Although I am learning in my life to "appreciate the moment," I normally tend to be more future-oriented: always planning the next big adventure. Right now, the next big adventure is mostly figuring out how to make this patchwork academic and experiential background of mine fit into somebody's job-mold. Mmm-- job-mold; that must be the reason I keep hopping from one adventure to another. Somebody open a window! The job mold is taking over in here! Auggggghhh!!
I thought a good exercise might be to list my Ideal Dream Jobs and the requirements I would still have to fulfill in order to be qualified to do them. I am kind of scared to see the results... So, in no particular order:
- Director/Coordinator for Service Learning at a college, preferably one in a big city or at my alma mater, which is in a decidedly not-very-big city: I'm not sure. Maybe you are already qualified. I guess you should ask around. A PhD is never a bad thing, though, if you want to work at a college... right?
- Director/Coordinator for International Studies (or International Students) at college or seminary: Unsure. See above.
- Work, in some capacity, for an international faith-based non-governmental organization. Um... can you be more specific, please? Sure: like Bread for the World, or Lutheran World Relief. But I am not sure exactly what I would want to do there. OK, then I would suggest becoming fluent in at least one more language, gaining some more international work experience, and maybe getting a useful degree like a PhD or an MBA. Gotcha. No prob.
- Or, a national faith-based nonprofit. That would be OK too. Then probably Spanish, and that useful degree from before. Good call.
- Be a college or seminary professor. Ooh.. that's an easy one. You need a PhD in something. Right-e-o, just need to figure out what the "something" should be.
- Director of the Urban Servant Corps. I dunno, maybe you are already qualified. Maybe you should check that one out. Can I tell you a funny story about this one? We had a group in town last week, and I got to know a very nice older couple, and they were asking me about being a Diaconal Minister and what I would exactly like to do with that. The lady said, right out of the blue, "How about being the Director of the Urban Servant Corps?" My jaw actually dropped as I managed to sputter oh-so-elegantly, "That's like one of my top-5 ultimate dream jobs! How did you know?" Turns out her niece is the founder.
- Work at a congregation as the Coordinator for Neighborhood Ministries, or the equivalent. Isn't that the job that you basically gave up in order to come here? Don't remind me.
Well... that wasn't so bad, now was it? Whew.
Getting a Master's in International Peace studies couldn't hurt really, but it seems like a PhD is where it's at. "But I just don't feel like it" is kind of a poor excuse, though, isn't it. Should I make a decision that will allow me better long-term possibilities, even if I really don't feel like it right now, or should I do what sounds really cool, even though it would basically be just another ripped-up old shirt to add to my patchwork? I mean... you really can't write a dissertation half-heartedly, can you? It would turn out crappy, and that's no good. But on the other hand I already have one or two master's degrees, basically just gathering dust. Do I need to add another to the collection?
5 comments:
Wow, they all sound pretty cool.
With regards to working for an international NGO, there is so much that you could do. The main question is do you want to work in the field or at HQ. Those require two different set of skills but experience in a developing country is a big plus for either.
If you want to work in the field Ethiopia is a fantastic country to look at, they have a very strong faith-based NGO community and certainly enough issues to go around (plus you only need English).
The field, very most definitely the field. And I would very much like to learn another langauge, if possible. :-)
So how does one go about getting that ever-elusive "experience in a developing country"? I have been throwing around the idea of Peace Corps for several years now. Maybe it's finally time...
Or I guess I can see where my church is doing stuff--I mean, where ELSE. But I am not so sure I want to teach ESL/EFL, which is what many of the non-pastor jobs are. Hmm.
What about the World Council of Churches? I know a couple of people who work there...
Tom, that would be great. Hook me up! :-)
+1 for the WCC. I went to their annual gathering in October down in Atlanta and they really are a group of people dead-set on making a difference.
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