Getting a Job

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I graduated from college this past spring, so that means I have to start earning a living. The problem is I don't know what I want to do with my life, either for a while or in the long run. I never really thought about what careers interested me when I was younger, and the counseling I got in college didn't push me in a specific direction. My parents tell me that since I'm a math whiz, I should become a teacher or an actuary. I don't thing teaching is up my alley because I'm terrible at managing people and explaining things to them; being an actuary doesn't interest me that much because the exam textbook material went over my head as I got into the later chapters and because I feel that the actuary prep courses I took in college didn't prepare me enough for such a career. I really don't know what to do.

If I do what my parents want me to do, it will just make me feel miserable. Either I will have to prepare for several interviews with complete strangers for schools around town, or I will have to study my butt off to prepare for the first actuary exam. Even if I do get one of those jobs, there is always the chance that I could get fired, especially since I am a lazy, slow, scatter-brained person who is terrible at following directions and has a poor work ethic. I absolutely HATE making mistakes; they make me feel like I AM a problem instead of someone who HAS a problem, especially since I have trouble learning from my own failures. Over the years, I have started to hate myself more and more for not being completely perfect, because of my natural OCD and because my parents have high hopes for me and don't tolerate my failures too well. I have even had a few mini-breakdowns in college because I felt I did poorly on exams. In short, I really do not want to try getting a job that is too difficult for me to both obtain and sustain.

Taking a third option just might make things even more difficult for me. Since I had no backup plan for a career, that means I have to start from scratch. I'd probably need to do some sort of self-assessment to figure out what job would be a best fit for me, but I have a strong feeling that my parents would strongly disapprove of my career choice. Mom and Dad would argue with me about how the career might not pay that well or how it would not challenge my mathematical prowess. The reasons why I believe such a confrontation would ensue are because I have grown to hate mathematics thanks to a few bad teachers, because math-based jobs typically have higher salaries than other jobs, and because I was not really good at anything except math before going into college. I do not want to put myself into this kind of position except as a last resort after trying and failing several times at the jobs my parents recommended, but my fears of failure and hard work might make this "Plan A".

So what do you people think? Should I try becoming a teacher? An actuary? Something completely different? Whatever your choice is, could you please tell me how to prepare myself?

Hi, Myers-Briggs might be helpful in possibly presenting you with some new job and career possibilities. Just please take the test with a grain of salt, just like any psychology test.

You might also find something interesting that Temple Grandin said. She said people on the Spectrum tend to have one of three types of cognitive orientations, with some overlap of course:

1) abtract thinkers,

2) story and narrative thinkers, and

3) thinkers in pictures.

You might think people good at math are abtract thinkers, but they may not be the only people good at math. For example, I'm very much a story and narrative thinker (perhaps with some overlap), and if the math covered whets my appetite and if I have the opportunity to really put some time into it, I can be the best student in a math class.

I kind of need to turn math into a story which connects for me. I have also gotten bad grades at math classes.

What did you major in? That's one of the most important pieces of information, but it's entirely lacking in your post!

Luckily for you, having strong mathematical skills opens the doors to a large number of technical, scientific, and analytical fields, all of which make excellent long-term careers. Had you not already graduated from college, I would recommend engineering. But without knowing what your major was, I can't make many recommendations, since nearly anything I would suggest hinges on that.

The second most important question is: what are you interested in? If you think, what you can see yourself doing 5 days a week, for 8 hours a day? What classes did you enjoy in school?

And lastly, don't be so hard on yourself. Nearly every time I give advice on this site, on essentially any subject, the most important thing I suggest is to work on improving your mindset. If you can learn to truly respect yourself, and recognize your own capabilities, it will do far more for you than just about anything else. Take my word for it, I speak from experience.

Sorry for the late response, Stargazer43. Now, to answer your questions:

I received a B. S. in Mathematics. When I said that I was only good at math, I was implying that that was my main focus in college, and I apologize for not being explicit about it. I have taken courses in other subjects like art, chemistry, computer science, economics, English composition, Hebrew, physics, and social studies. However, I don't think I know enough about these subjects to make a career out of one of them, especially since what little real world experience I have mostly involves doing math.

It doesn't matter how many jobs I can get with my math skills, assuming that they are still up to snuff. My main problem is that I can't deal with failure. I've already explained how I can't NOT be hard on myself; my main philosophy is "If I can't be perfect, why bother trying?!" I have had a habit of beating myself over tiny flaws that I perceive to be major, and as of late, this beating has become more than figurative. Even if I don't give myself grief over not doing well enough, my parents will gladly take up that role, and since I am terrible at self-improvement, I feel like I'm up a creek without a paddle.

I don't remember the last time I felt interested in anything. I never really enjoyed school, so I put minimal effort into studying and often turned in homework at the last possible moment. I'm also terrible at dealing with people, which really makes me question my parents' thoughts about what jobs would work best for me. One of the few things that I am comfortable doing is going on the computer and looking at fan works based of off the cartoons I used to watch when I was younger. I don't think I can make a career out of anything like that, especially because I am awful at transferring skills from one activity to another. I usually enjoy my hobby because I feel that there is no pressure; if I do not enjoy what I am seeing, I will look for something else, and I'll be right as rain. I'm starting to think that my stress and self-doubt are my main obstacles, but since I don't know how to overcome them, I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

I agree, most math-based careers will be easier to get with a Ph.D. A masters works also. You can work in pretty much any field with a math degree, since most need someone who knows how to work well with numbers. It could be accounting, engineering, teaching, statistics, research, and more. If you decide to go to grad school, a really cool thing to look at is CFD (computational fluid dynamics) modeling. It's very math-heavy, and you can do some downright amazing things with it.

As for the rest: have you considered counseling over your issues? Have you ever held a steady job? It sounds like your issues are related almost exclusively to your OCD and low self esteem. And for the record, no one is perfect...you'd be hard pressed to find someone who has never made a mistake.