The Employment Report

A friend of mine was determined to become a teacher. Growing up watching “The Sound of Music,” she wanted to help kids, teach them the ways of the world and maybe get a few songs in along the way. Excelling at English while in high school, she decided to choose her path. She would become an English teacher.

After majoring in English Literature, she decided to pursue her Master’s degree in English Education. Two years went by of strenuous classes teaching her about lesson plans, standardized testing, discipline and reading. Apparently kids didn’t know how to read nowadays, a thought she scoffed at. She later learned how truly wrong that scoff was.

Her first day of teaching didn’t go exactly as planned. As she set down her freshly sharpened pencils and brand new ballpoint pens on her neatly arranged desk, she took in a deep breath. She was in her very own classroom. With walls decorated with posters and pictures, she sat at her desk waiting for her eager young students to arrive. She imagined talking to them at length about Shakespeare and Faulkner. She already planned out her ‘after school’ book club; first book choice, “Pride and Prejudice.” And then, promptly yet lazily, her students entered the room.

It took her exactly one week to realize she hated teaching.

This is a common scenario. A person sets in motion a plan to achieve his or her ultimate professional goal. Getting schooling or loads of experience along the way are stepping-stones. But what happens when you reach the top, the epitome of your climb, and realize that it’s not necessarily where you want to be?

For my friend, she hit depression after realizing that her six years of college were wasted.  She finished the school year, unwillingly, but knew she couldn’t go back. She knew she couldn’t continue the rest of her life teaching ungrateful, badly behaved, sixteen year olds (who, as it turns out, couldn’t read). So, she did the one thing she was trained to do—she went back to school.

Statistics by the Bureau of Labor Studies show the average person has around 10.5 different jobs by the age of 40. With no study showing how many of those are complete career changes, one must wonder why the constant change. Some say it’s a loss of interest, while others say that they conquered their field and want something new. Whether you decide to switch careers at the age of 23 or 43, people are doing it now more than ever. The tradition of having the same job your entire life, only to receive a gold watch and sturdy handshake after retirement, has been easily forgotten.

So how do you change? The first step is deciding what you want to do next in life. Let’s pick on another career field with a dismal degree to job ratio: filmmaking. At seventeen, going into college, you were determined to be the best filmmaker out there.  Twenty years later, with only a few independent shorts under your belt, you realize you need something different.

Books like, “What Color Is Your Parachute,” by Richard Nelson Bolles help you assess different fields and realize which area you may want to attempt next—which field may be right for you. And that’s the first step of a healthy and happy career change—discovering what you want to do next. What will make you feel content and satisfied after a long day of work.?

But after discovering that you want to be a fireman rather than a lawyer, or a therapist rather than an accountant, what next? Although maybe not the most economical, going back to school is the surefire way to start your new career. Getting the proper education will bring you closer to that dream field. A person can’t merely say, “I want to be a dentist!” with no suitable schooling, just as they can’t say “I want to be a soccer player!” without training.

College classes are filled with people of all ages today.  From those going for their first degree at age forty, to those getting their third at age thirty, everyone benefits from a solid education. And although it may seem costly, it’s usually worth it in the end. What’s the alternative? Staying at a job you hate for another twenty years? Why not go back, take some classes, land a beneficial internship, and start living a new life. What’s the worst that could happen? If you hate it, there’s always graduate school.