Make a Difference Day: 8 of the most meaningful careers that will help you make a difference!

Every fourth Saturday in October is Make a Difference Day when people are encouraged to make the world a better place.

If you’re looking at how to make a positive impact in your career, here are 8 of the best jobs that make a difference!

Here are the top eight meaningful careers:

• Public Health Nurse
• Occupational Therapist
• Social Worker
• Police Officer
• Mental Health Worker
• Non-Profit or Charity Worker
• Aged Care Worker
• Working in Renewable Energy

Being a nurse is one of the meaningful jobs you can have, and working in the public health sector means helping some of the most vulnerable in our society. And while public health nurses may not have a high salary, the benefits of working as a public health nurse are numerous.

You’re guaranteed a strong, lifelong career path, making a positive impact on those you interact with, and from a financial perspective, public health nurses have some of the best benefits, including rollover sick leave, penalty rates for night shifts, and extensive future job opportunities.

Top Skills for a Public Health Nurse

• Active Listening – 82% important
• Social Perceptiveness – 82% important
• Service Orientation – 80% important
• Speaking – 80% important

Occupational Therapists help people recover from injuries or traumas through everyday exercises and work. This is the perfect job for people who are looking to provide both emotional support and physical support, as you work closely with clients and provide patient care that is ongoing and meaningful work.

Top Skills for an Occupational Therapist

• Monitoring – 82% important
• Service Orientation – 82% important
• Active Listening – 80% important
• Critical Thinking – 80% important

Social workers help some of the most vulnerable in our society, and the best social workers play an important role in helping children and families throughout their lives. Those who have suffered the trauma of domestic violence, abuse, neglect, or difficulties throughout their lives often rely on the significant role that social workers play to assist them in their most trialling times. If you’d like to read more about what Social Workers do, click here.

Top Skills for a Social Worker

• Active Listening – 85% important
• Social Perceptiveness – 82% important
• Speaking – 82% important
• Critical Thinking – 80% important

Law enforcement work of any description makes a huge difference in people’s lives. Police officers are the front line of this enormous operation, dealing face to face with members of the public to keep law and order and assist citizens in trouble. There are, however, many different jobs within the area that don’t require serving as an active officer in law enforcement. Training programs exist for those looking to work in another capacity such as administration that could see you helping to keep law enforcement running.

Top Skills for a Police Officer

• Active Listening – 80% important
• Critical Thinking – 80% important
• Speaking – 78% important
• Monitoring – 75% important

Unsurprisingly, working in mental health is one of the most meaningful careers a person can have. While those who choose to go down the path of a bachelor’s degree and onto a masters degree can look forward to a satisfying job that pays well in the form of being a psychiatrist or psychologist, there are also jobs in mental health that don’t require the seven years or more in university. Consider mental health specialist nursing, mental health support work, or being a mental health outreach worker.

Top Skills for a Welfare Support Worker

• Active Listening – 82% important
• Social Perceptiveness – 82% important
• Speaking – 82% important
• Writing – 80% important

If you’re not sure you can commit to working full time to a career that helps people because of other commitments but still want to do meaningful work, considers doing non-profit or charity work. This can also lead to working for profit in the sector. Consider important causes to you and how you could help. Many charities require only entry-level education and will give volunteers formal training so that they can complete their non-profit jobs at no additional cost.

There may also be limited paid positions within the charity sector, such as project management or executive directors.

Top Skills for a Welfare Support Worker

• Social Perceptiveness – 86% important
• Active Listening – 82% important
• Speaking – 78% important
• Monitoring – 76% important

Working in aged care is a classic ‘I want to help people’ career that doesn’t require a degree. It’s a meaningful career that can give you high levels of job satisfaction while also providing you with a lifelong career. With a good track record, you can go on to make a high annual salary as a care worker in the industry, and best of all, provide high levels of the client or patient care that will really make a difference to the people you look after.

Top Skills for an Aged Care Worker

• Service Orientation – 78% important
• Social Perceptiveness – 72% important
• Active Listening – 70% important
• Speaking – 65% important

This is a good option for people looking for a meaningful career in business. It can be difficult to work in the business world, filled with for-profit organisations, and feel that all those years as a college student were worth it because it feels like you’re not making a difference in the world. But if you choose a sector like renewable energy you can make a real change in the world by impacting positively on climate change, helping future generations and, and still make a good pay-check.

Top Skills for an Electrical Engineer

• Active Listening – 78% important
• Complex Problem Solving – 78% important
• Critical Thinking – 78% important
• Reading Comprehension – 78% important

It can sometimes feel hard to find a dream job that also gives you a meaningful career, but there are plenty out there if you know where to look.

If in doubt, consider any job that will allow you to provide patient care, or look towards an issue you’re passionate about, like climate change, and see if there are opportunities within that sector to make a difference this make a difference day!