I’ve been in the same field (environmental engineering, with an emphasis on site assessment and remediation) for approximately ten years. I recently got an MBA (with an emphasis in organizational theory) to help prepare me for an eventual shift into the management ranks. But over the last couple of years, the environmental industry has been a tough place to be – the industry itself has slowed down, and my company went Chapter 11, got bought out and has been slow ever since. My office has little incoming work, and it’s been very boring and frustrating. My search for compatible positions in the Chicago area has met with little success, so I’ve given some thought to changing careers.
But what I’ve learned is… I have no idea how to go about changing careers, much less determine what a good possible career to change to would be!
Can any Dopers who’ve gone through something similar give me some tips on what you’ve all done to accomplish your career change, and what helped you identify what you wanted to do?
Hmmmm…I’ve been in the workforce for the past 13 years and made, well, let’s just say, multiple career changes, one of which involved giving career advice to fresh-off-the-boat Soviets (never dull, lemme tell you; “Misha, I know you have 10 years of experience designing Ukrainian nuclear reactors in the late '80s, but is it OK if we just call you a mechanical engineer?”).
Have you read What Color is My Parachute? If not, you definitely should; it has some great brainstorming exercises for thinking about ways to apply your skills.
I have not, although I may have to check it out on your recommendation – and that kind of help on brainstorming is what I need. I do enjoy the technical aspect of my job and I also enjoy the project management skills I’ve had to acquire and use, so I know any position I go into will hopefully be that same mixture of technical and management.
If you’re willing to relocate, I’d check out some of the environmental remediation firms in Dallas or Atlanta. Or see about moving to the other side of the fence in Environmental Regulation. Salary will be lower, but state and federal employees have great benefits!
There are a whole slew of books at Barnes & Nobel to help you figure out what you want to do (“I Went to College for This?” is one that comes to mind).
Once you get past all the personality tests and checklists, what it all boils down to is ‘what do you want to do?’.
I, unfortunately don’t WANT to do ANYTHING. At least nothing that anyone would be willing to pay me for. I like the IDEA of working as a banker or lawyer or some other prestigeous job, but I don’t really want to stare at Excel spreadsheets or 1000 page contracts 14 hours a day.
See, the problem is that there is stuff we like to do and stuff that needs to get done. If everyone just did what they liked, no one would come take the garbage away.
Anyhow, that doesn’t really help your problem. I guess if you enjoy project management and have an MBA, you could go into a variety of industries that need those skills and are related to Enviro stuff - manufacturing, consulting, energy, construction, real estate development.
I have a similar problem, msmith. There might be stuff I’d LIKE to do, but what I really WANT to do is spend my days hanging out, playing video games, watching TV, and catching the occasional movie. I have very little ambition.