What are your career aspirations?

I am at a dilemma at present. I am 57 years old and have always wanted to become a Dentist. I went to school to become a Dental Technician and was the top students, but was discouraged by the instructor that said to me "your hands shake and you will never become a Dentist." Since that that time, I have been unhappy. I have maybe 2 years of undergraduate college in Graphic Design. To make matters worst, I decided to become a Real Estate person. I pass the state part, but did not pass the national part. What am I to do? At present I am a secretary at a college and I hate it. Please give me some advise on what career step to take or is it too late for me? Maybe Real Estate.

There are no bad careers, only bad career matches. A person is generally happiest, I think, when the characteristics of his/her career are a good fit to his/her personality and interests. The careers you've listed - dental tech, graphic designer, real estate agent, and secretary - will all be happy choices for the right persons. But I can't imagine all those careers being a good fit for the same person.

Here are some resources I recommend to people: the first is the Self Directed Search, which is based on what you like to do; it will help you identify the kinds of careers you'd likely be happy in (costs 9.95USD to take it, report is immediately available online):

Welcome to the Self-Directed Search...the world's most widely used career interest inventory! (http://www.self-directed-search.com/)

Once you've identified careers through the SDS, you can read all about them at O*Net Online (enter the DOT codes from the SDS):

O*NET OnLine Help (http://online.onetcenter.org/help/online/crosswalk)

The second is the book "Do What You Are", which maps your Myers-Briggs personality type to work style preferences and suggests careers that you might be happy with:

Personality Type Welcome - book headquarters for Do What You Are - Nurture By Nature - Just Your Type - The Art of Speedreading People (http://www.personalitytype.com/)

The third you might take a look at is a free e-book I've authored called "Surviving Career Transitions," which you can download from Scribd:

CareerTransitions (http://www.scribd.com/doc/276312/CareerTransitions)

Regarding age, I made a major career change in my mid-50s. If you want it bad enough, you can make it happen. You might find this little page on Late Bloomers inspirational:

Kezi Matthews Late Bloomers Page (http://www.kezimatthews.com/late_bloomers.htm)

Vasily

MY career aspirations COME FROM GOD, WITH GOD YOU CAN BE successfully IN ANYTHING

I am at a dilemma at present. I am 57 years old and have always wanted to become a Dentist. I went to school to become a Dental Technician and was the top students, but was discouraged by the instructor that said to me "your hands shake and you will never become a Dentist." Since that that time, I have been unhappy. I have maybe 2 years of undergraduate college in Graphic Design. To make matters worst, I decided to become a Real Estate person. I pass the state part, but did not pass the national part. What am I to do? At present I am a secretary at a college and I hate it. Please give me some advise on what career step to take or is it too late for me? Maybe Real Estate.


1. why did you stop being a Dental Technician if you were a top student?

And why did you let one comment from one instructor stop you from a goal. I think it was Beethovan or Bach that had a music instructor that told them they would never amount to anything, Some of the very best people in a career were told early in their training that they should stop or not do it.

2. on the real estate, so you did not pass, you go back and study and take the test again, and again,

It sounds like you just give up at the slightest bit of trouble in a career.
The differece in a career is that people that really succed are the ones that do it in spite of any and everything, if someone tells them they can't, they go on to prove they can.