Advice on choosing a job or career path

When my graduate students ask me for advice on choosing a job or career path, I don’t tell them to find the best possible fit between their interests and specific job duties. Obviously, they shouldn’t sign up for something they hate. But I tell them that satisfaction can be found in all sorts of vocations. After all, how many kids say, “When I grow up, I’m going to be a quality-assurance analyst”? Rather than relentlessly pursuing a “perfect match” career that they’re sure will make them happy, a better approach is to remain flexible on the exact job, while searching for the values and culture that fit with theirs. 

Arthur C. Brooks writing in The Atlantic