The first step in entering any career is reflecting on your passions and qualities. What interests you? Do you have the requirements needed to enter the desired Career Paths? Are you willing to take steps in attaining those qualifications? Do you want a career that centers around helping people? If so, do you want to make a difference from a broader societal point of view? Or do you prefer working hands-on with people in need of your services? Lucky for you, we have compiled fulfilling career paths that may just scream YES to those questions.
Spending time doing good and potentially making a difference is one of the greatest fulfilments in life and earning a living in the process is the ultimate reward. Thankfully, there are many motivating vocations to choose from that appeal to different interests and may just tick your box. These might range from helping those who are physically impaired and injured to psychology and other medical fields. Perhaps you aspire to assist people in achieving their goals related to health, personal development, and fitness.
There are plenty of careers that focus on improving society and those who live in it. Listed below are our 11 top career picks for those who enjoy helping others.
1. Dietitian
Dietitians help people live their best, healthy, and happy lives by encouraging a more positive relationship with food. For many people, dietitians play a key role in ensuring their best quality of life is achieved.
A career in dietetics entails counseling individuals to develop meal plans that are essential in dealing with food allergies, eating disorders, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, improved sports performance, and general food concerns.
Dieticians work in various working environments including clinics, care homes, gyms, sports clubs, prisons, the food industry, patients’ homes, schools, or in their private practice. Depending on your preference, you can choose from not only a diverse work environment, but you can work with diverse groups as well. Since dieticians often work as part of multidisciplinary professionals to determine the optimal treatment plan for patients, you may work with doctors, nurses, psychologists, and more.
To become a dietician, you must complete a bachelor’s or master’s degree and training.
2. Social Worker
Social work is synonymous with social justice, and with that comes a lot of rewards and even more responsibility. Social workers work with individuals and families that find themselves in difficult situations, assisting them in attaining a better and fairer quality of life. As a social worker, you deal with issues including substance, physical and emotional abuse, child neglect, fostering management, and adoption processes, as well as financial difficulties and much more.
Due to the physical and psychological demands required to be a social worker, one needs to be strong-willed and prepared for the weighty duty. However, while challenging, social work is a direct route to influencing the well-being of others and is a perfect career choice for those who like to make a tangible impact in people’s lives.
To become a social worker, you require a degree from an accredited college.
3. Nurse
Becoming a nurse requires taking a hands-on approach to ensure patients receive the necessary care for their recovery and general wellbeing. You can choose to specialize in different nursing programs including being a Registered Nurse, Critical Care Nurse, Cardiac Nurse, ER Nurse, and, Family Nurse Practitioner amongst others.
Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) provide health care and support for individuals and family units. Due to the nature of their role, they are regarded as highly compassionate. The duties of an FNP include physical examinations, prescribing medications, and diagnosing and treating illnesses. Becoming an FNP is ideal for those who want to build long-term, meaningful relationships with their patients. Click here to learn more about all the requirements for becoming an FNP.
4. Personal Trainer
Another profession involving health development is personal training. As a personal trainer (PT), you assist individuals in reaching their physical fitness goals by exercise coaching, developing effective training plans, and being their biggest motivators. Personal trainers also offer advice on the nutritional plans to accompany the fitness regime. One of the many benefits of choosing personal training as a career is being your own boss while helping others. You have flexible hours and have great earning potential.
While passion for health and skills to work harmoniously with clients is essential, a degree is not typically required to become a personal trainer. However, certification courses are available for those who wish to venture into the profession. A certification provides all the necessary education to get you started.
5. Psychology
The importance of mental health has been brought to the forefront now more than ever, as more and more people speak out about their mental challenges. Mental health is not only becoming destigmatized but the world has evidently seen a dramatic rise in demand for psychologists.
With an increase in people suffering from depression and anxiety, psychologists are a vital support for those struggling. A career in psychology affords you the opportunity to better understand people, interpret events and help them make healthy lifestyle decisions. You can work in hospitals, schools, organizations, and more depending on your specialization.
There is a myriad of specializations in psychology that appeal to different people including but not limited to: clinical, industrial, organizational, forensic, counseling, educational and cognitive.
6. Teaching and Education
Although teaching may be one of the most traditional careers, the extent to which it shapes the lives of people is why it remains vital and ideal for many who like helping others. Education is not isolated to classrooms, it is a broad field that may include working as a coach, trainer, language expert, and more.
For a career in teaching and education, you must possess high-interpersonal skills such as planning, clear communication, confidence to speak in a crowd, and nurturing. Qualifications required for teaching depend on the level of education you aim to teach. These include a teaching qualification, degree, master’s degree, and Ph.D.
7. Medicine
In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported an estimated shortage of 12.9 million healthcare professionals worldwide, and still today the world experiences a constant demand for healthcare professionals. So, is medicine the right career for those that enjoy serving others? It’s always the right time to choose medicine.
A career in medicine comes with great income ensuring a high quality of life. Even so, the responsibility and dedication required are even higher. Working in medicine is undoubtedly one of the most demanding careers one can choose. However, getting to help people with what is most important – living – is the most rewarding part of all.
A profession in medicine mainly entails carrying out practical tasks that range from examining patients, reviewing their medical history, diagnosing illnesses, administering treatment, and further counseling patients on their wellbeing.
Aside from treating patients, you can also choose to specialize in research and assist in developing groundbreaking medicine and treatments or become a medical scientist.
8. Emergency Services
Emergency services are essential in ensuring the safety and care of society. Depending on your preferences, you can choose a career in the police force, paramedics and first responders, fire, and rescue service, or 911 dispatchers.
The role of the different services may vary but what remains the same is not only their necessity but the skills and qualities required are the same. These include having an immense sense of self-control and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations, good communication, and a general passion to serve the public.
Emergency service careers require great focus, passion, and dedication as they involve responding to the needs of people at an urgent time. They are often community-oriented jobs and are therefore ideal for those seeking to make a difference impacting a broader range of people.
Routes to emergency services vary depending on the state, and a degree isn’t always a requirement.
9. Occupational Therapy Assistant
Occupational Therapy Assisting (OTA) is the secret fast-tracking career in the medical field. The rapidly growing healthcare career is gaining popularity not only due to its job benefits but the fact because it can take just about two years of education before acquiring employment.
OTA is centered around helping those who cannot help themselves due to injuries sustained from accidents, cerebral palsy, stroke, arthritis, and other illnesses threatening the ability to perform activities of failing.
An OTA career involves giving support to occupational therapists by assisting people with disabilities and injuries to perform everyday tasks. This includes daily tasks such as bathing, dressing, brushing teeth, and assisting with the patient’s job.
Even more attractive is an OTA income, which stands at an average of $61,500 annually. In addition, the employment rate of OTAs is on the rise, with a projected 35% increase by 2029. Those who aspire to embark on the journey of becoming an OTA can expect to find a variety of job opportunities.
10. Fundraising Manager
In a nonprofit organization, community organization, healthcare facility, or other fundraising initiatives, a fundraising manager is required to oversee all fundraising activities. A fundraising manager is responsible for developing effective strategies for maximizing donations, coordinating fundraising events, writing funding proposals, managing other workers and volunteers, and cultivating relationships with donors.
Being able to lead, communicate, teach and be willing to go the extra mile to make a difference in the world, is all a part of the job.
Professionals in this field typically hold bachelor’s degrees in public relations, nonprofit management, political science, or other relevant fields. Additionally, courses such as a Certificate in Fundraising can be helpful although not necessary, prior marketing and sales experience are also advantageous.
11. Environmental Health Manager
Environmental health managers are essential in ensuring a safe working environment for employees. In this position, you are required to conduct safety inspections at workplaces to ensure that they adhere to all local, state, federal, and industry requirements involving responsibility and safety.
Fundamentally, they assist in possibly saving lives and working towards preventing accidents that may lead to injuries.
An environmental health manager identifies dangers, educates staff about safe work practices, makes changes to equipment characteristics as well as looks into past accidents to determine what went wrong and how to avoid it from happening again.
The minimum educational need for environmental health managers is often a bachelor’s degree in biology, chemical engineering, industrial management, or related scientific fields.
Choosing the Right Career
Still can’t decide which career is best suited for you. That’s okay. The aim of this career guide is to give you career paths to consider. Deciding which career path is right for you takes time. The top 11 careers mentioned above are just some of the many potential options that exist with a focus on being of service to others.
While many may be demanding in time and qualifications required, the end result of making a difference is rewarding and inspiring enough to push you to take the next step.
Those that long to kick-start their career right now without much training and study also have various options. Some of the fields afford you the ability to enter at any stage in time and just need you to take steps in making the application and dedicate your time to training for the position.
