Topic : Career Goals

I have the education, experience and willpower, now what? 

I graduated from Chiropractic school in 2004. It took getting divorced, looking for the joy I found in life and 4 yrs of grad school to find to person I want to be. After graduating I decided to associate because I needed to be able to support myself. For the first time in my life I had loans, big ones. I'd worked all through undergrad and high school just to be able to be able to have no loans.  

I'm unhappy where I am now. I work 10-11 hours a day with weekends off and get paid $35k. As it stands now I have No life aside from my job, I need to get away from this setting so I can actually enjoy a weekend instead of using it as my only time to do errands.  

Now I've got the experience and I want to be able to buy a practice. There is nothing I love more than helping people get well. Yet I have no money.I don't have anyone who could possibly co-sign on it. I come from a single parent hom with a disable older sister, they look to me for help. I have a 12 year old car and no other tangible assests. As it stands now I barely pay my bills. My loans are like paying the rent twice. I have a good credit rating,  it's just I'm not sure any business plan is going to convince a financing company to give my the money I need. I can't do moonlighting work to open my own practice, my day is consumed by my current employment and in my field all associate positions appear to be very low income with high work hours. Any ideas on how I can get what I need to acquire a practice? 

I've been searching for a new job for several months. I have had a couple of offers, but for various reasons,  turned them both down. I am 51 yrs old and have given myself the luxory of holding out for a job I will truly enjoy and feel passionate about.  I want something I can stay in till retirement and feel good about doing. 

Just last week I got a surprise phone call asking me if I'd like to interview for a great job that's just opening up in my area. I had applied for a different job with the same agency several months ago and they'd held onto my resume, which they pulled now. The person who called me was very vague and told me only the position title, that there would be 4 of us interviewing for a single position,  that the position was new and covered under a new federal grant, and that I was the first being called. I have done some research and found that the job is one that I feel I would be very good at and would really enjoy. I have shared this with a few close friends and they're telling me too that it seems to have been custom made for me. 

I have my interview in a couple of days, so have been gathering facts on the new program, the objectives and goals of the agencies spearheading it, and the more I learn the more I really want this job. Luckily, I have experience in all the areas listed in the information, which is almost comical since some of it is so long ago that there is no mention of some of it on my resume. I want to be able to go in and simply WOW the interviewer with my qualifications and passion for this particular job.  

This job involves working with 16 - 21 yr olds who have been incarcerated and are being released. It is helping them to get back into school, preparing and training for jobs, and helping to open some doors that would otherwise be locked to them. I have been doing this on my own for several years without the benefit of any help, so this program sounds like a dream come true.  

I realize I have only 1 hour and chance to make a lasting, positive impression on the interviewer. I want to point out what I have told you all here and yet I don't want to come across as a lunatic in the process. Any tips and ideas would be greatly appreciated. I've been prepping myself using the info on the site of the agency I would be interviewing with since they offer tips for successful interviewing and so on. How much is too much and how hard can I press without going too far? 

Thanks! 

I'm 56 years old and I also live in Wisconsin.  Where in WI do you live?   

Five years ago my husband lost his executive job.  I had not worked outside the home since my husband's salary was substancial.  After losing his job, our financial situation changed dramatically.   Both my husband and I began a massive search for jobs.  Being that I was out of the job market for such a long time it was difficult for me to secure employment.  I had an associates degree but that didn't seem to matter.  Employers were not interested in me because of my lack of experience. 

I did secure employment.  The pay was really low, no benefits, the hours were crappy and the people I worked with were destined to stay at the company forever....no matter how bad it was.  It was then that I began to act on a dream that I had had for many years.  That dream was to own a  business.   

In 2003 I opened my business....a video production company.  I absolutely love it!!!  Although it's been difficult to maintain a steady flow of work, I truly enjoy the freedom to be my own boss, the challenge of the video business (the learning curve is massive!) and being proud of myself for having the courage to have a business.  By the way, my husband did secure a wonderful job after five years.  We have relocated, and now I'm in the process of starting my business in a new city.  That in itself is a challenge.  But I know that it will take time to get clients and I'm positive that I will succeed!!! 

You can make things happen if you believe in yourself!!!  Go for it.  You have nothing to lose. 

"You can make things happen if you believe in yourself!!!  Go for it.  You have nothing to lose. "  

This is precisely the kind of support I need right now, so thank you! 

I'm in rural west central Wisconsin. We moved to within a mile of my original childhood home last summer and it's wonderful to be back.  I did go through a few years where my self-doubts got in my way, but I've managed to fight back to my more self-assured self just recently. It's this self-assurance that's given me the determination to find a job I will WANT to do... rather than one I do simply for the paycheck. I think life's too short to spend 40 hrs a week focussed on something that's not meaningful and fulfilling. I've given myself to raising my family and bearing my responsibilites, so now feel it's time to structure my life more to my own needs. 

Last year we took in a 17 yr old friend of our kids who's mom had tossed him out. He'd dropped out of school and needed someone to help him make something of himself. He lived with us and got his HSED in the process. Our own 17 yr old is about to graduate with her diploma thanks to a G.O.A.L. program. I've taken in several teens who needed a leg up and someone to believe in them. Sometimes it made a difference, and sometimes it simply postponed their falling into bad ways. When we moved, we left behind several of these kids and the impact we'd had on them showed itself. It's this that makes me want to be able to work with this new program. I know I can't help them all, but I would finally have actual backing to help many, which would be a dream come true. 

It's not like me to be blowing my own horn, as I'm a fairly  private person and haven't helped any of these kids in order to get praise or attention. I do know though that unless I tell the interviewer what I've done and what I dream of doing I can't expect them to know. It's definitely going to take some stepping out of my comfort zone, but it's for a good cause. I've never put this much effort into my bid for a job before, so I am a bit anxious about it. I just feel so strongly that I would be very effective in the job and that this is a position that needs to have someone who does feel sincere passion in order to accomplish the most for as many as possible. Unless they get help asap they too often end up in worse trouble by which time it's too late. It's such a waste of life that can be prevented with proper intervention. 

Oh man... I AM going on. LOL  

I have all crossables crossed and am saying extra prayers right now. Thanks for the encouragement. Here's hoping! 

I work for the state right now and I can feel myself getting more and more burned out every day. The worst part about that is that I've only been there 7 months. What I hate most about the job is that you are required to know volumes upon volumes upon volumes of mind numbing policy. It's impossible to do the job well because there's no way that you can know everything the job requires. Then on top of that, it pays very little and we are given tons of work and no where near enough time to finish everything. I can handle clients chewing me out, but I have a really hard time with knowing all that policy. I have spent the past few days thinking about it and I know now what I want to do. I want to be an advice columnist or do something similar, but I don't see any opportunities that are available to me. Deep down I feel that this is what I should be doing. I give advice to people who email me through my website, and the more I do it, the more I want to. Helping people through my writing is like a high for me. It's what I feel most passionate about. I feel like that's what I need to be doing, but I don't see any employment opportunities out there for someone like me. I'm feeling very burned out at my current job, and sometimes feel like walking out (I don't though). I'm starting to wonder if I will ever have a career that I love. 

I'm at 22 year old, working on my Masters degree in Exercise Science.  I live with my parents and feel things are not going right in my life.  I work Fri and Sat night as a dancer at a topless bar and make plenty of money to pay for my bills and school.  My parents have NO clue what I do on the weekends, but I know I'm not happy with my life.  I try to look at the positive side b/c I'm in school working on a higher degree, but I'm also lowering myself to the "night life" that is hard to get out of.  I'm addicted to the easy $ and not sure why b/c I really do not need it right now.  Am I in the wrong for trying to get financially ahead in life?  Should I continue making money and saving or quit dancing and be broke?  I'm not doing anything illegal.... 

You are being very honest with yourself and your to be praised for that. 

Working on a Masters degree menans that you have intelligence.  Being a stripper means that either you have confidence in your body OR you found the money too good.  You should read what 

your saying - your not happy with your life.  You are not wrong for trying to get ahead financially, But 

the way your doing it - as you say - not happy with your life. 

I am troubled at your statement 'quit dancing and be broke'.  It does not have to be that way.  I rarely  

say this but if you have a certain sum - I would open a brokerage account - and put part/most in some funds that are moderately conservative growth funds and use your intelligence and any connections and look for satisfying work in your field.  I do know that you can do it. 

No your not doing anything illegal - your just not being good to yourself. 

to become an educational assistant (work with special needs children) 

and it was something my mom (who died) really wanted to see me continue.
Unfortunately my moods were terrible after her death and my coping was horrible too!
i acted out in a way that i normally wouldn't. i was always the quiet reserved laid back people person... and then i got arrested and charged by police which is totally out of my character! this was obviously something i did in anger because of my mom's death!
it was not me.... 

i am fearful that i won't be able to continue my career because of the charges... it could take forever to get things straightened out. 

i just wish that i could continue. 

im also looking forward to the possibility of moving out with my boyfriend this spring/summer ish and i don't know how to get a job with a charge!!!!! at least one decent enough to live off of for now.