{"id":32133,"date":"2021-04-06T11:58:22","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T15:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=32133"},"modified":"2025-09-15T10:37:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T14:37:15","slug":"finding-a-career-in-your-20s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/finding-a-career-in-your-20s\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding a Career in Your 20s: A Complete Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What does finding a career in your 20s mean? Is it important to know what you want to do in your 20s?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding a career in your 20s can mean a lot of pressure. But it’s important to use this time in your life to build your career<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about finding a career in your 20s and what it means. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of\u00a0Shortform’s guide to career development<\/a>. If you like what you read here, there\u2019s plenty more to check out in the guide!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steps to Finding a Career in Your 20s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finding a career in your 20s can seem daunting, but it’s an important part of this stage of adulthood. Here’s what you can do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look Realistically at Your Options<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a child, you\u2019ve probably been told you can do \u201canything you want\u201d with your life. Whether or not that was true when you were a kid, it\u2019s most definitely not true when you\u2019re an adult. Your choices are actually quite limited. The options you have before you are determined by your past\u2014who you are, where you\u2019ve come from, and what identity capital<\/a> you have\u2014and your vision of the future\u2014where you ultimately want to be.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this shouldn\u2019t upset you; it’s actually a good thing. It is far easier to choose among a few options than infinite options. Having too many options<\/a> often leads to anxiety. When faced with infinite choices, the pressure to make the best choice over all the others is overwhelming and results in paralysis. In the face of excessive options, it can feel safer not to make any<\/em> decision, so that you don\u2019t risk missing out on something better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one revealing study, researchers set up sampling tables in two grocery stores. The first offered samples of six different jams, and the second offered twenty four. While the twenty-four-sample table attracted more attention, the six-flavor table resulted in far more sales (30 percent as opposed to only three percent). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best way to move beyond decision-making<\/a> paralysis is to think honestly about what options are available to you. Make a list of the realistic options you have based on your experience, education, strengths, interests, and goals. Maybe you decide you could either continue working at the coffee shop, go to art school, take a job as an administrative assistant, or travel through South America until your savings are exhausted. Examine these options rationally. Which will lead you to a place you\u2019d like to see yourself in ten or twenty years? Which are maybe just another excuse to put off committing to adulthood?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making yourself aware of your true options is the first step towards setting realistic, workable goals: the building blocks of future happiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create Career Goals for Your 20s; Ignore \u201cShoulds\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The goals you set today will structure your life in the years to come. <\/strong>In your twenties, it can be hard to chart a path forward because there are no ready-made maps outlining what you should do with your life as there were in college. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In college you had a limited set of classes you could take and you knew exactly what you needed to do to succeed in them. Once you leave college, the map disappears and you need to start thinking about what you \u201cshould\u201d be doing with your life. College had easy benchmarks that you could measure yourself against to see if you were doing what you \u201cshould\u201d be doing. After college, though, those benchmarks disappear and it\u2019s difficult to know what standards to judge yourself against. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because your life is so wide open during these years, you\u2019ll likely get significant pressure from friends, family, or social media as to what you should do with it. These are \u201cshoulds,\u201d and they can push you in one of two ways: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. You should be more successful by now:<\/strong> Seeing other people\u2019s successes, you may feel pressured to catch up, and to find a big, deep purpose that makes you look good. You may even consider taking on projects that wouldn\u2019t otherwise appeal to you, only because of how you think it might reflect well on you on social media. For example, you might think about going to work for a well-known charity when in truth, you never envisioned devoting your life to humanitarian causes.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. You should stay free and uncommitted:<\/strong> Or, you\u2019ll feel pressure in the opposite direction: pressure to stay free and unencumbered, when in fact, you may be ready to leave the party circuit, find a steady job and a steady partner, and settle down.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s easy to mistake other people\u2019s \u201cshoulds\u201d for your goals, but resist the urge. \u201cGoals\u201d are not \u201cshoulds.\u201d Goals come from inside us; shoulds are pressures from others. Goals feel like dreams that would truly make us happy; shoulds feel like obligations. Goals can be worked toward and can evolve as we gain more understanding; shoulds are a cut-and-dried choice between perfection and failure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Instead of getting caught up in what others think you should do, set practical, workable goals that make sense for you. Then move toward achieving them in realistic steps. Keep in mind a few guidelines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n