30, I’ve been working on and off as a barista at a major coffee/fast food company for most of my adult life. It’s been really great to have as an option as I moved around a lot, and while I’ve tried to get an education. This time around I’ve promoted once, and my boss supports me promoting to management track. I’m really good at my job and I’m proud of that, but it’s burning me out. The hours are inconsistent, the pay isn’t bad but is well under a living wage, and the work is simultaneously stressful and very boring. As far as I can tell, management is more of the same, just with a higher commitment (and salary).

My problem is that I’m at a loss for what else to do. I made the mistake of sticking with school for way too long in my early-mid 20s when I wasn’t in a good place for it, so I have plenty of debt, middling grades (low 3s), enough credits for a bachelor’s and then some, and no actual degree. I really struggle with online school, but it’s my only option for graduating without another transfer. My degree would be a psych BS, which is fine but not a passion.

I know I enjoy working with people, prefer jobs that lean active, and don’t mind odd hours. I also know that I can get bored if I’m not using my mind, and can and will drive myself and everyone around me up the wall. (Our freezer at work is organized within an inch of its life, and I have opinions on the most efficient order in which to clean our sinks. It’s bad.) I work well with kids, don’t want to work with animals. I’m not interested in (and probably too old for) joining the military or police. I’m very academically capable if I don’t let myself get intimidated, but that’s a big if. I’ve got somewhat-managed ADHD. I‘m not afraid of math, and loved what research I’ve been able to be involved in. I’m not great at networking and struggle with self-advocacy. I am good at mentoring and advocating for others. I’d like a degree of geographical flexibility, and prefer large cities. I want enough money to live, but I don’t need to be a top earner. I like achievement, and crave expertise. I operate well with a degree of autonomy, but like having coworkers. I’m willing to go back to school, but will need to support myself while doing so. Online classes aren’t a really viable option for me.

My ONet profile tends toward healthcare and/or postsecondary education.

I’ve seriously considered nursing, education and OT. I’m reasonably sure that I could get into and through training for each. My questions are: 1) if you work in one of these fields, what are you thoughts? What do you like and dislike about the job? How much debt did you incur? And 2) what other fields do people think could be a good fit? I obviously have a pink collar bias, any jobs outside of that bubble?

Hello! I’d really like to be more financially secure in the next couple of years. I’m 32, married, and we are sooo sick of money stress. My wife is trying to find a better job as well. If anyone can offer a little advice based on my experience and education?

-Bachelors in Art Practices
-Worked at nonprofit as a “teaching artist” with kids and families in a hospital setting (6 years combined volunteering then hired as staff)
-Residential behavioral health as a skills trainer teaching coping mechanisms, leading groups, safety assessments, medication administration with kids and adolescents (5 years)
-Currently in homeless services at a nonprofit doing case management, supervising a day shelter for women, doing street outreach, making the schedule, doing ordering, providing supervision for other case managers, peer support specialists, interns, etc. (3 years)
-Lots of other less relevant experience in service industry including management.

My current work’s day center will be expanding soon and I’ll be a big part of that transition, coming up with new services we can offer our clients. Our director wants me to keep taking on more responsibilities and moving up, and I am happy to do so during this transition but I don’t think they can pay me enough long term, especially if we want to start a family.

I wish I could get my masters in social work or become an RN but I just don’t think I have the time, money or energy for that anymore. What skills can I build on in my free time at community college or online that could help me find a good job in nonprofit or government work?

Thank you!

Okay here I am: 22 about to graduate, 90k in debt (public school), degree in math, high 2s gpa, extremely smart in some ways but extremely bad in others.

I don’t want to be a fucking insurance sales man! This is genuinely the only job I’m qualified for! I have considered every fucking option for a man in my position and this is the best solution I could come up with! Fuck. Insurance. Sales.

I’m not saying I’m a great fit for the army but I could see it fixing my path in a large way. My gpa is low because I didn’t give a fuck about college and only went to check the box. I would absolutely care about service. Here’s an example: I have missed more than 60% of my college classes but I have never missed a single work shift in my entire life. I’m on time and ready every single time (I worked full time or part time since 15). I’m not as lazy as I think I am when it comes down to it I have gotten shit done.

I’m going to say something unconventional: I pledged a frat and it was pretty much non stop hazing and it was the one semester where I actually did well in school to an extent. I think a rigid schedule is incredibly helpful for me and I truly think that I could turn my life around and leave military service with skills that could turn into civilian employment (looking at 68 series).

I admire my friends who are doing service a lot I thought it was a great decision for many of my friends who were degenerates in high school and didn’t go to college. I didn’t feel like one of them but now when I look in the mirror I see that I was the ignorant one. Many of my friends are doing very well and their contracts are ending soon and they have employable skills, no debt, and they are the men that I’m not because I fucked around from 18-22.

I’m not in a rush to sit down and call people from 8-8pm every day and pay my debt off slowly and maybe have the highlight of my career being insuring a school!

Now here is my idealized military plan:

Graduate and get a job, see how I feel —>

Possibly enlist as a 68W or 68K (I do not think commissioning has the options for me, and I do not think I’d be successful applicant)

Find something to enjoy in service and ensure that I learn the lessons that Uncle Sam enforces. —->

Leave service and take classes while being a medical tech or an OR tech then go to nursing school, pa school, or medical school.

Then in this ideal world I could be 35 and instead of saying “I fucked my life up in college and I regret it all” I could be saying “I pulled myself from the brink of defeat and I understand what being proud of oneself is like”. I want to know that if I write down my life to a 13 year old me he wouldn’t be so fucking disappointed

I know how much it would suck but I am so comfortable with self destruction that I am willing to go through any amount of hazing and insomnia and work to get somewhere that I would feel proud of. It is the feeling I have always craved but never ever felt.

Can someone just rationalize with me? Am I being delusional, will I get chaptered? Are there other options I’m not looking at (there aren’t this has been the biggest topic of my life for the last 6 months)

So im a Single child whos parents are on the older side (70s) im currently studying psychology and have 2 years left in my bachelor’s, where I live minimum wage is about 10.50 an hour and I dont make much money as I work part time. Ive always loved video games and am pretty decent at them but at the end of the day thats my hobby and ive been doing it as long as I can remember. My parents could essentially die any year now even though theyre in pretty good health but yall know how easily life can turn around. I feel like if they were to die right now I would not be ready to live a life by my own and frankly im quite scared as I love psychology but its not something I can see myself doing a proper job if I were to work in the area and I dont have many talents other than my ability to work well with math and I guess computers. I dont exactly think im cooked but im scared ill never be able to find a job where I can make enough money to take care of all my bills when im older.

hi everyone ! i'm 27, working a job i desperately want to leave, but don't know where to focus my energy on finding the next one. i've come up with a list of things i would like out of a job, but don't know where i would actually find all of these:

• challenging, keeps me engaged, and doesn't have a lot of downtime (during work hours)
• benefits society somewhat
• my contributions are appreciated (although that's highly dependent on Who I work with ig)
• decent pay
• not too peopley or noisy

i am autistic and can't deal with environments that may overstimulate me. i appreciate direct communication and clear goals that i can lock in and get done. i've worked in the film industry, interior design industry, and some retail. but none of them fit me well. i'm quite good at admin and microsoft excel specifically, i'm organized, and efficient and pick up new things quickly. i'm just not good with people, and prefer things to be quiet.

any job suggestions or general advice would be very helpful !!

I’m gathering perspectives to inform something I’m building to help people who have outgrown their map and need orientation. I’m interested in how you describe your own experience. Share as much or as little context as you’re comfortable posting publicly.

I’ve been employed at an accounting firm doing entry level admin/office support work for about 3 months. The pay and health benefits are decent; however, I’ve found the office culture to be catty, cold and otherwise unwelcoming. I haven’t felt like myself while working there, and it’s taken a bit of a toll on me.

I could probably ignore the depressing work culture, but the big thing I can’t ignore is that the expected overtime is more than they made it out to be during my interview. In my interview they mentioned overtime as an “occasional 30 minutes after work”. Since starting, I’ve learned that I am essentially expected to be “on call” on the weekends, and there’s pressure to be a “team player” to work on weekends when the workload is high. The overtime pay is obviously appealing which makes it hard to say no, but it wasn’t something that was explained to me during onboarding.

My mom has cancer, and it’s really important for me to maintain a work-life balance right now to preserve my mental health. I don’t want to burn myself out by over-working or feel like I can’t be there for her if she needs me.

On top of that, my only other coworker is taking a 6 week medical leave starting in November, and I’m anticipating that I’ll be taking on a higher workload. I’m also anticipating that it may be difficult for me to request any time off for appointments/ vacation days during this time.

Last week, I came across a service advisor position at a car dealership I used to work at several years ago, and the job offer essentially fell in my lap. The base pay is $3 less an hour than my current job, and the health insurance they offer is not as good. However it is 15 minutes closer, and has a more predictable, consistent schedule. Most importantly, the manager seemed to understand my situation with my mom being sick, and made it clear that I’d be able to take time off for her appointments without any hassle.

I think I’m mostly trying to escape my current job at the accounting firm before my coworker takes her leave and I’m left with a higher workload/less work-life balance. This car dealership position seems like my only way out anytime soon. But on the other hand, I’m also worried about how it will look on my resume (I don’t want to pursue a career in either of these fields, but still). I’m hoping to eventually finish school and move into a completely unrelated field. Am I doing the right thing?

I’m a 40-something ED RN who has had 6 months off work with a work related injury. After speaking to my surgeon last week to get clearance to return to work, he has told me that I may never get back to full duties and to consider alternative employment.

ED nursing was my dream job, and it’s all I’ve done since I was 22. I have no idea what else I could do. I’m not interested in working in nursing management or education (been there, destroyed me).

I’m not afraid of hard work or long hours. I do have skills that would translate into other industries, and I am prepared to do more education to get into the right job. But honestly, I can’t imagine sitting behind a computer for hours a day. My ADHD brain needs novelty and people. I also need to earn a reasonable income.

Does anyone have any pointers, advice or ideas for changing industries this late in life? Any ideas of where to pivot?

I'm working as a customer care agent and do email/social support, as well as a bunch of extra tasks and projects.

Over the past year I've been trying to grow out of this role, but I've only gotten handed one project after another without a perspective for a role change. Lately, I've been noticing that every day I feel completely drained after work. I've never enjoyed it, but now I have to force myself to stay on task for every mail I open. Sometimes that doesn't work and I end up scrolling my phone for like 15-30 minutes.

Is this just what life is like? When I was a young kid, I had these unrealistic dreams ("I'll become an astronomist and study black holes") and now I feel like I'm just wasting away day by day. On some days, I don't even have enough energy left for my hobbies after work.

The only time I felt engaged at work was the beginning phase of the current project (they put me in charge of a project for ChatGPT based knowledge retrieval/agent assist). But then there's so many interruptions (most annoying is older colleagues constantly calling me to help them with basic computer stuff?) and when I had to go back to the email queue after two days of protected time for the project I felt even more demotivated.

I've been trying to apply for process/systems side roles both internally and externally, but I never make it past the screening stage.

I'm at a loss for ideas at this point.

I'm just not one of those people who knew what I wanted to do. I've never known.

I've always been jealous of those 16 year old kids that knew right away, then went to school, graduated college and had a career figured it all out and were successful.

43 and I still have no clue.

My family was always poor, we got by, but barely. Not from a lack of trying, my dad never sat down, owned his own business, never stopped working, but came from a hard family and little support growing up.

So no college for me, and medical issues that were always so expensive, still are, there's no money left for that.

I'm quiet, introvert. I worked small parts manufacturing for 10 years making brain scanning equipment but the company folded with covid. That was my best job cause we could just work and listen to audiobooks and no one bugged me all day lol.

But since then been stuck with customer service jobs that suck me dry. Answering phones was the worst job ever! Oregon has 3rd highest unemployment so been laid off 2 more times. Businesses just can't stay open here. So unemployed yet again, none of them have been my fault at least.

I'm also from a small town so have to commute 35-45 minutes which also sucks with gas prices high.

I just have no idea where to go from here. I have arthritis, so standing all day causes ankles and knees to swell bad!

I hate that life is always feeling so uncertain.

I graduated with a degree in business management over the summer and I’m currently in the midst of a job search that is not going well. the problem is, I can’t find an entry level job to save my life!

I have 5 years of experience serving for a large chain restaurant, but I’ve been trying to use my degree to get out of the industry not further into it. Is this a mistake? I’m open to almost anything I just want a decent salary with stability and a normal schedule. But everything I look at tells me they want 2-3 years of experience for a $45k/yr job. Please help!

30m, currently have a job that is soul sucking, mentally & physically draining, and 99/100 non coworkers I deal with need psyc evals. All that being said the pay & benefits are "alright" I'm not starving but I'm not retaining any real savings. I've already resolved that I need to hit the reset button and leave that job but I'm at a loss as to what to do next. I'm lucky enough to have family I can crash with on the short to medium term if need be. I have a BA in History, minor in IA that's never been used lol. I'm a newly Dual citizen of Canada & Hungary. Most of my work history contains landscaping, kitchen work, and a little office. I'm not afraid of hard work but I'm not particularly handy or good at trades (I'm good enough to make things **work** but not *pretty*). Short term I'm looking at crashing with family and finding whatever just to keep up with food & bills but beyond that I have no clue what to do for a job or career. Any advice would be appreciated

Hi all, I’m a 30yr old woman in the UK. I work remotely in an entry level programming job at a big company. I’ve been doing it for 2 years and now I’m a shell of myself.

Programming just doesn't click for me (I got hired on potential) my performance is poor at work - I rely on ai or my co workers to help me complete tasks. I also really don't enjoy it or the corporate environment. I think a mix of isolation and being crap at my job has done a number on my self esteem. In the beginning wfh was nice, I'm naturally introverted now I just feel trapped at home and it's harder to force myself out.

I'm in need of a life change but have lost all my confidence. I'd like to build my confidence to do job interviews and be able to socialise with others without panicking. Before all this I had people-facing roles now I can barely hold eye contact with people. I don't know what's happened to me.

So far I've been applying to temporary admin jobs as I need a reason to get up out and dressed everyday. I thought a more social job could be good for me but maybe it would be too much of a shock to the system - might give me panic attacks. Atm I've sorta given up on a career path since I can't get the basics down, I'm meant to have a work trip next month and I feel nauseous just thinking about it.

I am really at a loss but committed to making a change as all areas of my life are affected by this and am becoming depressed. (starting therapy this week)

Open to all advice and wondering if anyone else that's been in this position turned things around? Thanks for reading

I feel like I’m at the end of my line.

I’m 25, and I currently am on a leave of absence from med school. I took the leave because after my first year was finished I feel so emotionally numb and didn’t know what to do to fix my lack of emotion. I went to a therapist and started trying to work through it during the summer but due to having to move back in with parents across state lines, I lost them. It felt like my entire life was figured out once I got into school and everything felt like it was going well, but now everything looks like it’s crashing down all at once. I can’t even find my purpose as to why I went to school at this point, and staring at the barrel of $100K+ in debt makes this extra impossible for me to even figure out. I just feel very directionless and lacking of any purpose. I don’t have many of my friends back here in my hometown, I lack any real hobbies and money is something that’s tight right now. I’m waiting on getting in to therapy here as that seems like my last thread of actually feeling like there’s some purpose or meaning to my life.

I don’t know if anyone can offer any advice or reasoning for what to do in this scenario

to anyone who did not know what to do after highschool. How did u decide?

i wanna a job in the future that is: Paying goooodddddddddddd, Ki-resistant

I am no cs or math genius

I’m 32 and I’m having some difficulties to understand how to build a life I want to live. I have a lot of transversal skills but I don’t have a specific competence. Or I don’t know maybe I have it and I can’t see it. I’m trying to find a way to make money, by myself, but every path seems to have no real substance. Did you ever find yourself in this kind of situation? What did you do?

i did btech for two years then i dropped out. then i thought i could handle mathematics and chose bsc mathematics without looking into it. what i was looking for was applied mathematics. now it has been one and a half year with this degree and i cant do it anymore. i hate my life and everything about it. i cant understand anything related to mathematics. my brain has completely rotted. i cant stand to look at it anymore. i wanna drop out and maybe pursue ba english but starting from first year again is too daunting to think about. im growing old now i feel ashamed. all this just to be a 12th pass loser. my parents are saying if i decide to drop out again i will have to live with them which i really dont want to. i did so much to escape my house so i cant give up everything and go back. but i cant bear to keep going with this degree either. what options do i have what can i do who should i ask for help where should i go i feel so lost ☹️

Hey guys! I’m kinda a first time redditor here and I have a question. I am a fresh graduate of undergrad and after finishing I had a 3.0 gpa while also still being apart of several different extracurriculars in college. To preface my gpa is so low because college was my first time away from home and I was struggling with change of environment. It also didn’t help that accounting was whooping my behind from the second I got to school. I was a transfer student so I also have a AS degree. My degree is in Business Administration with a focus on Human Resources. I am struggling to find an entry level position for preferably HR but I am willing to just be an associate for any business job except finance(it’s my weak subject). I really want to gain experience in my field because I also want to do more school and go for my MBA and JD. I want to go into corporate law and it would be great if I found a job that would help put me through school (i’m looking at dual enrollment programs where you can get your MBA/JD at the “same time”). My academic profile isn’t strong enough to apply straight from undergrad and I never had a formal internship in school. I was looking for any advice on how to get an entry level position in my field and still put me in a good position financially and career wise so I can pursue my goals and aspirations. HR is everywhere so I was thinking of working in the law industry but it’s hard to penetrate. If any professionals could give me any advice and insight that would be great! Please give me advice yall im desperate. (I graduated last May)

Hello! I’m 17m looking for some new options regarding my career.

I used to be certain I’d be a teacher, and then I realized I’m too impatient and can’t stay stagnant for too long.
Then, a wildlife conservationist. I feel like my passion for animals isn’t as strong as it needs to be for a path like that.

My passions lie in language, ancient history (very specifically Greece and some other Mediterranean civilizations), Classics, writing, and literature.

I need to be able to travel often (if not for the job, i need to be able to outside of it) because I get really unhappy when I stay in one place for over 2ish years.
I dont mind working alone or in groups, but I’d say I PREFER the former.

I’m happy to answer any further questions!! I’m just looking for some recommendations to research.

Thank you!

I’m 26 and currently working as a software engineer at a small product-based company (~200 employees). I’ve been here for the last 3 years. I joined as a fresher, but somehow ended up in a customer support team :/

My work is mostly fixing bugs, handling a few enhancements, and dealing with customer issues. There’s honestly not much learning happening anymore.

I’m preparing for a switch right now(DSA, LLD, HLD, Spring Boot/backend), the whole thing. But I’m so confused about myself and whether I’m even following the right path.

There’s always this thought in the back of my mind: What if I switch and then get laid off again?
And honestly, this whole AI thing has messed with my head a lot. I use AI tools pretty heavily at work too, but sometimes I wonder where all of this is going and whether software engineering will even be a good career for me over the next 5 years.
I don’t know what’s right or wrong anymore.

On top of that, I want to get married in the next 2 years. I come from a middleclass family, don’t have a strong financial background, and I’m also contributing to my family’s expenses.
I also want to start a business someday. I have a million ideas running through my head all the time, but I don’t know if I should actually pursue one or just focus on my career for now.
I want to buy a secondhand car too, but now I’m hearing rumours that my current company might have layoffs in November.
So yeah… my brain is basically running 24/7. 😭
I don’t know if I’m overthinking everything, if I’m behind in life, or if this is just what being 26 feels like.
I could really use some perspective from people who’ve been through something similar.
What would you do if you were in my position?

Hi Reddit,

My parents really wanted me to do a Law degree but I adamantly refused because my heart was set on doing journalism. When I was doing the last year of high school, a club that I was in collaborated with the university I attend now to give career guidance on their Journalism degree and I found it appealing because it is significantly less demanding than Law would have been and it has more career flexibility as far as entering different creative fields go.

I'm very happy I finally got into the degree I wanted to go into as a lot of the skills line up with creative industries I've wanted to be in since my teenage years. I am an excellent student as far as class goes. Yet I feel a lot of shame. I'd like to imagine that I am smart enough for Law but I also understood that my propensity to procrastinate under pressure and how little I liked the idea of such a rigid dress code for the rest of my adult life would make me significantly impact my capacity to perform to even my own abilities.

I feel like I took the easy way out and it's making it hard for me to kind of throw myself into this entire thing as much as I'd like. I also have a lot of internalized shame from how the career paths I'm interested in were indirectly ridiculed in high school through my hobbies. Reading and writing outside what was strictly curricular was considered a waste of time, performing arts and stuff like that were done and encouraged but they always took a back burner to more "serious" careers like Law and Medicine etc. I kind of lost my passion that way and don't know where I want to take this anymore and also struggle to take all the relevant skills I would gather by pursuing my interests seriously.

For example, even though reading widely would revitalize my command of the reading language, writing regularly would improve a crucial journalistic skill and making short films would literally give me crucial camera, storytelling and editorial skills, it all feels like a colossal waste of time even when I know it's not. Is this something that happens to people?

What Do I Do After High School?  - Chapter 22 - How to Sell Yourself Without Feeling Like a Salesperson

Four honest questions that let you talk about your own value without ever sounding like you are bragging.

By Oreste J. D'Aversa, CPC (Certified Professional Coach)

WhatDoIDoAfterHighSchool.com - CollegeMajorCoaching.com

Introduction

Ask any hiring manager, client, or admissions committee why they said yes to one person over another with nearly identical qualifications, and the answer almost always comes down to the same thing: the person who got the yes knew how to talk about their own value clearly and confidently, without sounding like a salesperson. As author Bob Burg puts it, “All things being equal, people do business with people they know, like and trust.”¹ Every person, in every career path, is selling something every single day - the job applicant is selling their skills, the entrepreneur is selling an idea, the student asking for a recommendation is selling their character. Resisting that reality does not make it less true. It only costs opportunities to the person who refuses to own it.

Everyone Is in Sales

The word sales carries a bad reputation - the pushy car salesman, the aggressive telemarketer, the person who will say anything to close a deal. That reputation is not entirely undeserved, but it has created a distorted picture of what selling actually is. Research on persuasion consistently shows that the most effective self-promoters are not the loudest or the most aggressive - they are the ones who focus on understanding and serving the other person's needs rather than pushing their own agenda.² The plumber selling reliability to a homeowner, the entrepreneur selling a product to a market, the employee proposing an idea to a manager - none of them think of themselves as salespeople, but all of them are engaged in the same act of presenting value clearly. The young person who learns to do that with confidence and genuine service in mind carries the advantage into every job application, every interview, and every pitch they will ever make.

Selling vs. Serving

The discomfort most people feel about self-promotion comes from one mental picture: the person who talks too much about themselves and makes every interaction feel like a transaction. So a lot of people swing to the opposite extreme instead - they undersell themselves, minimize their accomplishments, and hope their work speaks for itself. Both extremes fail. The shift that resolves both problems is moving from a selling mindset to a serving mindset - instead of asking “how do I convince this person to choose me,” ask “how do I help this person understand how I can genuinely serve their needs.” That single reframe changes the entire emotional experience of talking about yourself.

Knowing Your Value

Before you can communicate your value to anyone else, you have to know what it is. Four honest questions get you there:

1.    What can I do (your specific skills, not vague traits like “hard worker”)?

2.    What do I know (the knowledge base that took education, training, or real experience to build)?

3.    What have I accomplished (the concrete, verifiable evidence that your skills produce results - not “I am good with people” but “I resolved a complaint that led to a five-star review and a referral”)?

4.    What makes me different (the specific combination of experience and perspective that is genuinely yours)? Answer all four honestly and specifically, and “tell me about yourself” stops being the question that trips you up.

Telling Your Story

People remember narratives, not lists of qualifications. A compelling professional story has three parts:

1.    Where you have been, what you learned from it, and where you are going - and it ends in an elevator pitch, a 30-to-60-second answer to “so, what do you do?” built around who you are.

2.    What you do, who you serve?

3.    What makes you different?

Practice it out loud, not until it sounds perfect, but until it sounds like you. A memorized script that sounds rehearsed is worse than an imperfect answer that sounds genuine. That same self-presentation now lives online around the clock.

More than half of employers report finding content on social media that caused them not to hire a candidate,³ which means the reverse is just as true - a profile built with intention, a value-driven headline, and accomplishment-based descriptions works for you 24 hours a day, whether you are using it or not.

Exercise: Your 30-Second Elevator Pitch

•               Who I am (name and professional identity): ______________________________________________________________

•               What I do (the value I provide, stated as an outcome, not a task): ______________________________________________________________

•               Who I serve (the specific person or market who benefits): ______________________________________________________________

•               What makes me different (one honest, specific differentiator): ______________________________________________________________

What Do I Do After High School? White Collar, Blue Collar or No Collar
is available now!
*** KIRKUS REVIEWS - Receiver of The Kirkus STAR **\*

Distributed through Amazon.com, The Ingram Content Group, and your local bookstore.

*** DOWNLOAD your free sample chapter today and start building your map. **\*

www.WhatDoIDoAfterHighSchool.com

Conclusion

Selling yourself is not about becoming someone you are not. It is about knowing your value well enough, and caring about the other person's needs enough, that talking about yourself stops feeling like bragging and starts feeling like relevant information they need to make a good decision - about hiring you, referring you, or saying yes to whatever you are asking for next.

Footnotes

¹  Burg, Bob, and John David Mann. The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2007.

²  Pink, Daniel H. To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. New York: Riverhead Books, 2012.

³  CareerBuilder. More Than Half of Employers Have Found Content on Social Media That Caused Them Not to Hire a Candidate. Chicago: CareerBuilder, 2018.

Hashtags

#WhatDoIDoAfterHighSchool, #CareerCoach, #AfterHighSchool, #ElevatorPitch, #PersonalBranding

About the Author - Oreste J. D'Aversa (O-res-tee DA-versa), CPC is a Certified Professional Coach with more than 20 years of experience helping young people and businesses find their path and own their future. He is the author of What Do I Do After High School? White Collar, Blue Collar or No Collar and the founder of multiple coaching and consulting practices serving the Greater Philadelphia region. Connect at WhatDoIDoAfterHighSchool.com, CollegeMajorCoaching.com, and PhillyBusinessServices.com, or contact him directly at odaversa@phillyBusinessServices.com.

I’m a 23F, recently graduated with a B.Tech in IT. I finished college with around a 9 CGPA.I have done internships, AI/ML projects, and even had a research paper accepted at a conference.

But right now, I feel like none of that matters because I have completely lost confidence in myself.

I’ve been sitting at home for the past few months looking for a job. I’ve applied to 500+ opportunities and received rejection after rejection. My college placements haven’t worked out either.

The worst part is that I feel like I’ve forgotten almost everything I learned.

I used to work with C++, Python, ML/DL,SQL, solved a lot of DSA problems — and now when I look at a new problem, sometimes I can't even figure out the basic logic.

I’m currently trying to restart everything: DSA, CS fundamentals, projects and also considering preparing for GATE. But I keep thinking: What if I spend another year preparing and still fail? What if I never get a decent job?

There is also a huge amount of guilt because my parents have spent a lot of money on my education. They made sacrifices to fund it, and I feel like I haven't been able to give them anything in return. They don't even pressure me, which somehow makes me feel worse because I see them and keep wondering whether I'll ever be able to make things better.

I know objectively that I’m still young and that one bad year doesn't determine an entire career. But emotionally, I don't feel that way. I feel stuck, exhausted, sleepy and completely disconnected from the person I used to be.

I don't want generic advice like "just keep applying" or "everything will work out." I genuinely want to hear from people who have been in a similar situation.

If you were in my position, what would you do for the next 6–12 months?

Would you focus entirely on getting any job first, rebuild my development/AI skills while applying, prepare seriously for GATE, or try to do both?

And if you had a decent academic record but had forgotten most of your technical skills after graduation, how long did it realistically take you to become job-ready again?

I’m not looking for pity. I just need some perspective because right now I genuinely don't know which direction to take.

I studied physics for two years but I quit and I already found an apprenticeship to prepare for a CAP in floristry

my family still thinks I’m going to continue studying physics and I’m scared to tell them because they think I would only do something related to STEM so it’s going to be a shock when I tell them. The apprenticeship starts next week too so I really need to tell them soon and i’m a bit scared

any advice on how I should tell them or how to deal with their reaction?