, you’ll need to figure out a different career.
Your Happiness
Also, since you spend a lot of your time at work, you need to think about how much the job you choose makes you happy. If you can work at a low-wage job but feel satisfied while you’re there, there’s nothing wrong with that.
There are plenty of individuals who don’t have very lofty career goals. If you’re in that category, you probably won’t have to go to college or continue your schooling past the absolute minimum.
If you feel like you can’t be happy unless you make a high salary, you need to make career choices that reflect that. Most people feel like making a lot of money is not the most vital thing in the world, but the reality is that more money does equal more opportunities.
If you take on a job that doesn’t pay much but that you still enjoy, you’ll have to compromise about certain things. Whether you can buy a house or you’ll have to live in an apartment for the rest of your life are prime examples.
Does Your Job Help Society?
Some other people feel like their job should only be one that has a positive societal impact. For instance, you might work at a homeless shelter. It probably won’t pay very much, but you can help people in a very meaningful and direct way.
On the other hand, you might become something like a doctor. That can be the best of both worlds since you can make a great deal of money while still helping sick and injured people.
Your career decisions will make all the difference regarding how you live your life. The best thing you might do is to find a job that makes you happy but also pays you enough so you can live comfortably.
If you are in need of a great job, you can simply do a job-search here.
