For most of us, we want our time on earth to mean something. If you’re a caring individual and want to make positive changes to the environment we live in, it makes sense to go into a career that gives you purpose. Spending your time helping and supporting those in need can give you a great sense of accomplishment. If you’re not sure what path to take, here are eight rewarding career roles that enable you to make a real difference in the world. 

Teacher

Whether you teach toddlers, children, or young adults, you’ll find that the younger generation have a lot of respect for you – not only as an educator of curriculum-based learning, but as someone who can inspire and motivate them towards success. Many of us fondly remember a particular teacher from our school days, who may have been a positive influence on our life and learning.

If you believe you have the extensive skills, experience, and patience to hold your own in a classroom, a teaching role may be the perfect career option for you. Getting into this profession won’t happen overnight, so be warned that you’ll need to complete a bachelor’s degree in the subject you wish to teach, and you’ll also need to complete teaching internships. 

Nurse

For those who are after a career that’s interesting, challenging, but most importantly makes a difference to other people’s lives, nursing may be the answer. Whatever specialty you go into, your skills, expertise, and empathetic nature can help those in need and give you a great sense of satisfaction.

With such a high demand for nurses in the United States, you can be confident you’ll have job security and find a position that aligns with your career prospects. To flourish in any nursing sector, you need to be an excellent communicator, have empathy for patients, and be able to work well under pressure. Marymount University provides online nursing programs that can get you into the nursing world.

Charity Work

Lots of us are passionate about certain causes. Whether it’s climate change, feeding and supporting the homeless, or animal cruelty, there are dozens of charities you may wish to get involved with. While you may initially think charity work is voluntary, there are a huge amount of paid charity positions too.

Whether you work for a national or worldwide charity, you can be confident your days will be spent in a very meaningful way, especially as you know you’ll be doing fantastic things for the greater good. To really excel in charity work, you need to pick a cause that you believe in and know you’ll make an impact.

Childcare

Should you opt to work in childcare, you will make a huge difference to a family’s home life by making sure their children are well looked after and mentally stimulated. If you love being around kids, there may be no greater job than getting to care for them, provide guidance and support, and of course, get paid for it!

Understandably, it takes a special person to work with children. This is because temper tantrums can arise out of nowhere, meaning you’ll need to have patience, as well as excellent communication and organization skills. 

Midwife

As a midwife, you’ll play a vital role in delivering the most precious gift of all – life. For this reason alone, midwifery ranks as one of the highest in terms of job satisfaction. There are numerous reasons to study midwifery. Not only is it an old and essential profession, but there are also great graduate prospects, plus plenty of practical learning to benefit from. 

If you like the sound of supporting women and their families through their pregnancy journey, you’re sure to flourish in a midwife role. Skills required to be a midwife include having the ability to get on well with individuals from all kinds of backgrounds, as well as a caring and understanding attitude. 

Care Worker

With an ever-increasing aging population, the country is in desperate need of care workers. In this role, you will be tasked with caring for and supporting seniors with day-to-day duties. This can involve personal care, cooking, or performing errands. As a care worker, you will provide emotional support to your clients, and be there for their families too.

If you want to go into care work, there are certain qualities that you’ll need to master. These include being respectful to clients, empathizing with their situation, being reliable, as well as being patient with their needs.

Life Coach

While lots of people sail through life without too many problems, others need a helping hand to guide them along the way. As a life coach, you’ll be responsible for motivating and inspiring others to change their life for the better. If your loved ones are constantly turning to you for advice, it may be worth considering a career in life coaching.

Unlike some of the roles listed, you will not need formal qualifications to work as a life coach. Instead, you’ll need self-belief and confidence in your ability to help others. As a life coach, you will work with clients from all kinds of backgrounds to create achievable objectives and goals that they can work towards.

Personal Trainer

If you’re into your health and fitness and find a large chunk of your time is spent in the gym, why not turn your love for exercise into a career? With more and more of us making lifestyle changes and becoming healthier, the need for personal trainers grows year by year. 

When becoming a personal trainer, you will help clients take steps to become more confident, happier, and healthier in their skin. You’ll drum in the importance of regular exercise, eating well, and staying on target to clients to help them stick at and reach their goals.

There may come a time where you’ve become unhappy in your current job and want to seek bigger and better things. For those who get satisfaction from improving other people’s lives and making a positive impact, any of the careers above can give you a great sense of accomplishment, knowing you’re making a difference.