tell me about your crazy career switch

[Anonymous]

I have a couple of friends who went from high stressed corporate finance jobs into teaching. They love it and haven't looked back. I'm proud if their willingness to just do it and glad it has worked out for both.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if it's crazy, but I am a former high school English teacher and now I work in corporate training and development. My husband's job took us from NYC to London in 2004 and I made the switch then. I completely agree with the other teacher that I had to start over and work my way up again.

[Anonymous]

anyone switch into an artistic field and find money, happiness and success?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anyone switch into an artistic field and find money, happiness and success?

i don't know anyone who makes any $ in an artistic field. I think the arts are hobbies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ That is certainly an interesting thought. I teach Spanish.

8:21 again. Spanish fluency opens lots of doors. You could look at translation positions or any company that does significant business in the Spanish speaking world. If we were in NY I would've pointed you toward the UN - I'm not as familiar with DC but I'm sure there must be similar international organizations, whether government or non profit.
Also, you may want to look at private schools that would hire you in to teach specific classes, ie AP.The pay sucks though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the king of reinventing myself.

Let's see: I started in IT, them moved to project management, then became a freelance cameraman, then worked on the stock exchange, then moved into mortgages, then went into strategic sourcing, then finance.

Yea, I get bored easily.

Any strategies for moving fluidly from one industry to another? Did anyone question your ability to do well in the new fields?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the king of reinventing myself.

Let's see: I started in IT, them moved to project management, then became a freelance cameraman, then worked on the stock exchange, then moved into mortgages, then went into strategic sourcing, then finance.

Yea, I get bored easily.

Any strategies for moving fluidly from one industry to another? Did anyone question your ability to do well in the new fields?

It sounds cliched but ... Confidence. Also it's kind of an obvious answer but an MBA from a top tier program will let you do anything.
Other then that it's about stringing pieces together: in IT it's about delivering projects - that's kind of like being a project manager. Stock exchange (think open outcry) is about math. Mortgages an securitized assets are too. Strategic sourcing is about finding savings - so attention to detail (project mgmt) and math.

Best advice I have is to figure out where you are (point A) what's missing from your skillset and then figure out what the intermediary steps are to get to point D.

Education is one path- but only if a top school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a phd in a social science and am now a lobbyist making 200K a year. I LOVE my job! (not just for the money but because I think I am improving healthcare).

Interesting-how did you get there? I also have a PhD in the social sciences and am not convinced I want to follow the traditional career path for what I do. Did you have to work on the Hill first?

[Anonymous]

I'm about to start my fifth career in my late 40s so am probably qualified to answer.

My craziest switch was from a computer-illiterate editor to a network sys admin in about a 7-month span--but this was pre-kids, and I worked round the clock on training and internships to get to that point. If you want to make a BIG leap quickly, expect to put a lot of time into the transition.

That said, you can always make a less-crazy switch within your field. Back in my humanities days, when I couldn't afford to survive on feature writing, I switched to technical editing. Now that I have kids but still want to work in the tech field, I'm moving into a software testing position that will have more family-friendly hours.

Sounds obvious, but find someone who works in the field you want to enter. Ask about her training, hours, the salary you can expect, etc. Check out some of the tools she works with. Don't make a move just because it seems good on paper--you may hate the specifics of what you would actually do all day!

And, as a previous poster mentioned, confidence is key.

Good luck. In this economy, we should all be ready to reinvent ourselves if needed.

[Anonymous]

Great advice on this thread, but what if you are not sure what you want to do (you just know you don't want to keep doing what you have trained for)?

How do you figure out what's out there? And the first person that mentions that garbage that is about colored parachutes gets no dessert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great advice on this thread, but what if you are not sure what you want to do (you just know you don't want to keep doing what you have trained for)?

How do you figure out what's out there? And the first person that mentions that garbage that is about colored parachutes gets no dessert.

Lol. Networking. Talk to alumni from your uni and see what you can learn. Follow what sounds fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great advice on this thread, but what if you are not sure what you want to do (you just know you don't want to keep doing what you have trained for)?

How do you figure out what's out there? And the first person that mentions that garbage that is about colored parachutes gets no dessert.

Think about what you liked to do as a kid and what skills you used--those are probably your strongest natural skills.

There are always reputable articles about the fastest-growing careers AND careers that are becoming obsolete. See if you can matrix your skills with something from the first category--and skip the second category if you want to stay employed longterm.

You must have one friend or acquaintance who does something you find interesting--talk to him or her. Even if you don't want that exact job, maybe there is a subset of his or her field that would be a good fit for you.

[Anonymous]

OP here- stories and advice are all very interesting so far. Thank you very much for all of the responses. I envy your drive and determination!

[Anonymous]

OP here again- just thinking out loud- but recently someone mentioned to me a job as a college admissions advisor, but not someone who is employed by a university, someone who instead works with individuals in high school to help them prepare their applications. A coach of sorts. I began to think that this might actually suit me quite well. After my (seemingly interminable) slog through the PhD, I am quite acquainted with higher ed. I am also a highly-trained writer and could see myself helping students edit their college personal statements.

I simply have no idea how to even begin something like that, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again- just thinking out loud- but recently someone mentioned to me a job as a college admissions advisor, but not someone who is employed by a university, someone who instead works with individuals in high school to help them prepare their applications. A coach of sorts. I began to think that this might actually suit me quite well. After my (seemingly interminable) slog through the PhD, I am quite acquainted with higher ed. I am also a highly-trained writer and could see myself helping students edit their college personal statements.

I simply have no idea how to even begin something like that, though.

That's me.

Three routes:
Option 1: Get a job at a university in admissions, even as a PT application reader (yes they do this during peak season). The more prestigious the better. Do it for a year or two and join an admissions consultancy.
Option 2: Get an MBA or masters or phd and skip step 1, and approach the firms in question. In parallel go approach h your alma mater and volunteer to assist in their admissions. The point here is to make yourself marketable. "Diane, with a PHD in neurobiology from John Hopkins was an alumni admissions interviewer..." Vs "Diane who did lab work for a few years..."
Option 3: Go to businessweek, gmatclub, topmba, usnews, etc and start posting your ass off. Build a brand and in a few years you'll get there.

Upsides:
You work whatever hours you want to work.
It's low stress work
Work from home
Do 98% of it via email

Downsides:
It's a spikey business. July to Dec are the busy season, jan to July is dead.
Some candidates are annoying as fuck and demanding.
Many many candidates are non US: that means occasional oddly times calls

I can check to see if my firm is hiring. We have a PHD focused arm.