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I'm a latecomer at kicking off my career, where should I start?

Three simple questions, but please excuse the details. I'm 24 years old, female, living in Jakarta Indonesia, and a sophomore in college studying communication management. I'm quite knowledgeable at basic business administration, public relations, marketing, world cultures, philosophy and public speaking, and am a gifted trilingual. Previous jobs I've had include hosting a radio talk show, producing a theatre production, hosting concerts and seminars as master of ceremony (MC), interpreting, translating, make up artist, and HR intern at a small company marketing consumer goods. The problem is, I've never achieved anything consistently significant in these jobs because they're mostly project based and I didn't network enough to consistently have projects on my plate. And because I always seem to be starting over, I've never made enough money to support myself either. Other challenges that have stopped me from launching a career were mostly personal, such as abusive relationships, family conflict, and very frequent international relocations in my late teens & early twenties. While I've done my best to detach my private life from my professional setting, I still subconsciously carry a lot of emotional baggage that I don't even know is there. This has affected the way I make decisions and relate to people. I am, however, getting help in dealing with this baggage, and expect that I will recover once I start seeing results in my professional life (i.e. reputation, sustainable achievements, and money). I had meant to start working last year, but abandoned a pending job offer orted the plan when I got trapped into producing a theater production for a businessman who casted this vision of a great theater company but did nothing to follow it up. Before this, my confidence level in entering the workforce had been recovering and I was excited about starting to work... but since the theater company didn't work out as expected, I feel like a loser who had been cheated on again. However, I don't want to create an identity as one who never finishes what she started, so we decided to press on by doing street performances for charity. In the meantime I will spend less time working there and more time on finding a real job that I love, makes a difference in the lives of others, and makes money. The thing is, at this point I feel lost, and need to recover my confidence that had corroded when the theater company missed my expectations. If I didn't feel that way, I could probably see my options more clearly and have more courage to make wise decisions. I want a career that fits my talent and passion (i.e. writing, speaking, and conceptualising creative ideas). Other than creative writing and public speaking, I don't really have much experience or expertise, but I do know a little bit about a lot of stuff and am a fast learner. People have told me that I am intelligent, good looking, and drive extra miles to produce excellent results. I prefer jobs that aren't set in an office, are deadline oriented but flexible with hours and methods, and facilitate me to meet a myriad people who are beneficial to my professional network. Anyhow, it boils down to these three questions: 1. What jobs should I consider, where can I learn more about them, and how can I network so that I can consistently have plenty of options when it comes to choosing my projects? 2. Which competitive edges should I sell, so that people will want to hire me although I'm about to hit quarter life and have limited experience? 3. What are some practical things I can do to pick myself up so I don't get too bogged down with the emotional baggage and have more confidence & energy to break through with my career? Thank you so much! God bless you.

Public Comments

1. Wow, just reading your question made me feel stupid compared to you. Geez, you have lots of experience. Strong work ethics. I don't even know what to say, im afraid that you'll think im dumb haha. Well anyways i would suggest going into politics. There you can speak out, work hard, drive your ideas to reality. Or you can try your hand in Hollywood, Bollywood. It will be hard and lots of leaps of faith but with a brain like yours you can manage it. Everybody has there falls. Just depends how high you bounce back up. Don't kick yourself to hard. Hope this helps. Im sure you knew all this already. Good luck.