Here's a meme that's doing the rounds (I got it from Simon Haynes who had it from Anysia.) I've blogged my weakness for doing tests before - I've even signed up for Hey Cupid (and Cupid is the last deity I want to notice me, thank you!) because of the entertaining range of tests the site offers.

This one, however, is a bit more serious in intent, albeit good fun to do. Go to Career Cruising and sign in with the username: nycareers and the password: landmark. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questionnaire.

What did they come up with for you?

My results, obtained after three rounds of questions, demonstrated yet again that the things I like and am good at don't make any money – unless you're very, very good and very, very fortunate. My top three? Ha! Historian, Anthropologist and Writer.

If all the people with MAs or PhDs in history or anthrop had jobs in academia those departments would have ten or twenty or a hundred times the number of staff. As it is, such graduates can be found in working in offices and factories; as bus drivers, mail deliverers and in all sorts of other jobs that are, by and large, quite uncongenial to their personalities. Of course, with another year or two of training they can become teachers or librarians, but I'm sure if they'd wanted to be teachers or librarians they wouldn't have signed on for a higher degree in the first place. It's a sad fact that a higher degree in the Humanities only sets you up to be an academic. If you can't get an academic job you have to do something else altogether.

With writing, it's just as hard. A degree in creative writing will not guarantee you publication. Nor will many years of starving in a garret while you learn the craft of putting stories together. Here again, there are only so many books published in any given year and there are so many good writers about that it really does boil down to luck when it comes to attaining that elusive goal – getting published. And sadly, the performing arts are just as bad or worse.

My list of 40 possible occupations included lots of things that I've had to do in the many and varied jobs I've had, such as ESL teacher (#9) Critic (#11) Researcher (#16) Technical Writer (#20) Archivist (#32) Dancer (#35) and Print Journalist (#40). I've only incidentally taught in scho0ls (teaching crops up again and again on the list in various guises) but I taught dance for over 20 years and in the process had to be a Special Effects Technician (#13) Casting Director (#30) and something of a comedian (#6). In days long past, I trained as an Actor (#7) and a Musician (#21). I even have some training towards being a Foreign Language Instructor (#15). Mind you, there are a few things on the list (#5 Political Aide, #18 Artist or #23 Criminologist) that I can't picture myself doing under any circumstances but by and large Career Matchmaker is as good a vocational guidance test as I've ever done. It showed me yet again that like many people whose gifts lie in the Arts and Humanities, I'm a jack-of-all-trades. I take consolation from the fact that most published writers have the same kind of story to tell.

Now, all I have to do is get a book or two finished and start taking tickets in that Publication Lottery!