Anonymous wrote:Op here. These suggestions are very helpful and I’m so appreciative. I am in the process of doing my real estate course but it’s taking me a long time to complete it and I’m wondering if I just throw in the towel as let’s face it, few people are buying in this market now. I don’t have lots of contacts either. I am not at all interested in going back to school and need to get a job soon(ish) even if it’s really meaningless as I need to accrue social security and retirement. I put myself in a terrible position and now I will pay for my bad decisions.

Remember: the time to enter a business is when no one else is in it. Honda had a famous quote about this - can’t seem to find it but basically THIS time is the only time you enter a business like real estate (because competition is low)

Anonymous wrote:Op here. These suggestions are very helpful and I’m so appreciative. I am in the process of doing my real estate course but it’s taking me a long time to complete it and I’m wondering if I just throw in the towel as let’s face it, few people are buying in this market now. I don’t have lots of contacts either. I am not at all interested in going back to school and need to get a job soon(ish) even if it’s really meaningless as I need to accrue social security and retirement. I put myself in a terrible position and now I will pay for my bad decisions.

Yes, any decent paying job will require you to go back to school. So, unless you are willing to work for minimum wage, you are going to have to go back to some kind of training or school to get a certificate.

You are 50. You are not going to accrue that much for social security because 1. you are 50 and 2. you will only be able to find minimum wage type jobs, unless, again, you get some certification or training.

My sister quit her job a very long time ago to be a sahm, and she has no degree. She got a job PT as a waitress, and working in the grocery store through connections. But, if she didn't have those connections, I'm not sure if she could've gotten those jobs with zero experience in that area.

You could try grocery stores, retail, starbucks, costco.

Op here. These suggestions are very helpful and I’m so appreciative. I am in the process of doing my real estate course but it’s taking me a long time to complete it and I’m wondering if I just throw in the towel as let’s face it, few people are buying in this market now. I don’t have lots of contacts either. I am not at all interested in going back to school and need to get a job soon(ish) even if it’s really meaningless as I need to accrue social security and retirement. I put myself in a terrible position and now I will pay for my bad decisions.

Start small. A receptionist position, for example, and volunteer to do more and more. Once you have some accomplishments under your belt, apply for something else using the skills you learned. And so on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take a course in grant writing. Start at small non-profits and work your way up.

That’s an interesting suggestion. Can you explain who offers grant writing courses and what a good candidate could start at? It is a full-time job or they would try to put you on as like a freelancer or something? Do they only try to pay you for successful applications?

NP. I work for a community based non-profits. I think many of the grant writing courses are a waste of money. I'm looking for strong writers and then I'll train for the specifics of grant writing. We would pay maybe 45k-53k for someone with no experience (small east coast city). I would hire for part time or full time, but would not hire someone inexperienced as a freelancer. It's considered unethical to tie compensation to the success of applications, so no one should be offering a cut of a successful grant or payment based on success rate.

So much of grant funding is tied to cultivation that writing a solid application vs a brilliant application doesn't really matter. What I look for in a grant writing is: organized and can describe the organization system they use, detail oriented, can keep others on track (you often need info and documents from other people and need to be assertive about getting what you need in a timely manner), clear and understandable writer, makes it work and does not miss deadlines.

If you think this might be for you, you could offer to write a grant for your local school, PTO, small non-profit and see if you like while building some experience.

Just apply to everything. I was in the exact same position - wfh about 8years after a 15 year PR career, all
My old forms either out of business or all contacts dead or lost or moved to China. around Christmas I applied to a “content creator” role in an engineering firm and they were a small business that had a ton of trouble finding people - they were getting resumes from bartenders, etc and were thrilled when I applied. They hired me without checking references but only part time 12 hours a week. I was honest about salary and said I have no idea how much to ask for - I said I made 110k 8!years ago but I make zero now, so just pay me what you think is fair.” They offered me more than I expected and I guess they were happy with me because now they are expecting me to work 40+ hours a week and already have me a raise. So just keep trying , be honest , be flexible, and remember that the goal is just to get back in the game

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public library?

Librarian jobs are incredibly competitive and often require a master's degree.

There are paraprofessionals in libraries just like in teaching. You only need a Masters for an actual librarian job, but plenty of library jobs don't require a masters.
For instance, DC Public Library has an open call right now for Library Associate for the childrens division. No masters required. .

Not sure if this link will work, but : https://careers.dc.gov/psc/erecruit/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM_FL.HRS_CG_SEARCH_FL.GBL?Page=HRS_APP_SCHJOB_FL&Action=U

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to nursing school. There’s a huge demand and it pays well. Enroll tomorrow.

This. You can earn $150K a few years from now doing shift work 12 x a month.

Explain the best case time-line if you go back to college to pursue nursing if you already have a BA. I thought RN programs were hyper competitive. And expensive. Does OP with a BA and MA want to take on debt? I doubt it.

Plus OP's undergrad is in sociology so she will have to go back and take bachelor's level biology classes, for example, before she even applies to nursing school. And I assume she has a family and can't move so she will be super limited in where she can go to school and/or train.

Temping (just make sure you brush up on your MS office skills if you want a decent placement) or substitute teaching are ways to start working right away and finding out what you like.

We have hired temps who were SAHMs into full time roles (admins, accounts payable, junior project managers) at my employer. They probably wouldn't have passed the HR screen because of their large resume gaps, but seeing their work quality as a temp made a huge difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to nursing school. There’s a huge demand and it pays well. Enroll tomorrow.

This. You can earn $150K a few years from now doing shift work 12 x a month.

Explain the best case time-line if you go back to college to pursue nursing if you already have a BA. I thought RN programs were hyper competitive. And expensive. Does OP with a BA and MA want to take on debt? I doubt it.

Anonymous wrote:My aunt got into real estate at 50 and has done great.

Your rich aunt with a rich husband who has a deep social and professional network she tapped? Otherwise, I call BS.

Anonymous wrote:Take a course in grant writing. Start at small non-profits and work your way up.

That’s an interesting suggestion. Can you explain who offers grant writing courses and what a good candidate could start at? It is a full-time job or they would try to put you on as like a freelancer or something? Do they only try to pay you for successful applications?

Anonymous wrote:Public library?

Librarian jobs are incredibly competitive and often require a master's degree.

I think for nursing schools, there are some science requirements you must fulfill before you can apply.

This was me 7 years ago. I feel you- circumstances led to nearly 20 years off for me. Some of my references were dead! Then I tried to fit in at 1/6 dozen places - 3 or 4 different fields- I was embarrassed and ashamed! It took me 5 years of trial and error but finally i started asking friends -and friends of friends- and finally found a good fit in my original career. Good luck. I’m 58 now and oldest in my department and it’s a bit of an adjustment but it caaaaaaan be done!