What orientation?

When I was a child, I wanted to be…. a beautiful person !
I wanted to have the qualities of my parents, those of my brother and my sister. I idealized a few people and projected myself onto them, because I was convinced that I was uninteresting. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I didn’t like school, which I only attended because it was a compulsory course in order to find a “suitable” job other than working the land. This learning was not at all inspiring for me. Since I was little, I often heard my parents’ sermon: you had to work hard at school to work in an office and avoid the hard work of the land, all the time under the burning fenua sun.

You can look at images related to different professions and tell yourself which setting attracts you the most and in which you would be willing to spend 8 hours a day every week?! Ask yourself good questions.

I had a lot of desire without thinking that one day they would be achievable. I wanted to know how to draw like the many mangakas I admired. I would have liked to make pretty illustrations like the one I saw in the Martine albums. I found it very pretty, the colors and the softness of the lines… I didn’t know that I could express myself through drawing. I didn’t get a very good grade in drawing class so for me I didn’t even really think that I could draw one day.

So if like me you are or have been in this state of mind, if you really want something but it seems unattainable, go for it and persevere! If someone I had told my dreams to had told me it was possible, I would have gone for it!

Finally one day, I found the job I wanted to do! I therefore invite you to ask yourself certain questions.

Exercises to do:

• Ask yourself the right questions, regardless of what society, your friends and relatives or your parents want for you. Without thinking about the impossible, what would you like to do in your life? Remember that you will spend more time at work than at home.

• Identify your qualities and faults and your personal values to find what is important to you.

• Make a list of tasks you like to do or don’t like to do. This can help you better target your sector of activity (commerce, construction, administration, environment, store, management, mechanics, IT, entertainment, farmer, health, etc.).

• Collect information about the jobs that attract you and that are in line with your personality.

• Get started and train yourself. It’s never too late to learn a trade. You have a thousand possibilities and you don’t have to stay stuck in just one profession.

How did I find my job?

1/ Be attentive to what you like

The discovery of the typewriter

As a child, my sister who wanted to be a writer was given a portable typewriter. So I discovered this beautiful invention and very quickly I acquired this machine with which I fell in love. I found a magical side to it: seeing my thoughts written directly on paper, I found that wonderful. It’s the sound of the lever returning that I liked the most! This unique sound made me want to fill a blank page. I had a lot of fun with it, creating pages of secret thoughts.

This is how I came up with the idea of choosing a job that could allow me to use this tool every day. It is therefore the profession of typist and secretary that I selected as the one that suited me.

2/ Be in tune with your personality

I invite you to identify your qualities and faults because this will allow you to find the job that suits you best. It is therefore just as important to clearly identify your personal values.

Often, I was asked to teach Chinese or be an interpreter because I knew how to speak Chinese. I felt attacked and misunderstood because these are jobs that do not match my personality, as I am an extremely shy person. Furthermore, I don’t have any qualifications to qualify for this type of position and I won’t go looking for them because I hate exams, these grade systems, all of that stresses me out a lot. This is why it is really important to know yourself and move towards careers that are in line with your personal values as well. Of course you should not confuse passion and profession. For example, I have a passion for learning Chinese but I cannot make a career out of it.

As far as I am concerned, secretarial work was obvious to me because:

• I am an orderly person. I have always loved pretty, useful and colorful office supplies to keep my little treasures organized. I remember that I really liked strolling through a stationery store just to admire the very kawaii little supplies, erasers in the shapes of little people and animals which are nicely displayed, pencils and notebooks with pretty illustrations. So sorting, classifying, organizing documents and files already appealed to me a lot.

• I am a reserved person. So I know that I will never be a “boss”, I prefer to assist the employer in complete discretion. A commercial job is therefore not for me either because it would confront me more directly with other people, it is not a balance of power that would suit me.

• In addition, I like to discover and learn new things and I opted for versatility. So I was a secretary in different sectors of activity: in insurance, logistics, hotels, schools and the municipality… I even subsequently created my telesecretarial company!

Now it’s your turn to take stock of your qualities and faults which are in line with the job you are looking for and would like to do?

3/ Learn a profession

Sometimes our life choices lead us to question our professional life. I was a young mother living in a city where the job market was saturated. I then embarked on self-employment in order to be able to continue building “my life” without abandoning my family. This is why telesecretarial work was the ideal solution for me to manage the situation at the time with two young children and a husband who was often absent. Creating my own company was above all a big challenge for me to be able to fill the gap in my CV.

I took the opportunity to take an interest in the web and train myself in creating blogs and websites. This added to my skills, in a field where everything evolves quickly and where many marketing and communication possibilities are offered.

This company existed for 5 years which were very beneficial to me! I learned a lot of things, drawing, graphics, websites. Then, my family problems invaded my professional life, leaving my company completely adrift. The settlement of the divorce forced me to close my business and this was a certain relief because I had seen its limits, and this work no longer suited me at all.

I knew that one day the adventure would end because I had to wear different hats and I didn’t have any marketing or sales skills.

I realized that even though I felt like it wasn’t my dream job, there was still meaning in what I was doing. With the aim of supporting myself and always being on the run for another job, this gave me experience while waiting to find better. So take full advantage of the benefits of your work no matter what. For example, for my part, I learned a lot of things and later, I made friends with one of my directors who has become my best friend since then, and that was more than 20 years ago! As always, there is nothing negative about changing careers for personal reasons.

My ideal job

I found the sector that suited me best: the medical sector. I never thought I would become a medical secretary because I have great admiration for the people who care for and dedicate themselves to health, it seemed completely out of reach to me and I didn’t think I could live up to this value!

It was my social worker who pushed me to enter this sector, telling me that I was capable of it! I remembered as a child, at the Cardella Clinic in Papeete, I saw my mother talking with a Chinese woman. I thought she was pretty with her long braided black hair that went down to her waist in her white blouse. I told myself that I would like to be like her because she had class in addition to being welcoming. If you had told the little girl that I was that one day I could be like this woman she admired, she would not have believed you! My social worker asked me “Why can’t I?” It’s like making a cooking recipe, I’m going to learn the tools, the ingredients and prepare for it! “And from there, convinced, boosted by her encouraging words, I submitted my CV to the clinic, then it was very quickly… First a replacement then, then, a permanent contract. This lasted four years, until I moved and changed cities. Here again, with my experience, I was able to find work and continue working as a medical secretary!

Why did I find that this is the type of activity that suits me best? Because it’s a position that allows me to highlight my strengths, where it has value to be smiling, welcoming, organized, conscientious; what’s more, it met some of my needs: to get out of my solitude, to value myself, and to earn a little money. I was in contact with work colleagues, patients, paramedics who brought me kindness. A human contact different from the relationships of a salesperson.

4/ The evolution of your dream job

You may not find your dream job right away. It’s normal, it’s the experience that will build you and allow you to achieve it. A job is a springboard to earn a living, or to enrich your know-how and interpersonal skills. There is no good or bad job, you just have to find the job that suits you, as you are at a moment in your life. So be intelligently patient, careful to be on the path to your dreams. If what you are doing makes sense to you, then you are on the right track.

For example, family is a primary value for me, and I really wanted to be available for my daughters until they started to be independent and could go to school on their own. But I also wanted to have some time to myself to make up for the time lost in floundering before finding myself. This is why I chose a part-time job. I also have time for my artistic activities and I happily fill in all the boxes in my life that I had long neglected or even sabotaged due to lack of confidence. Of course it makes me lose money, but it’s a choice that makes me happy!

I don’t know how my professional life will evolve in the next 5 years but one thing is certain if we know each other well, we will always be able to find our way :). At the moment I feel my little voice wanting a return to basics, to working the land and to nature.

Today I now know how to transcribe my emotions through drawing and I work in the medical sector. These are two things that were inaccessible and unthinkable for me! But I got there! You just need to listen to your heart and then a little courage and audacity! And don’t be afraid to live and make your wildest dreams come true!

And you ? Have you found your path? What job do you do and how did you get started? How did you find your path?

For further…

• Consult the job descriptions at France Travail to help guide you in your career choices.

• The Studyrama site specializing in training and guidance for students and student life: https://www.studyrama.com/