5 Places You Might Have Overlooked in Your Job Search

Every day, you might curl up with the wanted ads from your local paper, scour the online job boards, and interrogate your friends about potential openings at their places of business ― but you might never find a position that truly captures your interest. Many workplaces are more or less identical: Employees toil away in the confines of their cubicles, completing their work and going home. You want something exciting and different ― but for that, you might need to apply to places you never thought to look.

Every place you visit offers opportunities for employment, which means some of your favorite locations could be the perfect places to apply. The following five places are different from the average business, which might make them fascinating new opportunities during your job search.

Museums and Galleries

Though museums and galleries are sanctuaries of art and culture, they must run just like a typical business to continue enlightening the public. Regardless of whether an institution is a for- or not-for-profit, it requires financial geniuses, marketing gurus, human resources agents, and other important professionals to keep its doors open. Additionally, you might find work as an exhibit designer, an outreach coordinator, a special educator, or even a curator. Positions at big-name museums like the Smithsonian or the Met are cut-throat competitive, but if you find value in spreading culture and history to those interested, then working your way into a museum or gallery career might be exactly what you need.

K-12 Schools

When most people consider working in primary or secondary education, they only think of teaching. Indeed, the United States is in dire need of high-quality teachers, but if you don’t see yourself capable of leading a classroom of rowdy kids, you still shouldn’t overlook schools as places of possible employment. School administration contains dozens of positions that depend on alternative skills, such as problem-solving, financial savvy, emotional intelligence, and more. You can devote your talents to a single school or work for the district, designing curricula and policies, balancing budgets, or otherwise giving what you can to help young lives.

If you are enchanted by the opportunity to impact little lives but terrified by confronting 30-plus at once, you can still apply to work at schools. Speech-language coaches, special-ed tutors, and guidance counselors all help children struggling to achieve, thereby making a positive impact on the future. For some school positions, you might need to return to re-enter the classroom yourself, for example taking online counseling programs to become a certified school counselor, if you like the idea of helping students, but more one-on-one.

Libraries

Like a combination between museums and schools, libraries allow the public a place for self-education, a space for community events, and so much more. Currently, many libraries across the country are undergoing a transition from physical repositories to digital services providers ― and they need as much help as possible surviving the change. If you are adept at technology, you might be eagerly accepted at libraries trying to implement more online programs. Additionally, libraries continue to need assistance organizing events, acquiring books, and providing other essential on-site services.

Overseas

You don’t have to work in America. If you’re constantly finding yourself daydreaming about your next big trip, you might consider looking for work at businesses around the world. More likely than not, you can find a viable career in your current field in English-speaking countries like the U.K., Australia, and South Africa. Additionally, enterprises in developing nations ― particularly those in East Asia ― are eager for young, American professionals to provide guidance in emerging markets. You can either pick a country and find work there or search international job boards for open positions in your field.

Anywhere and Everywhere

Finally, you should consider abandoning employment altogether and beginning a career working for yourself. Freelancing is exploding in popularity, and it’s easy to see why: flexible hours, flexible location, control over projects, control over pay, and the list goes on. Some experts predict almost half of America’s workforce ― roughly 60 million people ― will be freelancers by 2020. You can join the freelancing revolution today and find work through a number of online marketplaces, including Upwork, Elance, and Freelancer.

The best way to transition into freelancing is slowly. For some time, you may need to remain at your current nine-to-five job, until you can develop a reliable, paying client base for your freelance work. Eventually, you will be able to cut ties with traditional employment and work anywhere, at any time, doing whatever fulfilling jobs you want.