What are my interests is what your probably going to ask.
A job. I want a job. After schooling I want a freaking job.
So I really don’t care what field. Computer tech? Medical Assistant? Welding?
I live in NYC and I would like to stay here. I have tons of experience in marketing but can’t land a job. So I probably need some new job skills.
Any suggestions?
Nursing. There is not a single location in the country that is not in need of nurses…not for the squeamish, obviously, but it has a lot of potential.
Don’t like the regular “9 to 5/8 to 4” grind? (Well, odds are a hospital shift would be like 7 to 3:30…) you can work second or third shift. Not a big people person? Be an OR nurse. Want something that’s half nursing work, half office job? Work at a clinic or private practice!
Often times you can just get an associates in nursing (so you’d be an LPN, I think…) and get a job at a hospital or larger health organization, and there’s a good chance they’ll pay for your schooling to finish a bachelor’s so you can be a full-fledged RN (if that’s what you want, plenty are happy staying LPNs.) You can then go even further and maybe be a nurse practitioner, who are somewhere around PA’s in terms of skill level, responsibility, etc…for instance, they can write most of, if not all, prescriptions.
How old are you? How much schooling do you already have?
I’m 45. A long time ago I dropped out of college my senior year and I was close to a music degree. (that I never wanted) About 15 years ago I was going to attend NYU but they didn’t want to accept all my transfer credits, so I’ll probably have to take freshman English again if I go for a university degree.
You’ll have to take freshman everything again. Most schools won’t honor credits that are more than 10 years old, let alone 20.
Why not join the military? You can have a job and maybe even get the degree on the side for free.
I don’t think the military will take a 45 year old.
They are not that desperate, plus the ‘not wanting to relocate’ doesn’t work with them.
Anything that leads directly and immediately to a job. I hear the market for teachers isn’t so hot now, though.
It makes me seethe with anger that kids are allowed to rack up a lifetime of debt in order to get a crummy 4-year English degree that entitles them to work for hourly wages in a bookstores. Grrrrrrrrr.
I could have started this thread. Only I definitely don;t want to go in nursing, plus it’s a PITA - most colleges have like a 3 year wait even to get started.
Learn to be a plumber.
I wish I was a plumber.
Supposedly there was a shortage of people pursuing the pharmacological sciences, but I’m not sure if that continues to be true.
I’d think about physical therapy considering the advancing age of boomers.
It would open up a whole new world of bottom-revealing possibilities.
What jobs are there a market for in NYC?
More specifically, are there any jobs that you’re close to qualified for? Jobs that require marketing skills and something else, where the “something else” is something you could go back to school for?
According to this, the following jobs are “in demand” (or were in November):
Obviously, you can ignore the sales stuff, since it ain’t Christmas anymore.
Because the age cutoff for entry, without prior service, is 42 for the Army. The Air Force is younger: 35 for officers, 28 for enlisted. Likely similar for the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard.
Reserves and National Guard, too?
Just what I was observing at my PT place a few days ago. They commented on how busy they’ve become, and we agreed that the numerous boomers reaching the injury-prone age (yet still trying to keep up with their jogging or basketball or tennis) were going to keep therapists employed for years to come.
Yup, that’s what I was going to suggest. And in-home health aides, hospice workers, medical assistants, and so on. My understanding is that there are lots of jobs in health care that don’t require you to be a full-on RN.
Zebra, check out Court Reporting (aka machine stenography/transcription). I know one other doper who is starting school for it in the fall. Her aunt does court reporting in The Hague. Gary Wombat Robson’s wife does it. Harvey Keitel used to be a court reporter, and his brother retired from court reporting for the NY Supreme Court, I believe.
Court reporters largely work outside of courtrooms transcribing depositions in lawyers’ offices. They also do closed captioning for TV, and transcribing for deaf students. I knew of one who went to law school with a deaf student transcribing for him. Court reporting in the courtroom pays well with great benefits, but outside the courtroom it pays extremely well - $50 - $100 per hour. You work freelance through agencies and only work the days you want.
You don’t need a college degree, just a good vocabulary and brains. The programs can be up to 3 years long or so. Make sure you take it from a program that is an accredited non-profit, like a city or state college. The for-profit ones tend to be ripoffs. You can find out who’s accredited from the NCRAonline.org website.
Do you love marketing? Maybe something + marketing = Superpowers.
An MBA is one of those degrees that are infinitely useful when paired with another degree. Others would include teaching and management.
I used to work for a court reporter - I went out and recorded the depositions, then went home and typed them out on a special computer onto 10-inch (!) discs. (this was 1991) Do the court reporters still use those weird little mutated typewriter-like machines or has the technology changed? You could learn that little machine in high school (stenography?) but boy was it difficult. Maybe this or the PT, I’ll look into. About to be unemployed again!