Research Your Life

A lot of people are overjoyed when they finish college and have written their last research paper. I was crestfallen. You see, I love research projects of any type. I love every step of the project. I love coming up with a new area of inquiry, brainstorming, researching, and finally being able to answer a question with some certainty. It doesn’t even matter much what I am researching. Whether it is a science research project or an English or history paper, it is a lot of fun for me. So when I left school and went into the workplace, something seemed unfulfilling. I was making good money as a financial consultant, but I don’t think I was really happy. The answer was so simple, and yet it took me so long to see. I needed a research job.

The problem was I did not know what kinds of research jobs to look for. You see, I love researching everything. I had majored in English and minored in science, so I had a fairly broad background. My first thought was to go into some science research jobs. The problem was, the more I looked, the bleaker my job prospects seemed. Research science jobs are in high demand, you see. There were a lot of people with much better science credentials than I had who were still having trouble finding the right job. I didn’t have a chance.

That is why I went to work for a political think tank. Through connections, good luck, and an outstanding interview, I was able to get a research job at a very serious political institution. Their politics weren’t exactly the same as mine, but there were close enough that I could feel good about what I was doing. Best of all, I had a pretty serious research job. Don’t get me wrong ? a lot of the work was pretty tedious when I was first starting. Nonetheless, it was only a few months before they trusted me with the big stuff. I got to spend hours every day looking up obscure points of policy and writing briefs for my superiors. Soon I was writing my own research papers to present at policy meetings.

A lot of people stay in a field that they don’t like because they like the money and are afraid to leave it behind. This held me back from getting a research job for quite a while. I am glad I got past it eventually. Nothing beats being paid to do what you love!

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