Roadtrip Nation: The Road to Your Career Exploration

One of Career Services’ favourite resource is Roadtrip Nation. It’s an interactive career exploration tool that provides information on specific occupations. A large component of the website includes videos and profiles of leaders that share their story of how they found a job that they love.

About Roadtrip Nation

Roadtrip Nation is a movement that was started by a group of students and recent graduates who didn’t know what they wanted to do with their career. They came up with the idea of traveling across the United States to interview community leaders who have defined “their own roads in life by resisting conformity and gaining the confidence to do what inspires them.” In other words, Roadtrip Nation encourages people to find their passion and what makes them happy because this is what gives people the ability to be creative, authentic, and enthusiastic towards their goals.

What’s your road?

One of the features on the website is a 30 second questionnaire about what your journey is driven by and what you hope to explore. After answering the four questions, the website will generate a statement (ex: my road is all about learning/challenging myself while exploring the worlds of travel and music). Underneath the generated statement, you can see the leaders and occupations that align with your statement. You can click a leader profile to learn about their career journey. You can also click each suggested occupation to learn about daily tasks; tools & technology used; knowledge, skills and abilities required; education; work style and values; wage; and job postings.

Interview videos with leaders

The website has a collection of leader interviews. Some of these leaders work for National Geographic, the Phoenix Suns, and the Rolling Stones Magazine. The leaders talk about themes that you might have considered during your career exploration, such as: confidence, community, courage, determination, experience, exploration, family, focus, goals, hard work, passion, and risk. One of the videos is an interview with the Netflix CEO and founder, Reed Hastings. He majored in mathematics, but he found his passion through the activities he enjoyed. Volunteering with the Peace Corps in Swaziland helped him decide he wanted to try something new when he got home. Reed started out serving coffee at a computer company and realized this was something that was a good fit for him. Being in this type of environment was where he got an idea for a product that he started a company around. This also gave him the idea of Netflix. For the entrepreneurs out there, Reed says that when you have an idea, pursue it and don’t give up!

Beyond the Article

• For a review of a Roadtrip Nation interview, read what Former Editor-in-Chief, Kate White, has to say on taking risks  
• Read the profiles of other Roadtrip Nation leaders
• Browse Roadtrip Nation’s blog
• If Roadtrip Nation’s values and beliefs line up with yours, consider getting involved with their movement. Apply for a chance to interview inspiring leaders, who have defined success in their own terms

Lead image from: Roadtrip Nation