02 Sep 2014

Something that the youth of Australia has gotten a lot better at over the years is job-hopping. As a general rule, we don’t tend to stick to our jobs too long, whether they be behind the counter at your local cinema or working your dream career out of uni.

Research shows that on average, the people of Gen Y will have ten different careers in their lifetimes, and a countless number of jobs within that. So, what’s the story? Why can’t we stick to one thing and stay with it?

It’s not that we can’t stay with our chosen careers, it’s that we don’t want to. We are probably perfectly capable of carrying one job through to the end, but where’s the fun in that? In fact, if you want to have a mid-life crisis involving hair plugs and a Ferrari you can’t afford, then sticking to one job is the sure-fire way to get there. What each generation comes to learn as they observe the generation before them is that life’s way to short not to be doing exactly what you want. So, if we’re unsatisfied with our current job-situation, we don’t faff around with loyalties and fear of leaving our comfort zones. We don’t stay with it just because we think it’s ‘the path we’ve chosen’, we blaze a new path!

More than ever, Australian’s are on the pursuit of happiness, not stopping until they find what’s right for them. Some things might suit us for a few years of our lives, but further down the track we might start to have different ideas. It’s perfectly normal to change passions as we grow and shift as people.

Don’t you remember your parents telling you that “taste buds change” when they were trying to get you to eat broccoli? As a youngster you thought the stuff was some horrendous, sickly-green substance conjured by the most malicious of garden goblins, but when your Dad made you try it again several years later, suddenly you were inhaling the stuff in an attempt to make up for all those years you went without broccoli.

Well, the same goes for our interests, skills and dreams. We might start out knowing exactly what we want, but in a few years’ time do a complete one-eighty. Tastes change for everyone: it’s healthy, it’s reinvigorating, it’s the perfect opportunity for a new beginning, a chance to go back to square one.

Stressed about what you want to do when you leave school? Can’t decide between a number of career options? Don’t worry yourself too much, chances are you’re going to have the opportunity to try most of them at one stage or other.

The end of high school is a frenzy of university preferences and deciding what you want to be when you grow up, but realistically the first career path we choose will not be our last. The degree you do at university will not necessarily dictate what you do for the rest of your life. You might in fact find yourself back at university as a mature age student, learning something new so you can achieve your new dream.

So there’s no point in freaking out about what career you should choose to secure life-long happiness. There probably isn’t a career out there, no matter how awesome, that can give you that. Even beer-tasters and amusement ride-testers get sick of doing the same thing over and over again.

What you should be doing is living in the now. Let life take the reins for a little while, it’ll lead you to where you need to be. You don’t have to be so set on what your future holds, just enjoy what you have while you still have it, and make the most of your passions while they’re still hot and fiery. And if you get bored, there’s nothing holding you back from switching things up.

Never let a career hold you back from what you love doing: ideally what you love and what you do should be one and the same. And if they’re not? Well, maybe it’s time to start job-hopping with the best of them.