Help! I have writer's block!

[pleaz_me]

I'm at a crucial moment while filling out a job application. This particular place seems to love me and keeps sending more forms to fill out. So here's the question that I am totally stuck on:

"Write a brief paragraph describing your career goals and aspirations:"

HELP!

I cannot figure out for the life of me what to say! I don't have a "career" at this point per se, and since I was laid off Monday, I've had a lot of time to think about what I really want to be when I grow up. I've been applying in different fields than what I've been doing because I don't see a future in the transportation industry.

Any suggestions?

 

[Vermilion]

I'm at a crucial moment while filling out a job application. This particular place seems to love me and keeps sending more forms to fill out. So here's the question that I am totally stuck on:

"Write a brief paragraph describing your career goals and aspirations:"

HELP!

I cannot figure out for the life of me what to say! I don't have a "career" at this point per se, and since I was laid off Monday, I've had a lot of time to think about what I really want to be when I grow up. I've been applying in different fields than what I've been doing because I don't see a future in the transportation industry.

Any suggestions?

why not start with an absolute dream list type thing, you know - no basis in reality. Once you have that, maybe you can whittle it down so it doesn't sound ridiculous. Always better to aim too high!

Good luck
x
V

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Tell them what you want to be when you grow up. Seriously. One of the reasons I got accepted just out of school, with NO experience whatsoever was the same essay question. My answer was something like:

I can't be a mommy anymore, and have decided to do something that's been calling for over ten years. I'll start here, at the bottom, and eventually work up to being the personal therapist for somebody big and rich and famous. The ruler of a small country would be nice. I'm just good enough to be able to do it eventually.

They laughed. Then hired me.

 

[pleaz_me]

why not start with an absolute dream list type thing, you know - no basis in reality. Once you have that, maybe you can whittle it down so it doesn't sound ridiculous. Always better to aim too high!

Good luck
x
V

Thanks. I've got a start on it, but it's a typical "kiss-ass" type of start and it's not very good.

"I would like to find a company that I can grow old with. A place I can invest my future in and call my home away from home. I enjoy all types of work and believe that a “job” is more than that. It should be something enjoyable in a friendly atmosphere."

It sounds terrible and has no basis to it. Lol!

 

[pleaz_me]

Tell them what you want to be when you grow up. Seriously. One of the reasons I got accepted just out of school, with NO experience whatsoever was the same essay question. My answer was something like:

I can't be a mommy anymore, and have decided to do something that's been calling for over ten years. I'll start here, at the bottom, and eventually work up to being the personal therapist for somebody big and rich and famous. The ruler of a small country would be nice. I'm just good enough to be able to do it eventually.

They laughed. Then hired me.

But I don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

But I don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

A ballerina, of course!

Try the "I want to retire in X years and firmly believe that this position will give me the opportunity to reach this goal" approach?

 

[pleaz_me]

A ballerina, of course!

Try the "I want to retire in X years and firmly believe that this position will give me the opportunity to reach this goal" approach?

That might work ... thanks! Muahhhhhhhhh!

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

That might work ... thanks! Muahhhhhhhhh!

No problemmo.

 

[cloudy]

Well, it would make sense, I guess, to first identify what your long-term career goals are, yes?

Are you already in the field you want to be in for the rest of your career?

Where do you picture yourself, career-wise, in ten years? In twenty years?

What is your ideal job? Dream big....it never hurts.

Set some concrete goals, such as: "Advancing my education and receiving my Registered Nurse license," or "advance to a management position within three years," etc.

Once you have those questions answered, the rest is just a matter of writing it down.

Hope that helps.

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

<hijack>

Cloudy!
-lick-

</hijack>

 

[cloudy]

<hijack>

Cloudy!
-lick-

</hijack>

 

[pleaz_me]

Well, it would make sense, I guess, to first identify what your long-term career goals are, yes?

Are you already in the field you want to be in for the rest of your career?

Where do you picture yourself, career-wise, in ten years? In twenty years?

What is your ideal job? Dream big....it never hurts.

Set some concrete goals, such as: "Advancing my education and receiving my Registered Nurse license," or "advance to a management position within three years," etc.

Once you have those questions answered, the rest is just a matter of writing it down.

Hope that helps.

In all honesty, I don't know what field I want at this time. The position I was filling the application out for? I don't see myself staying there for any length of time. I'm in a position though that I'll have to re-locate and I need to get my foot in someone's door to get started. I can't tell them that though! Lol!

 

[john-the-author]

Back in June of 1986, I'd gotten laid off from my first writing job and a woman named Suzanne G. was interviewing me for a captive job. She was a shitty interviewer and she asked the "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" question. (Feh!) I hadn't been asked this in a couple years and I thought about it for about 15 second, during which she got increasingly nervous. She finally said, almost in a panic, "That's okay, you don't have to answer!" and I burst out laughing and said "You know, I just realized that I have no idea of where I'm going to be in 5 years and I'd like to tell you about it."

"If you'd asked me that question 5 years ago, I was a programmer and I wanted to be a bigger and better programmer. If you'd told me that in five years, I'd have given up programming forever to be a writer, I'd have suspected you were high. And if you'd said that that was going to happen within three years, I'd 've been sure of it. So where am I going to be in 1991? I have no idea, but I can say that it's going to be something bigger and grander and more glorious than anything I can imagine now."

I didn't get the job (and good--she was a really shallow little person who, I found out years later from one of MY writers who had worked for her, had been scared of me throughout the interview (she scared incredibly easily, he said)). But June 1991 rolled around and I was able to reflect on how right I'd been: in the intervening years, I'd developed a taste for freelance writing, run one successful technical publications department already, won a stack of writing awards, published 5 books, and was a maven for F/L writing in the Seattle area. So, yeah, I'd never have been able to see that from where I sat in 1986.

If someone asked me that today, chances are good that I wouldn't have a lot of answers for them that I'd care to share. So I share your difficulty with coming up with a good answer.

 

[Emerald_Dragon]

You could simply write that you were interested in a career change and their company really appealed to you. Reiterate the things that you do well (in the new job) and the things that you are interested in learning more about.

One of my career goals is to have a job that I like getting up for in the morning, and where I can give 110% and be appreciated for it.

Don't know if that will help at all.

Good luck!