Have you noticed that you lean toward careers for creative people?
Careers that are good fits for people who need something different every day?
As a creative person (not necessarily artistic), you likely get bored when you’re doing the same thing all the time. Instead of being afraid of it, you’re stimulated by not knowing what’s coming next, or at least having a variety of tasks that you do rather than just one or two things that you repeat and gain complete expertise in.
While for some doing a one or just a few things might equal focus, expertise and skill, for you it equals boredom and career death.
You absolutely need variety to keep you interested and stimulated.
You also likely have some passion or deep interest that you’ve flirted with as a career focus. The problem is, it can sometimes seem hard to figure out how to take your passion and turn it into a career.
Therefore, in today’s world that is so focused on focus and building expertise, being a jack of all trades and someone who has a passion for something that doesn’t necessarily earn money can feel like a tricky spot to be in.
Surviving A Logical World When You Prefer Careers for Creative People
The world right now is clearly set up to favor linear thinkers: people who are able to follow the rules and the exact way of doing something, can apply ideas in a hands-on way, who enjoy research and to whom logic is the best way to solve a problem.
It can sometimes feel harder to find the application for creative thinking, and it is often undervalued.
But sometimes, trial and error, thinking outside the box, not making assumptions (that may later turn out to be a false basis for your logic), or using the same solution to the problem is not what an organization needs, even though it’s what it asks of employees.
So how do you survive in a world that values linear thinking over creative thinking?
I believe there are two answers to this question.
Find Careers For Creative People
First, you find careers for creative people.
There are careers that require thinking outside the box, have variety, and would allow you to connect with people – likely another of your strengths.
I don’t like writing lists of ideas because I think that each person is unique and has unique requirements. Reading a list of ideas of careers for creative people is probably close to useless. Still, anything from police detective to therapist to marketing executive could fit the bill.
Wait For Careers For Creative People
The second answer is to wait.
The more machines take over jobs, the more linear thinking will be replaced by computers. Creative thinking will take longer to be truly done by computers. I believe there will be a time when creative thinkers will be in high demand because of this, and I’m not alone in this prediction.
In fact, it’s predicted that nearly 50% of total US jobs could be automated by 2033, but among highly creative jobs, nearly 90% of those were at low to no risk for automation. The skills needed for tomorrow’s jobs are creativity and jobs that need a high degree of social intelligence.
Your skills, while useful today, will become the next big boom of tomorrow.
Position Your Creativity Correctly
There is likely plenty of opportunity for you to use your creative skills out there in the world and to get paid for them.
Finding an organization that values creative thinking and input from their employees can mean the difference between career happiness and dying in your job. It can also mean the difference between having a career future and being replaced by a robot.
Shift your own mindset about the skills that you have and their value. Think about how your creative skills have contributed or can contribute in ways that are important to your company.
For example, if you are a marketer, did you create a campaign that resulted in increased sales? If you’re in HR, did you design a training that had a measurable impact on employee morale?
Often, creative thinkers don’t like metrics and measures, but the more you can measure the impact of your creativity and communicate it, the better you can position yourself as relevant and valuable – even if you end up transferring that experience to a totally different industry.
An Example Of Measuring Your Creativity
When you talk about this experience, especially in a job interview, don’t be afraid to ask, “Is this the kind of creative thinking you need on your team?” For example:
“In my current position, I designed a marketing campaign that resulted in 250,000 YouTube views and made over $2 million dollars. Is this the kind of creative thinking you need on your team?”
By linking your current experience back to your creativity – something you possess no matter what industry you take it to – you show that you can be successful using creativity as a tool.
You could add:
“I was able to come up with a creative marketing campaign for XYZ company while I was there, but working for you, I would be excited to let my creative juices flow and solve problems related to A, B, and C.” (A, B, and C being problems you already know they have through research).
This way, you start to build the idea that your creativity is a superpower that you’ll let loose on their business if they’re lucky and smart enough to hire you.