by rebecca brunton

How is an Idealist supposed to decide on one career path, when he or she is constantly wondering if the grass is greener as a writer, or a dental hygienist, or a teacher, or an accountant? This grass-is-greener-syndrome, along with a tendency for Idealists to have incredibly high expectations for our future careers, is a common trait of our type. When the reality of our chosen profession doesn’t live up to the image we had of it in our inexperienced minds, we sometimes get discouraged and start wondering if we might be better pursuing something else.... I can say, without a doubt, that this is the story of my life.

I am a twenty-something-year-old INFX. “X” is for undecided—I score J (judging) on the MBTI, but align well with the P (perceiving) type. I would say I am a typical Idealist (NF). As a high school student, my career ambitions were what others might consider a little… ummmm… unrealistic. I wanted to be either a famous actress, or a weather girl, or some sort of world traveller who immersed herself in other cultures and learned their ways—and somehow got paid for it at the same time. Needless to say I became none of those, but that isn’t so bad. Now, I would never want to be a famous actress, nor a weather girl, and while I haven’t exactly gotten paid to travel, I have been able to do a lot of it through other means.
Taking a gap year post high school to work in Mexico for a few months, I then began my studies at the University of Western Ontario (now just Western University). True to the nature of an Idealist, I switched majors twice in my four years, starting out in International and Comparative Studies, moving to a half college/half university program in Media, Theory and Production, and finally graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Media, Information and Technoculture (MIT).

Access & Privacy Officer Accountability and Assessment Officer Advancement Assistant and Junior Researcher Bilingual Reader Advisor Biomed Sciences Research Support Librarian Business Information Specialist Children’s Librarian Clinical Information Specialist Clinical Librarian Communications and Project Officer Community Outreach Librarian Conflicts Information Specialist Consultant, Business Research Content Inventory Coordinator | Copyright Education/Compliance Manager Development Researcher Digital Literacy Coordinator Digital Media Specialist Donor Research Specialist Electronic Resource Metadata Mgmt. Librarian Electronic Services Librarian Emerging Technologies Specialist Environmental Data Specialist Geographic Names Specialist Geospatial Data Librarian Information Access Specialist Info. Research & Training Services Manager Information Services Consultant | Knowledge Mobilization Officer Manager of Public Services Manager, Resource Discovery and Access Metadata and Taxonomy Specialist Online Consumer Health Information Researcher Prospect Research and Analytics Officer Prospect Researcher Research Associate Research Consultant Research Evaluation Coordinator Research Information Officer Unit Coordinator Library Media Resources Visualization Coordinator |

Some final places where graduates typically find work are in museums, archives and Records Management. Museums hire Information Professionals for research and management positions, as well as to be in charge of the preservation of old artifacts and documents. Records Management is a form of archiving that most companies and big organizations use. This department is responsible for managing the lifecycle of a company’s records. They must store and organize every record that the company generates, and determine when a record is no longer needed by the company.

- University of Montreal (in French)
