I like what I do now, but I don’t like the pay. I know I need to finish my degree (at this point I only have about 36 college credits), and I’m trying to choose a field that will allow me to make more money (at this point, even making 40k a year would be a huge increase) but won’t take me years and tens of thousands of dollars to become certified/degreed.
My job now is to audit financial accounts for people served by my non-profit agency and to help them get and maintain public benefits. I really do love both the project and the task-y sides of the job. I prefer to work behind the scenes rather than being the spokesperson, and I don’t mind and often prefer working alone. My boss is about 100 miles away in our corporate office, so I work independently and that works better for me.
Because I have student loans outstanding from the credits I have earned, and because I am in my mid-40s, I really don’t have a lot of time to mess around with this. I could get some assistance from my company, but they require you to work for the company a certain amount of time for the assistance, and if I went into accounting, for example, I would have to relocate and that’s just not an option. (Family, cost of living, son’s school - I can commute to work but leaving wouldn’t be a good idea.)
I need ideas; I cannot seem to make this decision and I am sick of having it running around in my head like a hamster on a wheel. I could study social work (need a master’s degree to do what I think I would like to do - medical social work), speech pathology (also a master’s degree), accounting, paralegal studies (not even sure that’s a good option in my area), and I’m sure there are other options I haven’t thought about.
You guys have a lot of varied experiences and I read nearly every career-related thread to see if anything resonates with me. I know I have a lot of blind spots and rutted paths in my brain, and some new perspectives would be really helpful.
Thanks. I really feel dumb for posting about this, but I don’t think I have any perspective anymore.
Money is a big consideration but of course it’s not the whole picture. If I were independently wealthy I’d probably continue to do what I do till retirement age, but that’s not the way things are. For perspective, I make in the mid-twenties now, so darn near anything is an increase for me.
I went back to school and got my bachelor’s in 1998, when I was 40. It turned out that the job I have now is completely unrelated to the degree. Go figure.
I’d recommend horticulture except that I still dream of making 40K after being gainfully employed for 9+ years. On the bright side, growing pretty flowers is always fun.
If I had any energy to go back to school and actually wanted to interact with people, I’d go into one of the technical medical fields (respiratory tech, cardiac tech, ultrasonography tech). They make great money, are really in demand now, and will only be in greater demand in the foreseeable future. Not sure how that works with your current skill set and location and so forth, though.
Talking to dopers may certainly help, but working with a licensed career counslor or advisor may help even more. They tend to work a little backwards. First you find out about you - your skills, interests, values, and personality. Then you find out about the world of work and how the two parts match up…with the counselor there for support and direction along the way.
A Career Advisor can also teach you the process of researching the things that end up sounding interesting and even how to sell yourself once you’ve made a decision. If you’re currently enrolled in school, there may be a career development office there with a staff that can help. (BEWARE of similar offices with only a placement emphasis). If that’s not an option, larger urban areas and some suburban areas have career development centers that are low or no cost and there are also clinicians who specialize in this on an individual basis.
As a side note, I’ve done this kind of counseling with college students and alums who wanted to career change. Please take some comfort in knowing that your confusion is common. I believe that most career indecision comes from not knowing where to start. GOOD LUCK!
This is a great field to get into, especially if you wouldn’t mind doing a little work to get into it. I know going back to school isn’t always an option, but depending on location it could be a very affordable option. I don’t know which state you live in, but here in Ohio there is a program to encourage more teachers and such to go back and become a SLP, which means they will reimburse tuition and such.
Also, a guy who taught my seminar in linguistics class last semester said that especially in areas like ours (which are economically depressed in general) that it’s not a bad field because hospitals need SLPs and will gladly pay a great salary for them. In some near here, an SLP can almost walk into the hospital and name their price. Just something to think about.
Thanks for the input. I do live in Ohio; is there information online about the state incentives for SLP?
And TwoOnSunday that’s a good idea that I hadn’t thought about. I guess I’m not used to thinking about outside resources. I’ll have to see if there’s a professional in my area that deals with this sort of decision. I have taken self-administered career tests before, and they tell me pretty much what I already know - that I would do well in social services and also very well in administrative pursuits.
I’ll look into what everyone has mentioned; I think just getting out of my own mindset and looking at new things will help.
Well, there is good news and bad news in Ohio for SLP’s. Depending on location, there are a ton of jobs. Also, there is help for school, specifically for working adults through a program called OMNIE, which works through Ohio universities and is a web-based program from UC and a university in Akron, but I don’t know which one.
The bad news is that if you would use OMNIE to go to school, you have to agree to work in an Ohio school district for two years. There is good news along with this, as some districts offer up to 12k in a sign-on bonus, but pay is often a lot lower than it is in a hospital or nursing home. Summers off are nice though.
Unfortunately, the program also requires a good number of lab hours, which might only be able to be finished in Cincinnati or Akron, but I emailed them about it and they are willing to work with students because of the need for SLPs.
Here is the program website. It should include all the information you need. Maybe not, but it also should have links to the other types of programs and things available in Ohio.
Have you considered entering the brokerage industry? You will have to take the series 7 and the 63 or 66. But, those are there are no other educational requirements. The pay is certainly above 40k.
Your welcome. If your daughter has not finished an undergrad degree yet, there are a few classes required to enter into the Masters program - levelling classes - that she may be able to take as an elective or part of her undergrad major.