A major part of trying to pursue dreams is taking the right educational path. If you’ve previously had a career in another field, you may need to get a certification or take additional coursework before you can qualify for positions in a new industry. Sometimes, you may also be able to spin previous relevant coursework in your favor during the interview process if you have taken classes that fit the type of job you’re working on getting. Combining current education with new coursework can make your dreams come true.
Sales Professional
While you should be able to get an entry-level retail job with little more than a high school diploma or GED, you’ll want to brush up on your education to score a position at the best furniture outlet in your area. For those who have a passion for customer service, slashing sales goals, and helping people, getting a sales job may be one way to pursue dreams. Sometimes, you may be able to go from a role as a sales associate to a management position by getting an associate’s degree or bachelor’s degree in sales management or a related field.
Some sales professionals may start out working in this field in retail, food service, or other settings and go years without increasing their educational level. Others may work slowly towards a degree or fit classes in with a flexible customer service job schedule. No matter what your path is to becoming a sales professional, you will probably find that having higher educational credentials will make you a more desirable job candidate for roles beyond entry-level sales associate positions.
Pharmacist
For those who want to pursue dreams in the medical field while using their enthusiasm for chemistry or pharmaceuticals, becoming a pharmacy professional. As a pharmacist, you’ll not only tap into your knowledge of medications, drug interactions, and health conditions every day but you’ll also get to speak with patients directly and provide education about their medical devices and prescriptions. This can be one of the most fulfilling roles in the medical field for people who love people and medication information.
If you want to practice in a new and exciting part of the field, you could try becoming a marijuana doctor. While some states may not consider marijuana to be legal at this point, you might be able to work on prescribing marijuana to qualifying patients depending on the laws in your state. For those who are interested in working as a doctor in this new and exciting part of medicine, you’ll probably need to get all of the qualifications that a position of this caliber in the medical field would typically require.
Mechanic
Before cars were as advanced as they are today, you might have been able to get away with working in car repairs without having any special qualifications or educational background. Today, every employer from a Subaru service to a general auto repair shop will want candidates to leverage educational opportunities to prepare them for a job in this field. If you’re bent on your desire to pursue dreams in the auto industry, you should investigate what education and coursework you’ll need to succeed in this field.
Some people may want to get an education to become an auto repair technician because they have a passion for cars while others may simply want to be able to get a job that pays the bills. While there’s no right or wrong reason to go back to school to become an auto repair technician or car detailer, it’ll be easier to motivate yourself to finish your schooling if you enjoy the material on some level. You may not need to eat, sleep, and breathe car repairs to work in this field but you should have a little spark of joy at the idea of working on cars if you don’t want to burn out quickly.
Insurance Broker
Whether you anticipate working in a specialized part of the insurance industry like commercial auto insurance or you want to generally work in insurance as a whole, an education can open plenty of doors in this industry. Working as a broker for large or small insurance agencies might not be at the top of your list of things you’d like to do to pursue dreams but it can help you pay the bills until your dream career takes off. For those who want stable, engaging work that will always be available and necessary, the insurance industry offers plenty of benefits.
Some jobs in insurance may train you on the job, so you might not feel like you need to get an education to qualify for every position in this industry. Still, if you want to work your way into management positions or get promoted, you’ll need to get more education if you want to stand out against applicants who have more education or experience than you currently do. While it might seem like you could gain all the knowledge you need from working in the field, there’s something to be said about going to college for business or a related major that will make employers feel more comfortable trusting you with larger responsibilities in the insurance field.
If you intend to open an insurance agency at some point, you’ll notice a difference in your level of confidence if you take relevant coursework in this field or get a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a related field. Some programs like MBA programs allow you to network and make important connections that will serve you well when you start to work on opening an insurance agency of your own. While it’s not always necessary to get an education in this field, you can never have too much knowledge in business, economics, insurance, or the law when you want to work in insurance.
Appraiser
A seemingly unlikely place to find highly educated people would be local pawn shops. Still, if you think about it, you’d need a decent education to know how to appraise antiques and other items based on your knowledge of the history of those items and what they could be worth. Additionally, getting an education in a field like art history or archaeology can help you distinguish the dupes from the real deal in famous artifacts or seemingly valuable ancient items.
If you don’t have the funds to go to college to pursue dreams, you can always start small by taking classes in your community that may be less expensive than attending a university. Some lovers of archaeology or art history may also find that taking classes at a lower-cost educational institution like a community college can slash the amount of money they’ll end up paying over time for a degree. It’s also wise to start school part-time if you can’t afford to go to school full-time or take a year off of your education after high school to save up funds for college by working a full-time job or even multiple jobs to bolster your savings account before taking the plunge to become a student in this industry.
Property Manager
Whether you have a college degree in business or you’d like to learn the ropes in this field, it doesn’t hurt to have an educational background related to rental property loans if you want to manage properties. For many folks who become property managers, it may not be the first preferred role when you think about what it would be like to pursue dreams. Even if it’s not your dream job, managing a property can provide you with a sense of fulfillment and financial security that other roles may not.
Some people might manage a property for a larger company as a full-time job while others may start managing their own rental properties on a part-time basis before their properties earn them enough to afford the cost of living. No matter what your path is to becoming a property management professional, you’ll want to ensure that you take all of the relevant classes so you aren’t missing out on crucial areas of business law, real estate law, and finance that could help you be the most savvy property management professional around.
Counselor
If you spent a decent amount of time in the counseling center in college and found it helpful, you might have dreams of becoming a counselor yourself to help people who are struggling with similar things that used to plague you like anxiety or depression. For many people who have a bachelor’s degree in psychology or social work, getting a master’s in counseling can seem like an intuitive way to pursue dreams of becoming a therapist or licensed counselor. While counseling is not a great profession for everyone, it can be rewarding to help people face their fears, challenge their negative thinking patterns, and heal from trauma, among some of the things that counselors do.
Depending on what setting you want to work in, you may need to get specific educational credentials before you can start working there. For example, if you want to work as a psychologist in school settings, you will probably need to have clearances in place that show that you’re allowed to work around children, experience in child development and related fields, and the licensing that a school requires for you to become a school psychologist. If you want to work as a paraprofessional or a technician in a mental health facility, you might not need to get as much education under your belt before you’re considered qualified for that job.
Before you start applying for counseling jobs, you should make sure that you meet the requirements for your state and the federal requirements for the field. Failing to meet the requirements for licensing and education could result in dire consequences like losing your job or facing fines or time in the criminal justice system. If you don’t want to lose everything you’ve worked so hard to build for yourself, you should do your research upfront and speak with licensing entities to figure out if you’re ready to take the exams required to license you as a counselor in your state.
Exterminator
If you hate pests with a burning passion, you might enjoy working in yellow jacket extermination after you get the appropriate education. Depending on what opportunities are available in your area, you might be able to work in this field after completing an apprenticeship or going through a short-term certification program. Some states may require you to have specific licenses or qualifications to work in exterminating pests before you pursue dreams related to that field, so you should read up on what you need to do on an educational level before you submit applications to your dream extermination company.
Farmer
While working on a farm might seem like a job that doesn’t require a specific education, you’d be surprised at how education can help you land your dream job in farm drainage services and related industries. Some farmers may learn by doing while others might need to read books or take classes on farming before they feel qualified to pursue dreams on the farm. Even if you know a lot about farming, you should still take the advice of your fellow farmers when it comes to education and learning about the craft.
Carpenter
For those who love the idea of building wood cabinets for a living, it can be important to go to school for this trade. While some can pursue dreams of carpentry with a high school diploma and some work experience, others may need to complete a program before they can get a job in the field. If you go through an accredited program or certification for carpentry, you’ll find that you’ll be a more competitive candidate for jobs in this tough trade industry.
For many jobs these days, you’ll need to get a good education to pursue dreams. While it might have been possible to work your way up the ladder with a high school education or less in bygone days, you’ll need to get more coursework and educational achievements under your belt. Once you have decided what your dream job would be, you can start plotting all of the steps it’ll take to get the role you desire.
