Laura Faircloth
Student Case: Finding a career path

It was January 2009, Laura Faircloth searched online listings for new job postings and hoped that a contact would be in touch with her to help brainstorm about potential networking and job opportunities. Laura was in her last semester of her M.B.A. program at the George Washington University where she had been studying Environmental Management. She had high hopes for an interesting and fast-paced career in the growing field of corporate sustainability, but the recent worldwide economic failures were causing great stress in Laura's job search. Laura reflected on her career path thus far and felt fortunate to have at least identified a career path about which she was passionate. This was something that had eluded her not too long ago. 

 

Laura had struggled initially upon completing her undergraduate studies. Though successful academically, she was not clear on a career path. Laura loved studying political science and had concentrated on classes covering the Middle East. Through her studies, Laura knew she was very interested in a career in conflict resolution and had developed an interest in joining the foreign service. Laura also thought she would like to pursue a graduate degree, but having little work experience outside of short-term internships, she felt that she needed to have a better understanding of potential career paths before committing to the foreign service or a new academic program. 

Laura decided to get some additional work experience to help determine her next steps. The problem that Laura faced was that although she had enjoyed her undergraduate studies, she was having a difficult time connecting them to actual job functions. She was frustrated that her liberal arts education did not include a component that would have helped her understand career options. In school, people had always assumed that being a Political Science major Laura would be interested in law school. But, Laura knew that there were many other options, and was having trouble identifying a career that she could connect with issues that inspired her. 
Eventually, Laura had an opportunity to work in corporate responsibility with a large, multi-national oil company. Laura realized that she was finally working in conflict resolution in a way by helping a company take the best steps to avoid future problems with stakeholders and to reflect on past issues of conflict that the company had faced. Up to that point, Laura had felt that her favorite classes and her academic achievements were not connecting with her professional work. Laura's "aha" moment came when she realized that she could connect her passion for the environment with her desire to help resolve issues corporations are facing. 
It took some time, but through a great deal of research and trial and error, Laura eventually found a graduate program to help her reach her goal to work in corporate sustainability. Laura was now studying business and environmental management issues that she could apply to help a company reduce its impact and produce innovative products and services that would benefit the environment. 
Laura knew that finding a job that corresponded to her goals would be difficult as more and more companies were laying off thousands of employees. She also faced questions over whether her dream job would have t take a back seat if her husband was relocated to a city with few opportunities for her. Laura and her husband supported each others' careers, but as a result of bad economy and her husband's health problems, they both knew that they might have to make some tough choices in the future. Would Laura's focus on a career path lead her to a satisfying job or would other factors delay her goals?


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