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So I am 23 years old and I have never worked or held a job a day in my life. I was never motivated to start working until recently when I've been getting bored, lonely and depressed staying at home all day. My problem is I don't know what kind of job I want. Any options I have come up with I just can't see myself doing for the rest of my life. I need to figure this out so I can work toward getting a job and start getting paid. So my main question is: How can I go about figuring out what kind of work or job I would want to do and/or enjoy doing?

I ask because I don't want to wind up doing something like stocking shelves for the rest of my life..Thanks for any help you can give

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closed as off-topic by Wesley Long, Philip Kendall, Jim G., Chris E, Lilienthal♦ May 9 '16 at 13:47

This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:

  • "Questions asking for advice on what to do are not practical answerable questions (e.g. "what job should I take?", or "what skills should I learn?"). Questions should get answers explaining why and how to make a decision, not advice on what to do. For more information, click here." – Wesley Long, Philip Kendall, Jim G., Chris E, Lilienthal
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

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    Have to VTC, as this is off-topic for the site. Personally, you need to see a career counselor. See what piques your interest, and go with it. If nothing else, start volunteering at a food bank or something similar. Just doing work, even for free, will get your head straight. Besides, if you mention the above to the other volunteers, you never know when one of them is a VP in a company that can offer you something interesting. – Wesley Long May 7 '16 at 4:36
  • Suppose you did work out what your dream job is. Would your chances of getting it be better as things are now, or if you had five years experience stocking shelves? – Patricia Shanahan May 7 '16 at 8:44
  • Do you have any education to list? – CKM May 7 '16 at 20:55
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You are 23. Whatever you do, you will not be doing it for the rest of your life. Odds are you won't even be doing it for the next two years.

With that in mind, remember that as each year passes, the learning opportunities that come with employment pass too. It may sound silly, but some of the most successful people I know love to talk about how they learned key skills working in fast food, or otherwise "dead end" jobs.

You can read a few books that might help out. I found parts of "What color is your Parachute" to be helpful in improving my job landing skills. "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" can also be motivating.

Don't delay. Your first job isn't going to be your dream job. Without some experience, you wouldn't even recognize your dream job if someone offered it to you, and honestly, most jobs are what you make out of them. Dreams are not handed to people on a platter.

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  • While this question is off-topic, you offer some sage advice, particularly in your last paragraph. +1. – Lilienthal♦ May 9 '16 at 13:49
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If you have no prior work experience, you'll have to start at the bottom. There's nothing wrong with that.

Don't be afraid of stocking shelves, cleaning, flipping hamburgers, or any other entry-level, unskilled work. These are all fine things to start off in.

Working in an entry-level job will not lock you into a career path. On the other hand, continuing to have no job will lock you into a path where you have very few options. So you should prioritize just getting a job initially, without worrying about what it is too much.

Once you have some experience, it will be much easier to move into a more interesting, fulfillling job later. And, you will have a better idea of what you want.

Whatever job you get, make the most of it: take it seriously and do an excellent job.

This will help you get the most out of your job and build the right sort of habits going forward. It's easy to say "this is a worthless job, so I'm going to treat it like it's worthless". Lots of people take this attitude, slacking off, quitting as soon as they get bored, etc. But this is not a path to success; instead, it is a great way to always be stuck at the bottom.

If you have never worked a day in your life, work is probably going to be challenging at first. It will help if you commit yourself ahead of time to try to do your best and really stick with it.

Having worked a variety of jobs, from the top to the bottom, I would say that practically no job is fun; work is still work, even if you are working on something that greatly interests you. And any job can be fulfilling if you do it well. The most important thing will be your attitude.

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Find something that pays well considering your no experience that you know you can do.

You will either like the Job you got or get a General idea of what you dont want to do. Nothing beats experience. And even though a General Job might not be that great its something to put on your cv. "I worked for 12 months in this Restaurant!" got me a Job at a Service desk. Not that I liked the Job itself, but got me going to where i wanted to go.

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