I need help finding the perfect career
The first of the year I told my employer I would be job searching this year (big mistake) He has given me 30 days to find a new job and leave the company and I don't have a job lined up because I was expecting to stay until spring/summer. I really don't want a job confined to a desk from 9 to 5 anymore, but if I have to I no longer want to supervise others. I need help on figuring out what to do. Currently my job consists of accounting and management. I really would like to do consulting or training work. Anybody with any ideas on career searching?
So lets take an inventory of what you know and what you have experience in. You might really be surprised. So far you say that you do accounting and manage people but what does this really mean?
What sort of accounting do you do?
What are your daily activities?
In what type of industry?
How many people are you responsible for?
At what level of management are you?
Do you train people today?
What type of training do you do?
Do you prepare training materials?
How long have you been working in your current position?
Start with these and we will go from there.
Have you considered training end users on the software that the trucking industry uses for accounting? I'm not familiar with that industry, but they must use something. You'd be able to train people, but not have to supervise / manage them. This type of a position often involves travel though, so you'd have to be open to that, unless the software company is close to you and the end users travel to your classroom.
I'm in the consulting field now. The money is good, but I'd advise staying away if... (1) You are in a relationship of any type -- the hours and the travel will ruin it. (2) Money is not everything. You need work/life balance (3) If consulting firms don't have work, there are layoffs, so it's not a stable field.
Good luck.
Stop looking for "perfect." Perfect doesn't exist and if you put that in front of you as your goal, you are going to get stuck, frustrated, and stalled.
Your goal, and I am saying this based on a lot of experience working with career changers who don't know exactly what they want is to instead focus on closer & better & more interesting & funner & less painful, or whatever your motivators are.
Whenever you make a career move, if you leave behind things that don't work and don't fit and you get more of things that do work and fit, then you have made a successful transition.
Look for jobs that you can sell yourself into, but that sound interesting (the job, the organization, the industry, the challenges). Use those skills as an entry point into a job that will provide you with new skills and experiences.
Does that make sense?
Ian Christie
Career Changers Coach
Foot in the door opportunities can be a smart bet. But you need to ask the right questions. Where the environment is merit based, then it can make sense.
Ian Christie
Career Changers Coach
It will take time -- for me 1-4 years of part-time study to get some certiications -- but if it moves you towardswhat you want, it's worth it.
Other careers for smart people, that you may be able to do with just a little bit of training:
- publishing. It seems that there's a lot of this in Boston.
- Court Reporter or Captioner for the deaf and hard of hearing -- in my county, this pays _very_ well. A friend studied this part time while working full-time. She now gets paid to do real-time captioning of college classes and loves it.
- Paralegal. But probably too similar to what you're doing now. . .