What else am I qualified to do?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I badly want to move back to Michigan (from AZ), but I’m having difficulty getting everything in order to make my teaching certificate transferable (I took an alternate path to certification, which MI doesn’t recognize). We want to go back because my wife is applying to a Pharm.D. program there and because we want our daughter to grow up knowing her grandparents, all of whom live there. My parents are in the northern suburbs of Detroit, and my wife’s (divorced) parents both live around Lansing.

This is my 4th year teaching. I’ve been in a horribly disorganized school in a very bad neighborhood the whole time. It wouldn’t break my heart to leave teaching, so I’ve been looking through Monster and Career Builder to get some ideas. The problem is, I don’t even know what I’m qualified to do.

Here is the skinny on my resume:

Education: B.A. in English from Western Michigan University

Work Experience:

Target (Team Member) : 1998-2005

Banana Republic (Sales) : 2005

Cable Technician (2 companies): 2005-2007

High school English teacher: 2007-present

I don’t remember my exact Myers-Briggs type, but I’m certainly an extrovert. With my experience, could I get a job in sales? Middle management? What the heck can I do?

Thanks for any suggestions.

2

  1. Teach at a private school. My understanding is that a teaching certification is only a requirement at public schools.

  2. With an English degree, I would search for the following terms in Monster/Careerbuilder: writer, editor, proofreader.

  3. Human Resources and Marketing are two other departments that any decent sized company will have, and would be a good fit for your combination of people skills and written skills.

I have a B.A. in English, and I was able to go right into a writer/editor position after college. As an entry-level person, you might want to look at jobs that have the word associate, assistant, or junior in the name, such as editorial assistant or associate editor.

3

Doesn’t answer your question, exactly, but have you considered one of the neighboring states?