Should You Get a Less Prestigious Career so You Can Pursue Your Passion?

When I was in college, I had developed a genuine interest in business and leadership development, even though I had no real experience in either field. 

It wasn’t for the prestige.

It was because that field had the potential of fulfilling 2 of my core values: helping others & personal development.

So, I mapped out a lot of different ways that I could explore this intersection and decided to pursue management consulting.

After all, that was a good way for me to develop some experience in business while working with leaders.

Plus, it had the added bonus of being a great launching pad to basically any career I would want, should I decide to jump ship.

When I received an offer from a consulting firm that I felt pretty good about, I accepted. 

The company did happen to have some level of prestige within the industry, but as I mentioned, that was not the reason why I applied for the role.

And yet, after just a few months, I started to feel that need for prestige.

For some background, I had previous part-time and internship experience at my alma mater, a nonprofit start-up, and other companies that were not necessarily prestigious.

However, it hit me that if I had decided to go back to work at any of those places full-time, even if the role would have been the perfect fit for my skills, career goals, and passions, it would have felt like a step back.

Suddenly, this idea of prestige was so important to my own career development.

So, is it worth getting a less prestigious job so that you can pursue your passion?

Ok, let’s break this down.

What exactly is prestige anyways?

According to Dictionary.com, prestige has the following 2 meanings:

“(1) reputation or influence arising from success, achievement, rank, or other favorable attributes.

“(2) distinction or reputation attaching to a person or thing and thus possessing a cachet for others or for the public.”

The first definition is about what makes something or someone prestigious in the first place: They have success, accomplishments, perhaps wealth or other favorable attributes.

If someone or something does not experience success, they are not considered prestigious.

Of course, we all want to have some level of success. So in that regard, having a prestigious job or working at a prestigious company is a good thing.

The second definition is where things get interesting.

The second definition talks about the reputation that prestige brings, which is created by what others’ think, either in the community, industry, or society.

The reason why successful people or companies are considered prestigious is that enough people said that they are successful.

Now, you probably already knew that.

So what’s the point?

The point is this: Are you going to let what others think determine if the job you have right now is worth leaving in order to pursue your passion?

Listen, I LOVE that you want to pursue your passion. I support you 100%!

But whether you stay or leave your job should not affect the reputation of your job or your organization.

Leaving your role depends on personal factors.

So what does prestige have to do with pursuing your passion?

Well, I’ve got 2 considerations for you.

The first is: How do you want to pursue your passion?

Let’s say your passion is to end world hunger. 

You can pursue that passion by going full-time into lobbying our policymakers to support the cause.

OR you can work for a company whose corporate social responsibility strategy covers ending world hunger.

OR you could support your local homeless shelter on the weekends.

Depending on how you want to pursue your passions, you either can stay in your current job, change jobs, create your own job, or anything in between.

The second consideration is: What limit does your prestigious job have on you that would prevent you from pursuing your passion?

What I often hear is that people who consider their job prestigious work long hours, are drained after a day of work, have no control over their schedule, and a bunch of other possible limitations.

On the flip side, having a prestigious job likely has its benefits too, such as the potential resume builder, access to various networking opportunities, or higher income.

So take a look at your job and determine what about it is limiting you from pursuing your passion and see if the limitations are worth giving up all the benefits that your job affords you.

Looking back, I was thinking through this same question.

Once I discovered and fell in love with personal development through coaching, I too considered taking a less prestigious job so I could go all in on my new business.

But having a prestigious job and pursuing my passion was not a “one or the other” choice.

I decided to have both.

I work in my consulting role full-time AND I pursue my passion through my coaching business.

So far, so good.

Don’t get me wrong: I am paying very close attention to my mental health & wellbeing.

The second that I cannot do both, I will make a change to my work situation.

But in the meantime, I have the time and energy to do both and I am gaining value from both.

I am still learning a lot and growing my networking in my consulting role.

At the same time, I am growing my coaching business and doing what I enjoy.

Plus, it is super nice to have a reliable source of incoming while my business is still in growth mode!

So, what do you think?

Are you leaning towards getting a less prestigious job so you can pursue your passion?

Or is there a way to pursue your passion while keeping your prestigious job… without getting too overwhelmed?