The Unemployed Life

How to Sniff Out Your Talents

Whether you’ve been laid off, hate your job or just have that uncomfortable, it’s-not-really-me feeling at work, you’ve probably faced this question recently: What the $@%# do I do with myself?

You might even feel like you haven’t managed to unearth your most special abilities. If that sounds familiar, check out this post we recently found at Skelliewag. The gist of it is that you have hidden talents, “things you could do that would make you happy. But you don’t know it yet.”

Skelliewag is talking about skills that aren’t necessarily practical, but isn’t it a great start for thinking about a career? I mean, there are people who manage to build careers out of things that my conservative grandparents would have deemed totally useless. (Personal stylist comes to mind.)

To find your new passion, write down a list and then just try stuff out. Seriously. There are so many things you can experiment with for a short period of time, thanks mostly to the internet. You can take a free interior design class, try learning French. (For more ideas, check out My Free Edumacation.) Always wanted to write? You can start a blog without even telling anyone! If you don’t like it, shut it down after two weeks. It doesn’t even have to be something that makes sense. Watch instructional cooking videos without committing yourself to becoming a chef. Find a day-long ski trip.

Who knows? You might just be on your way to your next, best job.

Tags: advice, job-hunting, The Unemployed Life, The Working World