My 10 (Alternative) Career Choices

I'm doing a little bit of scenario-setting here. My profile says I'm an accountant (a 12-year Certified Public Accountant or CPA, to be exact). Admittedly, my decision to become one was largely influenced by my family (my parents and oldest sister are all CPAs). Not that I regret my decision, I like my work and I can't really imagine myself doing anything else. But since this is the virtual world and I am allowed to dream. I guess I can ask myself this question - what if I wasn't an accountant, what will I do? What would have been my career?

This hub will be like the first in a series of What If hubs in my life. I'm already 34 but I can't say my mind is really fixed on what is happening in my life right now. I have always been a daydreamer and I guess I'm fickle-minded but hey, I'm entitled. So here goes...

Online Writing (What I'm doing right now)

This isn't exactly an alternative, I know. More like my part-time job to go with my full-time accounting job. But then, what if I switch this to full-time and accounting to part-time? Will it work? Even before I went to college, writing was not really a good enough career for my family (journalists are poor, you will not become rich being a writer, writing is hard, etc., etc.). Yeah right, as if I'll become rich with just being an accountant. Admittedly, I can never be a journalist, but I know I can write. With online writing, I can write and earn at the same time. So maybe, this is really the first viable alternative for me.

Typist / Encoder

I'm not kidding. I can type and I can type really fast (60 to 75 wpm, I think). Probably has something to do with my typing subject back when I was 16, when we were using those old, heavy, antiquated typewriters and we were typing blindfolded during an exam. But wouldn't this be nice to be typing a few hours per day, earning so-and-so dollars per hour, just using your eyes and fingers and (occasionally) your brains?

Medical Transcriptionist

This job is currently booming in my country, along with call centers. With only six months worth of training, the right equipment, the right client and a lot of courage, one can already embark on this career. The hours are killer though since most of the clients are from the Western countries, one will have to work during the graveyard shift here. Hmmmm, may be an alternative when I was still in my 20s and still single. But now that I'm married and starting my family, I just don't know.

Researcher

This is one of the things I like doing - researching. And with the Internet, researching a lot of things, with just the tips of my fingers and the search engines, has become a lot, lot easier. I already have one job in eLance when I was called to research trivia facts about certain places in the world (hmmm, potential hub topic!). 600 trivia facts in one week! That was really a lot of work but hey I enjoyed it. Another viable alternative on the line!

Human Resource Manager

I have a recent one-day experience on this one. See my hub at http://hubpages.com/hub/My-One-Day-HR-Manager-Experience. Although it was a tiring experience, it gave me a taste of what I am capable of. I'm not really thinking about becoming an HR manager in the corporate setting (can't imagine myself dressed in skirt and blouse, with make-up on and talking to an applicant for the company I am working with). More like a freelance people finder in my own hometown. Now that's a thought!

Marketing Specialist

I'm not talking about selling here. I'm really bad at selling. I'm talking like a behind-the-scenes marketing manager who will conceptualize and visualize the marketing campaign for a certain product. Or someone who will think about new products and how to market these products (we've done this in college and our concepts then became actual businesses or products after a few years). Of course, I need people to work with me and to sweat the small stuff (slave driver!). LOL, I'm kidding. It's kind of nice though to be able to think creatively and see your thoughts become realities.

Computer Programmer

Hey, years ago, I nearly became one. My first choice for a college course was actually computer science. Accounting was just my second choice. But with the help of my parents' strong prayers, I passed the accounting entrance exams and was put on the wait-list for computer science (in my alma mater, computer science has a higher standard than accounting). So I ended up with my accounting course. Ironically, my brother (who is a lot better in math and numbers than me) ended up becoming the computer programmer (oh, well, that's life). To my utter regret and with the boom of information technology all over the world, computer programmers became more in demand (with higher pay) than accountants. Wish I knew this then, I could have argued with my parents just to get the course that I wanted. Guess God had other plans for me.

A Landlady

This isn't exactly a career, but hey, it's also a lifetime job to become a landlady for your tenants =). There's just no formal office or people or anybody else but you (unless you're the landlady for like a 100-door apartment, then this is an entirely different thing). But really, if I have the money and I have the land, I will have a 4- to 5-door apartment built, lease them then just collect the rent later on. Then maybe I can retire and just rely on the fruits of my labor (or apartment). Okay, keep dreaming!

A Singer

Wow! I'm starting to get really dreamy here (don't wake me up please). But I've always wondered how it is to become a famous singer with famous songs and lots of money to boot. Not that I'm a good singer but it's just a fantasy career right? Or maybe not a solo artist, maybe a back-up singer for an internationally-famous singer or a member of a world-famous choir traveling around the world. Or maybe just the lead singer for a small band traveling around the country, singing in clubs and stuff. Now I'm blabbering. Next!

A Cook

Since I love eating (and my waistline shows it), might as well include being a cook as one of my dream careers. Cooking food, not baking (believe me, I will destroy the kitchen if I'm asked to bake anything). My mother, grandmother, aunts and even my father are good cooks and I'm hoping that I inherited their talents. Sadly, I think the genes skipped me. Oh well, I'll just go back to eating good food then =).

Okay I'm waking up now. And yes, I have a lot of things I want to be but for now, I'll just be contented with what I am. May be in the future, I will have the guts (and the time) to go into any of these career choices. Until then, I'll write the Part II of this What If...series. See you then.