22 replies to this topic

[uwfan]

I've been pretty quiet on the board lately (though my big claim to fame has really only been in the birthday club area anyway...) as I've been deluged with work issues.

Most of you know I'm in education and work as a school librarian. Thankfully this year I still have my job in spite of the horrendous cuts in my school district. Next year, though, may be a different situation, and in preparation for a possible job loss or reduction, I'm thinking about my career options.

I'm sure many of you have been in a similar situation.

SO...my question is, how have you or would you remake yourself when you either must make a new career move or choose to make a career move? (Beyond what we all would LOVE to do, which is remake ourselves and dive into some niche in the diving industry....)

Any takers?

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

It may get to that point for me as well, unfortunately. My company sells a luxury item, and our industry has been painfully depressed for several years. I honestly do not know why the Owner hasn't shut us down already, we've lost so much money the past 4 years. Fortunately, our parent company is huge and we can draw on their bank account when needed.

I'm in a better position than most, as my mandatory expenses are small. I could (and would) work any job to keep the utilities on and food in the pantry. But to find another job that a) paid this well; b) gave me this much paid vacation; c) provided the company-paid benefits I currently get; and d) was work that I actually enjoy doing....not an easy thing to do. And, I'm too young to take early retirement.

I would find whatever work I could, and take classes to re-train if necessary. With the health care industry booming due to an aging population and the government mandates on the insurance industry, there will be great need for qualified employees in the future.

[peterbj7]

My only recommendation is NOT to go for a "career" in diving. It might have made sense once upon a time, but no longer.

[drifter]

As a few people around here know, I took that plunge last fall. I'd been teaching at the collegiate level for a while, but had moved from one school to a second for a location closer to family and friends. I could see the writing on the wall though: with only a Master's degree, my potential and movement upward were very limited. I needed to have a terminal degree in order to really survive and thrive long-term at that level, so I finally dug in and got started. It was a scarey decision, leaving a great job with good co-workers, terrific benefits and a pretty good income. Come to find out, I'm actually doing ok in school financially. Most Universities will bend over backwards to hire graduate students for various things (research assistants, teaching assistants, etc). We work cheap, are highly motivated, and try to do a good job (that's more than I can say about some of my professors!). Along with that comes very inexpensive health insurance. I just finished up the first year, and although it had its own stresses and pains, I'm really glad I did it. Who knows for sure what will happen in a couple of years. The school I left would like me to come back, but with all of the budget issues, nobody can make promises.

Overall, the experience has changed my perspective. Sharp, creative, hard-working people are still in demand. You might have to dig a little harder to find a situation that fits you well, but opportunities are out there. Obviously, not everyone has the desire to go back to graduate school, but there are other opportunities as well. I found it to be a pretty introspective process that was both terrifying and rewarding. When I get done, I will have a few questions that I ask myself:

1) What do I want to do when I grow up? Hopefully I already know the answer to this, but it's changed a couple times before!
2) Where do I want to do it? I'm somewhat partial to the great plains, but I GUESS someone could convince me to live on a beach somewhere there is diving available.
3) What concessions do I need to make to get there, and are they worth it to me? This includes family, friends, and the non-income benefits that I prefer (time off in the summer and at Christmas, etc when teaching).

Once I've got that stuff figured out, go get the job! I'm not too afraid of the process now that it's been started.

I hope that helped?

[Parrotman]

This is a topic that I have some experience with although I still have not found the absolute answer. When I was in school I had every intention of becoming a Veterinarian. I took all of the right courses, graduated in the top of my class, had above average SAT scores. However I had no money and I was not into sports. Could not get a scholarship so I did the next best thing and followed my passion and became a horse trainer. I was very successful, showed and trained world class horses, was well know in the industry and started hating what I was doing because of the pressure to be the best.. all of the time.. every day.. day in and day out. From there I went into retail. I am not sure why. I don't really like retail but I am very good at it. I worked for corporate America for many years until corporate greed came to call and bought the company that I thought I would retire with. 11 months later the take over company ran my company into the ground filed bankruptcy and I was out of a job. I decided to get out of corporate America and opened my own business. I was very successful but there was one glitch. Our country is built around doing what is best for corporations. Screw the little guy. One of the ways that this country keeps it's working class in line is through health care. If you do not work for corporate America forget getting decent health care. Four years into owning my own business, my wife got sick and ended up in the hospital for a month. We did not have health insurance which is impossible to get if you don't work for a corporation. The hospital bill was hundreds of thousands of dollars. It took everything I had. After that I had to go back to corporate America ( modern day servitude) so that we could get health care.

I loved being a horse trainer, I loved having my own business. Working for yourself in this country is very very difficult. So now I am back in the corporate grind. I get paid well, I can go diving. I have a very nice big house. Two nice cars, owe no money other than my mortgage which the payment is less than rent. I also hate getting up in the morning and going to work.

I do not know what I would do from here. At my age I am to young to retire and to old to start a new career. I would advise anyone that is in the position of a life change to look at the long term results. Where are you going to be in ten or twenty years? As they say hindsight is 20/20. If I had known anything close to what I know now I would have lived my life very differently. When you are in your 50's life looks a whole lot different than it did when you were twenty.

Don't get caught up in the whole American dream.. I can have anything bullshit. Be happy in the moment. Do what you want to do now. You could be dead tomorrow. I would much rather die thinking "wow, that trip to Papua New Guinea was a dream come true" than thinking.. why did'nt I go on that dive trip.


Jim

[peterbj7]

Maybe we should have a non-diving thread on the American health care "system". To me it absolutely stinks and I am wholly in principle behind the reforms currently being discussed, though perhaps not the detail. IMO something has to be done, as the present arrangements are totally disfunctional.

[Dave W]

I'm in a slightly different situation. I've been out of the workforce for 10 years, following my professional-nurse wife around the country while she built her career and I looked after the kids and all that. Now she's decided to dump me, so at 57 I have nothing to do and virtually no up-to-date marketable skills. So I have to figure out how to define myself from scratch. If anybody knows how to do that, I'm listening!

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

Maybe we should have a non-diving thread on the American health care "system". To me it absolutely stinks and I am wholly in principle behind the reforms currently being discussed, though perhaps not the detail. IMO something has to be done, as the present arrangements are totally disfunctional.

Sounds like a job for the Forum King. So how about it your highness, wanna whip us up a new thread so we don't hijack Heidi's issue.

You guys just need to start the topic yourselves in the Diet & Health area of the forum, and refrain from getting political with it. Good luck with that!

[georoc01]

I've been down that road a few times..

First time was when I was turning 30. I had 8 years in my current job in New York, working for a company in a dying industry. When I started there, we had over 50,000 employees in my hometown, now its well under 10,000. When I watched entire divisions fold as technology crushed them, I figured the odds of me making it retirement with this company as my grandfather and uncles did was very small.

So I decided to start over in the northwest. Received a contract to hire job out there and had a cousin who helped get me started. Unfortunately that manager who made me the original offer left shortly after I started, and the 'hire' portion of that deal never occurred and after 3 years as a contractor, I wasn't renewed.

So I moved down the coast to San Francisco for a small oil and gas company. For once the timing was right and the industry exploded. We get bought out and I get relocated to Colorado. Been here through 3 more buyouts over time.

At every stop, I went through at least one period of layoffs. Its become a way of life. The key to staying employed has been to keep myself marketable. Not easy in the Information Technology fields where new technology is constantly changing and its easy to become obsolete. I did a career switch into a financial planning role when the IT function was moved to Houston. So even with this change, keeping up with the changes to my industry and working on networking is critical.

As I get closer to retirement, some other things come into play. Have kept a solid annual investment in IRAs and 401ks so I have a nest egg not dependent on the job.

As far as diving careers go, I think they are still there, as long as you don't expect to make money at them. But it looks to me you can just make enough to support the diving habit, which for me as a 2nd career in retirement would be good enough.

[rkymtwy]

I'm also looking to reinvent myself. After many years in technology and telecom there isn't a lot of opportunity. So for sure don't pick a career where it can be off shored

I'm getting ready to start a new adventure next month and I'll have to see how that turns out. It's going to be a big risk for me, but hey why not, it may turn out to be great. I did investigate health care careers but the training can be very expensive so if you go that route make sure the training cost is justifiable. I love technology but looks like for now I'm going to have to find a different path to success. I do know that I don't want to end up in another situation where I hate every day that I have to go to work. Life is way to short for that.

Good luck Heidi, I hope you can find something that you love and enjoy. I'm still waiting for that day I can afford to be that professional ski bum

[WreckWench]

Maybe we should have a non-diving thread on the American health care "system". To me it absolutely stinks and I am wholly in principle behind the reforms currently being discussed, though perhaps not the detail. IMO something has to be done, as the present arrangements are totally disfunctional.

Peter this is a very controversial subject with no good solutions all of which are rooted in politics and therefore not appropriate subject matter for this site.

[WreckWench]

Heidi and Dave W...

There are many tools online that test your likes and dislikes, your strengths and weaknesses and how you would handle one situation vs another. These results then are combined to give you an idea of what type of jobs would fit your skill set, talents, and likes.

If I had more time I'd dig around for you but I know they are very prevalent and have been around for many years. I know I've taken a couple of them myself.

Along these lines...I spent quite a bit of time in a former life helping people reinvent themselves and then write up suitable resumes to help land new jobs. Rather than using a chronological format you'll use a functional format (at least they used to call it that). You will list out accomplishments and skills sets by area vs by job capacity.

For example...

You'll lump all your Organizational Skills and Accomplishments together
All your sales skills and accomplishments
All your Analytical Skills and accomplishments
etc.

If you do not do this you are assuming the hiring manager can extract from your previous jobs the applicable skills that are needed for the job you are hiring into. This is unwise on your part when job demand exceeds supply and you are competing against people who not only have the skills but have also been in the field you are entering into.