Quotes & Sayings About Career Opportunities

I never planned my career. I never planned to be president of Harvard. People would have thought I was crazy, probably, at the age of 8 or 10 or 20, if I had said that. So what I would say to people planning their careers is to be ready to improvise. Be ready to follow up on opportunities as they unfold. — Drew Gilpin Faust

Only three routes of upward mobility were available to socially ambitious upstarts such as Columbus: war, the Church, and the sea. Columbus probably contemplated all three: he wanted a clerical career for one of his brothers, and fancied himself as "a captain of cavaliers and conquests." But seafaring was a natural choice, especially for a boy from a maritime community as single-minded as that of Genoa. Opportunities for employment and profit abounded. — Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

There weren't a lot of career opportunities in crazy-fast hardcore punk, so you didn't have a lot of ambition, just the love and passion to play music with your friends. — Dave Grohl

What is the recipe for successful achievement? To my mind there are just four essential ingredients: Choose a career you love, give it the best there is in you, seize your opportunities, and be a member of the team. — Benjamin Franklin Fairless

If it were not for people who stepped forward and gave me opportunities at a time when I had not proved myself at all, believe me, I would not have a career. — Kevin Spacey

Career is different. Career is the stringing together of opportunities and jobs. Mix in public opinion and past regrets. Add a dash of future panic and a whole lot of financial uncertainty. Career is something that fools you into thinking you are in control and then takes pleasure in reminding you that you aren't. Career is the thing that will not fill you up and never make you truly whole. Depending on your career is like eating cake for breakfast and wondering why you start crying an hour later. — Amy Poehler

I love having the laid-back, easy-going, family-priority nature of New Zealand, but I'm certainly enjoying the States in terms of the career opportunities and the enthusiasm I get to find work. — Rose McIver

Career development is a process. It is driven by a combination of five factors: (1) interests, (2) skills and abilities, (3) passions, (4) personality, and (5) opportunities. Each of these five elements is critical and influential in the trajectory of your career. — Kenneth M. Settel

Increasing education options will give students greater opportunities to succeed in the classroom and allow students to graduate with skill sets necessary to go to college or into a career. — Mary Fallin

As I got further into my career, as a character of color, if I was going to have the types of opportunities I felt I deserved, and continue to have them, I was going to have to start creating those opportunities for myself. — Lance Reddick

I've had occasional dark hours, dreary fits, when my life, laid out before me, has seemed bitter and hollow and insignificant ... I forgot the many modest successes of my career and instead saw every failure ... the missed opportunities, the moments of cowardice and disappointment ... I had been very much in love ... [and had been thrown over] for another ... I had rather turned my back on romance after that disenchantment, and the few affairs I had had since then had been very half-hearted things. Now the passionless embraces came back to me ... in all their dry mechanical detail. I felt a wave of disgust for myself, and a pity for the [others] involved. — Sarah Waters

Study the lives of highly successful people from any corner of life, across history, in any environment, and you will discover they share one trait: They keep moving forward. Sometimes slowly. Often with great difficulty. Frequently after painful mistakes, defeats, or failures. Success is less about talent and opportunities, and more about commitment and motivation. — Joe Jordan

I would like to have opportunities in my career to do parts that people would remember - either the whole character or certain moments that they personally could really connect to or were really affected by it deeply. — Austin Peck

I'm aware people will think I've had an easy way into a dream career. My view is, if anyone has opportunities, they'll take them. My surname opens doors, but those doors will slam firmly if I'm no good. — Tamara Ecclestone

What I do is I take action because I value the position I have, the career I have, the life I live, the people I interact with, my fanbase, my friends, however you want to say that. I value those relationships and I use the opportunities they present to me. — Mike Vallely

Many, if not most, career opportunities come to you through people you know. So the more people you know, the more opportunities you have. Improving your social network is a great example of a system for moving from lower odds to better odds without having a specific goal. — Scott Adams

I don't plan on going back to legal work. I wanted an international career, and finance seemed to be where some interesting career opportunities were. — Nick Johnson

If you want something, work hard for it, go after it. I can't worry about all the 'no's, because I believe there's a yes, and I've been very fortunate to find those in my career and made the most of those opportunities. — Mara Brock Akil

Dad followed his I'm-So-Disappointed speech with a lecture on career opportunities.
"You're going to study literature and get a job doing what?" he said. "Literaturizing? — David Sedaris

Your career will include thousands of opportunities to transform yourself. Many will disrupt all that you have built. Each is an opportunity to choose to be vulnerable, to let go, to be reborn. — Bill Jensen

There is no security in life, only opportunity. — Mark Twain

Making a decision reduces opportunities in the short run, but increases opportunities in the long run. To move forward in your career, you have to commit to specific opportunities as part of an iterative plan, despite doubt and despite inconvenience. — Reid Hoffman

I want my career to grow gradually. There's still so much for me to learn. I'm just trying to take these opportunities to get better at what I'm doing. — Scoot McNairy

even career jobs come and go. Money comes and goes. Opportunities and disappointments come and go. But relationships last forever. And hers with her husband was paramount — Cindi McMenamin

I know from my own experiences that if you will put your career in God's hands and trust him, you can't account for all the ways he will bless you. When you step out in faith, he will open doors and bring you opportunities that will surpass even your wildest expectations ... If I have learned anything, it's this: to get where you want to go, you first have to become the person God wants you to be. — DeVon Franklin

My advice to young people is to get something that's growing because that's how you get career opportunities thrown at you that you don't deserve, if you will ... that come at you early because the firms need you. — Hamilton E. James

The commercial and subsidised theatre are intrinsically linked. I wouldn't have had the career I have had without the opportunities I had through the subsidised sector. However, I do think, in any walk of life, subsidy for the sake of subsidy is not always healthy. — Cameron Mackintosh

For too long nurses have been undervalued, restricted in what they could do, with too few career opportunities in clinical practice. For far too long, nurses have endured a pay system that has held them back - both professionally as well as financially. — John Hutton

I don't consider myself to be a media guy. It just happens to be that I've had opportunities in the media. I don't consider myself to be on a career path. I'm just a Christian and a Catholic priest. — Jonathan Morris

Throughout my career, I've realized that there are a lot of great opportunities out there to be associated with programming. It may have started elsewhere, as Crimson Petal did in the UK. So, our main strategy for Encore is to go through those types of partnership acquisitions. — Chris Albrecht

If you can channel the best part of you that is bigger than yourself, where it's not about your ego and not about getting ahead, then you can have fun and you aren't jealous of others. You see other people's talent as another branch of your own. You can keep it rooted in joy. Life is long and there are plenty of opportunities to make mistakes. The point of it all is to learn. — Ethan Hawke

I've never really had much of a career plan, and interesting opportunities kept cropping up. — Nicholas Stern

I began my career performing in plays and musicals in New York, but by the mid-'80s, opportunities in Hollywood beckoned and I made the move to Los Angeles. It was a good decision. Work took off, but most important, I met my family out there - my husband, Bill, and the children we would adopt: Elijah, Mae-Mae, and Aron. — Christine Ebersole

For me, I'm always looking for opportunities to work with people who are better than me, who are more experienced than me, people from whom I can learn. And who could I learn more from than someone with an unprecedented movie star career that has spanned over thirty years whose name is Tom Cruise? — David Oyelowo

Whatever you do, do it with purpose. Being focused is not something to be ashamed of. It is something to be proud of. When you know what are you are doing and have a clear vision of where you are going, you will not need to chase opportunities. Opportunities will seek you. Happiness will chase you. And, instead of being a choice, you will be the one choosing. — Najwa Zebian

Taking chances on opportunities, even if they aren't right for you, gives you a clearer picture of where you want to go with your life and career. — Lauren Bush

I've held my silence when I probably shouldn't have. But I was in the minority, a woman writing SF, and I was afraid of career backlash. I was afraid of being excluded or losing opportunities if I didn't play nice. — Ann Aguirre

You know, film is the ultimate goal in an actor's career. I mean, I still love TV. I have my feet firmly stamped in it. But my opportunities have been bigger and better. — Idris Elba

Here are just a few of the unnecessary burdens women are often made to bear. Single women are made to feel that they are "less than" other women; women who are gifted for a career are made to feel that college or a career is a waste of time and that these women are resisting "God's best" for them. Women whose interests, giftings, and opportunities do not fit the mold of post-industrial-revolution suburbia are disdained by other women who have been gifted with husbands, fruitful uteruses, and inclinations that better portray what has been elevated to the greatest expression of godliness for a woman: the stay-at-home mom. And stay-at-home moms are weighted with additional pressures: it's not enough to be home; they must also serve on every committee, live in a perfectly decorated (and always clean) house, and have perfectly behaved children. — Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

If I were to limit myself to the opportunities that were presented playing only Chinese-American parts, I would be virtually without a career. — BD Wong

Most of us would give anything for the chance to play just one day of MLB baseball - especially for our favorite team. Well, there once was a pitcher named Bock Baker who actually got two opportunities to pitch in the big leagues. He took the mound for Cleveland against the Chicago White Sox in his big league debut. How did he fare? Well, he pitched a complete game. Pretty spectacular, right? Well, sure - but it depends on your perspective. He gave up 23 hits and 13 runs. Baker never pitched for Cleveland again, but the Philadelphia Athletics gave him a second big league start that same year (1901). He lasted juts six innings, and lost again after giving up 11 runs - and then his career was over. — Tucker Elliot

I came to filmmaking as an actor looking for great characters and great opportunities, both of which are kind of hard to come by. It turns out I really love the process. And, it's exciting to be able to take my career by the reigns and make things happen for myself. Hopefully, in doing so, more opportunities will become available to me. — Katie Aselton

So, you've failed many times at many things. That's okay! Learn, grow, and move forward. With the right attitude and mindset, you can learn a lot from failure. Pay attention and keep on striving! You've got this! — Stephanie Lahart

I've had a wonderful career and I'm very happy to have had all of the opportunities that I've had to tell stories and work for as long as I have. I'm sure there'll be a few more films but I'm happy that I'm able to be selective. — Angelina Jolie

In my career, I'm very grateful for the opportunities. — Katherine Heigl

Is there such a thing as a life without any regrets? I've never believed so. We spend our lives aiming for happiness and fulfilment in work, in love and with our friends and family, and yet often our energy is spent lamenting bad boyfriends, wrong career turns, fallouts with friends and opportunities missed. Or is that just me? I admit I'm naturally a glass-half-empty kind of girl, but I know regrets are a burden to happiness and I'm trying to let go of them because I've learned that it's all about choice. You can choose to turn regrets into lessons that change your future. Believe me when I say I'm really trying to do this. But the truth is, I'm failing. Because all I can think right now is: maybe I deserve it. Maybe this is my penance. — Ali Harris

The only way to sustain a career is to be as prolific as you can be, and open to opportunities. — Christine Vachon

If you're in permanent beta in your career, twenty years of experience actually is twenty years of experience because each year will be marked by new, enriching challenges and opportunities. Permanent beta is essentially a lifelong commitment to continuous personal growth. Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'. If — Reid Hoffman

A lot of young girls don't realise how diverse the career opportunities are in games development. Many think that you need elite math skills and a vast knowledge of all things tech to work in games, and haven't thought about avenues like design, producing, art, writing or composing. — Rhianna Pratchett

Our government's investments in science, technology and innovation are ensuring that ideas move from the lab to the marketplace faster, creating jobs and opportunities for Canadians. Through our investment in Mitacs Elevate, we are providing training and new career opportunities for talented researchers while ensuring that local businesses such as Vision Extrusions stay competitive and continue to create jobs here in Woodbridge. — Julian Fantino

is embedded in an organization in which most people are continually questioning why the project is being done at all. Projects make sense to people if they address the needs of important customers, if they positively impact the organization's needs for profit and growth, and if participating in the project enhances the career opportunities of talented employees. When a project doesn't have these characteristics, its manager spends much time and energy justifying why it merits resources and cannot manage the project as effectively. Frequently — Clayton M Christensen

Life's short, you know? Especially as an athlete. Your career is very short, and you use the opportunities that you have because you're not going to have them again. — Lindsey Vonn

No matter what you do for a living or who you think you work for, you only work for one person, YOURSELF!. It makes no difference if you work part time, have a salaried position, are a top executive of a corporation or run your own business. You are selling your existence at a set price. Your career goal in life should be based on doing work that you're passionate about, while saving your time and increasing your profit.
This is your life. You have the same existence in this life as any world leader, corporate executive or celebrity. You have your own free will to make decisions to get you exactly where you want to go. There are opportunities around every corner. Go find them! — John Geiger

Leaving my first agent was both my best business decision and my worst business decision. It depends on how I want to look at my career because of opportunities that may have come had I stayed with him and because of the opportunities that did come because I had to fight harder for roles. — Carmen Ejogo

It wasn't on my agenda, but the thing about getting important awards is it makes the adventure of your career have a little more possibility. I think just what's happened so far is already making the opportunities more interesting, even though I'm at the twilight of my career of like 48 years. — Jacki Weaver

There is also the professional mentor, a person whose success in his or her career can be a source of practical wisdom and inspiration. This success might be mea sured in material gain or far-reaching influence, or in lives touched and relationships fostered. These mentors can offer a model for good business, ethical practices, and effective work habits, and they often provide the motivation we need to seize whatever opportunities come our way. — John Wooden

I've had some really wonderful opportunities in my career, 'Band of Brothers' being one of them. That's material that can really make a difference, but I don't think of that going into it - at least not consciously. — Michael Cudlitz

An entrepreneurial economy is what made America great. People didn't come to settle the country several hundred years ago for all the good paying jobs. There weren't any. There was nothing but natural resources and opportunities. - Chris Lutz, Modular Career Design — Chris Lutz

A meritocracy is a system in which the people who are the luckiest in their health and genetic endowment; luckiest in terms of family support, encouragement and, probably, income; luckiest in their educational and career opportunities; and luckiest in so many other ways difficult to enumerate - these are the folks who reap the largest rewards. — Ben Bernanke

Career is the stringing together of opportunities and jobs. Mix in public opinion and past regrets. Add a dash of future panic and a whole lot of financial uncertainty. Career is something that fools you into thinking you are in control and then takes pleasure in reminding you that you aren't. Career is the thing that will not fill you up and will never make you truly whole. — Amy Poehler

There is no straight path from your seat today to where you are going. Don't try to draw that line. You will not just get it wrong, you'll miss big opportunities. And I mean big-like the Internet. Careers are not ladders, those days are long gone, but jungle gyms. Don't just move up and down, don't just look up, look backwards, sideways around corners. Your career and your life will have starts and stops and zigs and zags. Don't stress out about the white space-the path you can't draw- because there in lies both the surprises and the opportunities. — Sheryl Sandberg

My career was quite unusual, so my main advice to someone interested in a career similar to my own is to remain open to change and new opportunities. I like to tell students that the jobs I took after my Ph.D. were not in existence only a few years before. — Nancy Roman

For those of us with introverted tendencies, many think that hard work and good results is what matters most. It would be great if that were the case, but it's wrong to believe that to be true. Superb performance on the job is important, but if you don't have a supportive network, you're in for some big disappointments. We speak to people continuously who suffer from the missing component of good networking in their career path. Those people find that their missed opportunities or promotions are demoralizing and certainly frustrating. — Dorothy Tannahill-Moran

I'd always had a childhood ambition to go into the investment capital business, and spent twenty-odd years in it. But the thought of spending the second half of my career in the same business was boring, so I looked around for other opportunities . — Chris Corrigan

I understand how success is judged and calculated in the coaching profession. That's really all I care about. You go about this business a certain way. Everybody has a certain style and opportunities that are presented to them during your career. When it's over, I'll be judged by that. I care more about the people I work with. — Mike McCarthy

Potter for me is something that's been giving me these amazing opportunities to start a career and learn while I'm doing, which is the best way to learn. — Daniel Radcliffe

Au contraire, he's the person you wanted to be. One who was less arrogant, and undisciplined as a youth. One who was less like me. The Jean-Luc Picard you wanted to be, the one who did not fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one you remember. That Picard never had a brush with death, never came face to face with his own mortality, never realised how fragile life is or how important each moment must be. So his life never came into focus. He drifted for much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never seizing the opportunities that presented themselves. He never lead the away team on Milika Three to save the ambassador, or take charge of the Stargazer's Bridge when its Captain was killed. And no one ever offered him a command. He learned to play it safe. And he never, ever got noticed by anyone. — Q

We use shorts at the studio extensively to develop talent. I always love to give opportunities for young story people, animators, layout people something like that to take the next step up in their career and try things out. — John Lasseter

There are plenty of chances in life, what's important is what you make of them. — Katja Michael

I just really love doing what I do. I know every career is fleeting and there will be time periods when I don't get the opportunities that I'm getting right now, so I am taking advantage of them. — Leonardo DiCaprio

Make sure you work at a place which gives you opportunities to learn, travel, explore, interact with intellectuals and new work skills. — Abhishek Ratna

I found that my career at Bell Telephone Labs thrived because of the environment, which encouraged cooperative research, offered opportunities for access to sophisticated equipment, and fellowship. — Willard Boyle

I am very grateful for the opportunities provided to me through appearing on 'American Idol.' The value that the fans and the show have given to my career is not lost on me. However, I have not felt that I have been free to conduct my career in a way that I am comfortable with. — Phillip Phillips

The mission for the day is to encourage students to think beyond traditional career opportunities, prepare for future careers and entrance into the workplace. — Allen Tate

I think the defining moment in my career is the day that I moved to Nashville - September 1, 2001. That's the biggest step to getting here is making that move. Anything that happens, the wonderful opportunities that happen to you, can't happen until you make that move. — Luke Bryan

Grease is one of the movies that made me want to be an entertainer, and I have literally been waiting my whole life to play Sandy. My siblings and I watched it and played it out over and over when we were kids. This is my dream role and performing it live on television will be one of the most thrilling opportunities I've had in my career so far. — Julianne Hough

I certainly have opportunities many can only dream of - but in most ways I'm a typical girl in her 20s trying to forge a career and represent herself in what can sometimes seem rather strange circumstances. One of the most attractive has been the chance to publish 'Celebrate.' — Pippa Middleton

While you don't want to make career moves on 0 percent information, you also don't want to wait till you have 100 percent information - or else you'll wait forever. Jetting off to vacation in Hawaii with no set itinerary introduces many uncertainties about what will transpire, but it's not particularly risky. After all, how likely are you to have a bad time in Hawaii? But the biggest and best opportunities frequently are the ones with the most question marks. Don't let uncertainty lull you into overestimating the risk. — Reid Hoffman

If you don't like your current situation, career, or relationships, by envisioning a different reality and constructing a new life within your mind, you literally cause the fabric of existence around you to bend to that new reality. You begin drawing in opportunities, people, and situations that you can take advantage of to propel yourself where you want to go. — Alvin Huang

I've been very fortunate to have had the opportunities to have the career I've had. — Travis Tritt

As long as ratings are directly linked to pay and career opportunities, every employee has this incentive to exploit the system. — Laszlo Bock

For God's sakes, quit worrying about your next job. Just do the best you can at the job you have now, and the offers will come. And when they do, if you have confidence in yourself you don't have to feel that you can't turn it down if it isn't quite right for you because you fear you'll never get another offer. You will. Wait for the right opportunity, and turn down all the rest. It will make all the difference. — Bo Schembechler

I just take it one day at a time. Austin Powers has given me a lot of opportunities as far as my career. — Verne Troyer

When she (my mother) passed away, I kind of understood the commitment that she made to make sure that I could stay in skating. And I wanted to live up to whatever I could. Not so much win everything, but just to be the best that I could possibly be, to honor her memory and everything she went through to make sure that I was given the opportunities to be the best that I can be. Not to be a world champion or an Olympic gold medalist, but to be the best that I could be. And that was the most important thing that ever happened in my career. — Theodore Roosevelt

I'm thankful for all of my opportunities. But I'm not trying to have a career where I am hanging on one of Dr. Drew's rehab shows. I can go home. — Tone Bell

Free agency changed the baseball landscape in many ways. It created more opportunities for players, but it also meant increasingly fewer players would spend an entire career playing for one franchise - and that's especially true for players capable of becoming "legends," the ones in such demand on the free agent market. — Tucker Elliot

For 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona,' for example, Woody Allen is one of the greatest American directors, and we really had a very good working relationship. We understand each other really well. He gave me one of the best opportunities somebody has ever given me in my career. — Penelope Cruz

Gone are the days when a person studied for one trade or career and maintained that occupation for the rest of her life. Nowadays, an educated individual with creativity, resilience, and flexibility can look forward to an evolutionary career, where job opportunities and experience can lead you down exciting (and sometimes meandering) paths to a future you likely never even considered or, dare we say, dreamed possible. — Laura J. McDonald

When you first get opportunities, suddenly you get surrounded by a lot of people who want to make money off you but also are there to help. But they start telling you so much what you need to be and what you need to do to maintain some idea of career maintenance. — Brad Pitt