We all have a vague idea of what career path we want to go down. However, this doesn’t mean we’re confined to this one particular career for the rest of our life. In fact, many people think they know their path, but stumble across a different career and end up loving that instead. Furthermore, it can take a while to get to your dream job, meaning you have time to try other things out instead.
Today, I want to talk about some different career ideas. But, this is a career ideas post that’s different to any others you might have read. I’ve been through a lot of career blog posts, and they usually provide the same typical career advice. More often than not, they include careers that are ‘female-friendly’. This means they list jobs they think women would like to do or would be best suited for women. Naturally, this really ticks me off as we can do any job a man can do. So, this concept of ‘female-friendly’ careers really is a load of bull! It just encourages young girls to believe they’re only capable of a few jobs, and that they should stay away from certain careers – again, what a load of rubbish.
As you can probably tell, I’m close to boiling point right now! This whole idea really annoys me, so I want to provide you with some different advice. I’ve listed a whole host of careers you should consider, which you probably didn’t give a second thought until now. I guarantee you’ll raise your eyebrows at some of these, purely because you’ve never been suggested them before as they’re more male-friendly careers. Remember, you can do anything if you put your mind to it and have the right skills. So, don’t section yourself off from different career prospects just because you’re a girl!
Okay, introduction/rant over. Check out these ideas, and see if one of them appeals to you:
A Career In Programming
As part of my research for this post, I stumbled upon a website called Learn How To Become. They had a really great article with a little infographic detailing some ‘traditional’ careers against ‘non-traditional’ careers for women. One of the traditional careers was an administrative assistant compared to a non-traditional one of a computer programmer. It got me thinking, how often are women applying for the general secretary jobs compared to the actual specialist ones? It happens far too often, and there’s no real reason for it other than we’re discouraged by the sheer over-representation of men in the specialist roles. So, why not do things differently and look for a career in computer programming? Again, there’s nothing that says a guy needs to do this job, it’s all dependent on skills and knowledge, which you can gain.
Often, the specialist jobs – like computer programmers – get paid the better wages. If we keep settling for the general admin roles, we’ll never progress in our careers. Make the plunge, consider a career as a programmer. To make this an even better prospect, it’s an industry that’s booming as we see more and more computer technology being used every day. Companies are always hiring, but it’s also a great freelance career option too.
A Personal Trainer
You hear the words ‘personal trainer’, and your mind immediately drifts to some huge bloke with more muscles than sense. It’s one of those career options women are almost discouraged from because they can’t possibly be as good a personal trainer as a man. Men can get bigger than women, therefore they’ll be better trainers, right? Don’t be silly, women can be better personal trainers than men if they want to be. It’s all about your knowledge of health, fitness, and nutrition. That’s all you need to form a good career in this field.
A Career In Construction
I’m not a betting woman, but if I were, I’d bet my life savings that you’ve never once considered a career in construction. Following this, I bet I know why a lot of you haven’t thought about it; because we’ve been conditioned to associate it as a male career. Leave the manual labour jobs to the guys while we women do something else. While men are genetically stronger than women, that doesn’t mean we don’t have a place on the construction site too. Moreover, construction careers are also great for working your way up the ladder. Many people have begun as a lowly apprentice only to climb to the top as a manager or foreman (is forewoman even a thing?). Jobs in these higher roles are very well paid too so you could be missing out on a successful career.
I know why a lot of women are put off these careers because they don’t seem very attractive. Getting up early and doing lots of physical work isn’t the greatest thing in the world. Plus, you have to wear tatty clothes and get dirty all the time. Well, regarding the latter point, you can still be fashionable on a construction site. If you see what Steel Blue has on offer, you’ll find there are some very fashionable and practical boots you can wear. Plus, if you’re fashion-conscious, you can make anything work, even construction garments. On a more serious note, yes, all the physical work can be tiring, but you’re usually complemented with generous holiday allowances. Not forgetting there’s room to grow too, which is an incentive for all the hard work in the early stages of your career.
A Mechanic Career
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been to a female mechanic before. Anyone? Any hands in the air? It’s funny, I didn’t really think about this until I started writing this piece. There are next to no female mechanics working in the area around me. That’s….crazy. What is it about fixing cars that’s so ‘male’? I kind of understand that men are stereotypically more into cars than women, and there’s also the stereotype that women don’t like getting their hands dirty. Of course, this isn’t true, have you seen how messy fake tan is?
Anyway, that’s beside the point, women shouldn’t shy away from a career as a mechanic because it’s a good opportunity for them. Mechanics are one of the most common small business owners out there, and business is usually good. People drive cars, and people will always need car servicing or repairs, etc. If you like cars and have a good knowledge of fixing things, why not go for this career path? I bet there are loads of girls that have a passion for cars but don’t think this career is ‘right’ for them. Screw that, time to get our hands dirty!
Women are slightly put off because they feel they’re at an unfair disadvantage when competing with male personal trainers. There’s every chance a girl will want to be trained by a girl, but there’s less chance a guy will go to a female personal trainer. As a result, male trainers could have the pick of both genders, while women think they only cater to other women. Truthfully, don’t worry about this. Worry about the service you provide! If you prove to be a good trainer that elicits results in their clients, people will flock to you. Take a look at the Girls Gone Strong website as they wrote a brilliantly informative piece on becoming a personal trainer. This will come in handy if you choose this career path.
An Aircraft Pilot
Right, how many female flight attendants have you seen? Probably a fair few as this is a job that’s more female-dominated (yes, we did it, girls!). But, how many female pilots have you seen? Have you ever heard a woman’s voice talking to you from the cockpit when you fly? As someone who flies quite a lot, I can’t think of a single time I’ve ever seen or heard a female pilot. I can’t think why there’s nothing that makes a man better at flying a plane than a woman.
While having lots of women working as flight attendants is great, they’re paid way way way less than pilots. This is understandable as it’s a very important job that requires loads of responsibilities. It would just be nice to see a more equal spread of male and female pilots. So, why don’t you start bucking the trend and getting inside that cockpit? You have just as much chance as a man, all you have to do is go through the right educational process and training. It’ll be hard, but it’ll be hard for anyone! Why miss out on a great career just because you’ve seen loads of male pilots and don’t think you stand a chance?
There we have it, five careers I bet you’ve not considered until right now. It really ticks me off when people say things like “oh there aren’t many female *insert job title here* because hardly any apply for the job!”. Yeah, women don’t apply because they see how many men are in these jobs compared to women. It discourages us, we’re lead to believe we have no chance of forging a career in these areas. My advice? Don’t be put off, try out a different career and see where it gets you.
