Helping others is one of the most meaningful things we can choose to do with our lives, and there are lots of options. Whether you’d like to work directly with people who need help, or you’d prefer to look at the bigger picture, a career helping others can come in just about any shape or form.
If you want more of an idea of what you can do for your people-focus career, you’re in the right place. Read on for some suggestions and explanations that will help you to make this all important decision!
1. Nursing
As a nurse, you can work with people in a wide variety of settings. You might be working in theatre assisting surgeons, GP surgeries, or even in hospital wards. You could choose to specialise as an adult nurse, children’s nurse, mental health nurse, or another kind of nurse depending on where your interests lie. You can help a niche sector of people, or work with a wider group of people depending on the setting you want to work in and who you’d like to meet on the job. There’s nothing stopping you from starting out as one kind of nurse and then switching later on either, if you realize that it isn’t for you or you want a change.
2. Medicine
Working in medicine, i.e. becoming a doctor is a great option if you want to work closely with people and see the direct impact you are having on their lives. You could perhaps even get involved in medical research, working on finding cures for diseases.
You can work in a number of settings, including surgeries, hospitals, clinics, and more. You may also offer onsite services for corporate industries, just as coal board medical do. Getting a degree in medicine can be tough but it can be more than worth it. You could even do a bit of both, and work in research as well as a general practice.
3. Psychology
There are lots of different routes you can take to get into psychology. You may deal with people having mental health issues, those suffering from brain injuries, and perhaps even those who are looking to give up smoking and do other things to improve their physical health. You will need to be open to learning about why people do the things they do so you can understand their motivations and help them to stop the things they’re doing and thinking that are slowing them down. You’ll help people to improve their lives in a variety of ways, sometimes by giving them strategies and other times by simply talking to them.
4. Teaching And Education
As a teacher, you’ll be working directly with your pupils, helping them to develop and grow. You could work in primary or secondary schools, or other further education establishments. Some teachers even choose to work in hospitals and young offenders institutions. If you’re not committed enough to train for this, you could also look into things like childcare and becoming a teaching assistant.
5. Social Work
Social work is basically working with individuals and families who need support. You could be working with elderly people, adults with mental health issues, those learning difficulties, or other types of difficulties. It may be your job to help these people to live independently. Your role might even be to help children who may be in danger. Some social workers help people with the adoption process, or work with offenders. What you focus on is entirely up to you.
6. Emergency Services
The emergency services cover things like the ambulance service, and the fire and rescue. You need to be skilled and able to work under pressure in these situations, often risking your life and sacrificing break times for the sake of others.
7. Public Service
If you work in public service you could be working within the local government or government agencies. Your job will be to make decisions based on what is best for the good of the country and its citizens. You could help millions of people if you choose a public service role – you just have to make the right decisions.
8. Law
There are lots of different jobs in law, although all of them don’t help people directly. Those that do include criminal defense and immigration law. There are two main roles in law; barristers and solicitors. Barristers are often based in court, while solicitors are more office based. It takes time and a lot of study to land a role in law, but if you’re interested in this kind of thing, it could be the perfect way for you to help people.
9. Philanthropy: Careers in Charity
With a career in charity, you could be helping people or even animals. It is usually an office based job, although you may take on tasks outside of the office to spread awareness. You might be taking care of things like fundraising, marketing, or campaigning for the charity. You’ll become an ambassador and it’ll be your job to raise as much money as you can.
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10. Holistic Health Practitioner
A career in therapeutic holistic health such as massage therapy, obtaining a Yoga Teacher Certification, becoming an acupuncturist or working as a chiropractor is another area in which you can certainly help people. Not everyone has the knowledge or ability to know when the mind and body needs to relax in order to fully recover from stress or injuries. A career in one of these fields is certainly beneficial if you find this subject area interesting and have the patience and willingness to help teach others in this field. It can be an effective way to deal with the everyday stresses that life brings.
What Are Your Other Options for a People-Focused Career?
The above are just some of the jobs that you could choose in a people focused career. Other options include Radiotherapy and oncology, where you will be treating cancer. You could choose a career in optometry, which covers the visual system. You could become a paramedic, look into midwifery, or even help people by sorting out their finances. There are no end of ways you can help people. There are always going to be options for you depending on what your interests and passions are. There are jobs researching drugs, the environment, food, and other science related topics. There’s also engineering, where you might be working on things like clean water, and renewable energy. Management consulting roles involve helping people to improve their businesses, and this is helping people just as much as the other roles listed here.
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