The Late-20-Something's Professional Dilemma

3. A lack of a coherent goal But one major obstacle to finding a suitable job remains, and it is one that has received much less attention than the other two, even if it is the most important of them all: the painful challenge of working out what kind of job one is well suited for and would love to do. Not knowing what one seeks is simply the most imp

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Say you’re a car manufacturer. Every year, you must decide between investing in future innovations, such as self-driving software, and finding ways to squeeze new revenue out of existing technologies and materials. Too much fanciful R&D spending, and this year’s profit plummets. Too much emphasis on tweaking existing product lines, and you get ... See more

If you are your sole responsibility, this is the time to step outside of your comfort zone, to start or join an exciting, risky project; to drop everything else at the chance to be part of something really great. So what if it fails? You can always go back to school, take that job at an investment bank or a consulting company, move into a nicer apa

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Not knowing what you want to do with your life—or not at least having some ideas about what to do next—is a defense against that terror. It is a reluctance to admit that the possibilities are not endless. It is a way of pretending there is nothing you can do to improve your situation. It is a resistance against accepting that there are no right ans

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Most people are at least a little bit wrong about what they think they want to do when they start out. The first decade of your career should be about collecting experiences, not locking into a path too soon. The best way to figure out what’s right is by trying things and paying attention.A few key signals:- Do you leave work feeling energized or d... See more