Some people just seem to be natural born helpers. If you feel that you are this way, then you are probably keen to try and help other people as much as possible in your daily life. You might start to think about what you can do to really solidify this as a way of being, and one way to do that is to look to giving careers that have a basis in some kind of care.
When your job is literally to care for people, that is a powerful statement about how passionate you are to dedicate your life to others. Let’s look at some of the kinds of jobs that are worth your consideration.
5 giving careers:
Nursing
As a culture, we tend to really respect nurses, and that is with very good reason. They work hard, they do a lot to help other people, and they tend to really care about the work they are doing.
Nursing is also a job well-known for its difficulty, with a tendency towards long hours and, unfortunately, not as high pay as you might hope for in it. With all that being said, it is also an incredibly rewarding job, and most nurses would agree that it is worthwhile overall.
If you want get into nursing, take a look at your local college and see if there are any training opportunities available. That will be your first step towards becoming a nurse.
Psychiatry
It might be that you would rather spend your time helping people with their psychological problems, in which case the world of psychiatry could be your true calling. Caring careers like a psychiatrist involves many years of education.
Firstly, you will need an undergraduate degree, and after that is a master’s and a doctorate, at which point you will be working and training along the way. With this experience under your belt, you can then eventually start to practice your psychiatry and find yourself a job.
There are many positions in psychiatry going at any one time, but they can be competitive, so the more experience you have behind you, the better. All in all, this is a hugely fascinating job with the potential to really change people’s lives for the better.
Care work
Perhaps you’re looking for a way to care for others that do not require as many years of training and education as psychiatry. Then you might want to think about the world of care work.
With the right personality and determination to help others, you can become a care worker and make a profound impact on other people. While there is always training involved, it does not take nearly so long as either of the giving careers mentioned above.
In this type of work you will directly help people in need of specialized assistance, whether the services you provide relate to mental health, addictions, seniors, hospitalized individuals, or troubled youth. All of these people need a lot of help, and offering care is going to be something that you can focus on and make a major focus of your life.
More giving careers:
Cancer research
it’s easy to forget that there are many people working behind the scenes who, in their own way, are doing plenty to help others to live fuller and longer lives than they might otherwise. Probably one of the best examples of this, and an example of an incredibly worthwhile vocation in general, is that of cancer research.
A lot of progress has been made in overcoming many of the challenges brought about by cancer, but there is plenty of work still to do. Even if there is no cure for all cancers within this lifetime, working as a researcher will mean that you are contributing towards that great effort significantly.
And, who knows, you might be one of those people who discover a huge breakthrough that helps in the treatment of the disease.
Are you one of those people who tend to be a shoulder to cry on amongst friends? If so, you might be the ideal kind of individual to become a counselor. Counseling only takes a year or two of training, compared to the many years of that of a psychiatrist.
Within the time at school, you can develop the skills necessary to help people going through some of their toughest times. It is absolutely the type of path for you to pursue if you are eager to help others, and you are likely to find it to be incredibly rewarding.
Kudos to all them who give and continue giving for keeping others alive and healthy
Thank you for such an amazing comment!
Caring roles like these make a career and your life so, so much more meaningful. Not many will pay well, which is why they say you don’t go into such careers for the money. With the exception of something like psychiatry. I wanted to be a clinical psychologist after getting my psych degree and some work experience, but sadly it doesn’t look like that will ever happen now because of my health. But I’ve had roles that give back and it makes such a difference to how you feel and how you view your job, knowing that you’re doing a bit to help someone else even in some small way 😊
Caz xx
You’re doing amazing things with your blog too so don’t discount that contribution, Caz! I know people read your posts for health tips as well as the comfort of knowing they’re not alone with medical issues. You’re an inspiration.
These are not always easy careers but so important!
Yes!!
Good choices. I’ve done a couple of those things and really enjoyed them.
Wonderful to hear that, Chris. It’s amazing how helping others can help us in many different ways too (giving to others and helping ourselves at the same time) xx
I admire the people that work in these careers. They are not easy at all. I have thought of working in a care styles career before but been told I don’t have the experience or personality for it in an interview
Hi Michelle, perhaps you could volunteer as an alternative to devoting your career. Even just a few hours a week can help a lot of people. Alternatively, donating clothes, food, and other life staples to shelters is a great way to give xx
Good choices, my mother is still a live after 2 years ago they operated her of cancer although now it has reappeared, thanks to a new treatment that has not been approved here in Spain or Europe, but yes in the USA by the FDA, they are using it as testing so she had to sign that she volunteered for being in the test which they will keep a very close eyes on her since it is also the careers of the doctors on the line to make sure this new treatment works. It seems that only 36 plus thousand people in the entire U.S has her type of cancer it is not a good sign that so little people compared to the overall population that suffers from cancer has her type, but hopefully. this new treatment will work. And thank goodness it´s a private hospital, the neighbor next to her house has prostate cancer and he can´t afford private(obviously), he has prostate cancer and he is placed in a waiting list, so by the time they get to operate go figure if he’s still alive. So this occupation really resonated with me. Good choices.
I wish her all the best with this new treatment Charly, and I’m sending gentle hugs to you both. Thanks for taking time here and for sharing about your mom, she’s lucky to have you.
I try my best, taking care of her dog though is driving me nuts…. is it legal to kill the dog?…. ;)
Appreciate it.