When you’re trying to decide on a career path, it’s important that you draw up a list of your priorities. This will help you to narrow down your potential options and find something that is a good fit for you. For some people, this is easy because they’re, first and foremost, motivated by money. They don’t really mind what they do as long as it pays a high salary. But not everybody is that simple and a lot of people find that they want more from their career.
A lot of the high paying jobs out there aren’t really focused on bettering the world. Working for a private company, for example, doesn’t usually add anything to the local community and that’s a big problem for some people when they’re trying to decide on a career path. Instead, they want to do a job that allows them to connect with their local community and improve the lives of the people around them. The good news is, those jobs do exist and some of them pay fairly well so you can still earn a good living while doing something more fulfilling. If you’re fed up with your current job and you’re looking for a change, these are some of the best community-focused career paths out there.
Social Work
Social work is one of the most important careers there is, but a lot of people don’t really understand just how vital it can be. Most of us don’t come into contact with social workers but for people that are in difficult situations, they make such a huge difference. If you become a social worker, you’ll be tasked with helping some of the most vulnerable people in your local community and finding ways to improve their lives in a very meaningful way. There are a lot of different routes into social work but you’ll need some formal education of some kind. A psychology degree is a good place to start because it gives you a good foundation before you start pursuing specific social work qualifications. Doing a Christian psychology degree online is a good option for people that want to get into social work because a lot of the teachings of the Christian faith align well with the qualities that you’ll need to be a successful social worker. Doing the degree online also gives you more flexibility and allows you to work while you study, which is ideal for people that are changing career later in life and don’t want to deal with the financial burden of going back into education full time. Once you have a related degree, you can start looking into doing a masters in social work to get qualified. Social work is a very community-focused career and you’ll get the chance to be very active in the local community and help people from all different walks of life. However, it can be an incredibly demanding job and the emotional burden is very high. You will be faced with a lot of difficult situations and some people find it hard to leave their work behind when they get home. If you can’t separate your work life from your personal life and stop yourself from becoming too attached, you may struggle. It’s important that you think about whether you’re well suited to this career before you pursue it. Charity Careers 
Government-funded social workers play a very important role in helping those in need, but they’re not the only people that are trying to make a difference in their local community. There are so many charities out there that are raising money and helping disadvantaged people in the local community and there are so many ways that you can get involved. Charities rely heavily on volunteers and a lot of people are happy giving a little bit of their spare time while they work another job. But if you want to dedicate all of your time to one of these charities, you should look for work opportunities. The good thing about working with a charity is that there are so many different roles and a lot of the skills that you have from working elsewhere are transferable. For example, if you’re working in marketing for a private company, charities need a good marketing team as well to help them raise more money. They need admin staff to handle the general running of the offices as well, and there are some great management roles involved as well. Whatever your skills and experience are, there should be a role for you somewhere in a charity. If you like your job but you want to use your skills in a more meaningful way that gives you the opportunity to connect with your local community, working for a charity is one of the best ways to do it.
Community Theatre and Arts
While practical careers are undeniably a necessary part of society, there’s something to be said about getting involved in the arts. Art and culture enrich the lives of all kinds of people, so if you have a talent and an interest in the performing arts, why not look for ways to make money out of what you love?
It’s infamously difficult to get into the big leagues of theatre, but you can get involved in smaller, local productions. Look to other professionals like Travis Preston CalArts for ways to improve your craft and, you never know what might come of your efforts.
Even if theatre isn’t your primary source of income, it can provide you with a secondary cash flow. But more importantly, it’s a great way to add to your skills, widen your horizons, and even have an effect on other people as a true part of the community.
Counseling
There are so many people struggling with mental health problems right now. In the last few years, the stigma around mental health has started to lift and that means more people are being open about their issues and seeking treatment. That’s great, but it does mean that there is often a shortage of trained professionals available. One of the best ways to treat mental health problems is to see a counselor who can talk through some of those issues with you and help you to work out what the root of your problems is and how you can deal with them effectively. It’s a career that is entirely focused on connecting with members of the local community and helping them to improve their lives. You’ll need to earn a bachelor’s degree before you can then do your masters and train to be a counselor. It doesn’t always need to be in a related field but you have a higher chance of success if you have a degree in something like psychology. Once you’ve got a masters degree, you can start looking at your different career options as a counselor.
There are a lot of different types of counseling and you can specialize in certain areas. You can be a general counselor who deals with mental health issues like anxiety and depression and helps people to find ways to deal with these conditions. You could also look into more specific areas of counseling, like school counseling, for example. A lot of children really struggle with mental health issues, especially at stressful times like taking exams, etc. If you become a school counselor you will play a very important role in helping young people to deal with these problems so they don’t develop into more serious mental health problems.
People that have sustained a serious injury that has had a big impact on their life often struggle to adapt. In a lot of cases, seeing a counselor can really help them to deal with the emotional side of their injury, especially if they have been left disabled afterward. All of these specialist areas of counseling are incredibly rewarding, community-based jobs.
Science Communication 
This is one that people don’t always consider. Most jobs in science and engineering aren’t really that community-based. They tend to be focused around research either for a university or for a private company. There is often a bit of a disconnect between this research and members of the general public who don’t necessarily know about any of the innovations going on behind the scenes. A lot of people with a science background also assume that there isn’t really any community-based career options out there for them, but that isn’t true. It’s important that members of the public engage with science and understand how it impacts their everyday lives, which is where science communication careers come in. If the general public doesn’t understand why science is important and what impact it has on their lives, it’s harder to convince people to support research, so getting out into the local community and talking to everyday people about current research is so important.
There are a lot of different career options for people that want to get involved with science communication. A lot of universities employ a communications officer who is responsible for publicizing the research that is going on at the university and taking it to the local community. There are a lot of different ways that you can do that like putting on events for the general public, running social media pages or writing blogs about the research. There are other organizations that aim to increase awareness of scientific research in the local community.
Pint of Science is a global initiative that puts on events around the world with scientists talking about their research. They work with universities and put on these events that are open to the general public so they can learn about current research. There are potential job opportunities available with these organizations but you won’t be paid if you are a speaker as they are all volunteers. If you’re the kind of person that gets bored in an office all day long and you want to work with your local community, these are some of your best career options. 
