If you love your job and feel like you're making a positive difference in the world,

[ourbabygirl]

please share what you do! Do you get compensated well for it? Are there major sacrifices or drawbacks? (Lots of travel/ had to relocate or re-educate/ can't switch to part-time hours/ etc.)

I'm a teacher, and there are a lot of reasons it's great, but I just started back after a decade away, and I don't know if I can do this the rest of my life! I'm thinking of changing fields, but I don't know what I would do.

Is it possible to love your job? If you do, have you always loved it, or have you trained yourself to love it? Is it a second career, and you feel like you've finally found the right fit? If you stayed in the same career, but switched locations or something else, could you please explain? How did you decide if the job is something that you could like more/ that would get better over time? How did you know that it was 'not right' enough to change?


Thanks so much for weighing in!

[niccig]

I’m a SLP that works in schools and I work 1-2 Saturday’s per month in a hospital setting. It’s a 2nd career for me. I really disliked my first job, so even though there are difficult things with my job, overall I’m very happy with it. I’ve been in worse situations, so I can deal with the things I don’t like.

There’s too much paperwork, too many students, too much work to do at Home, but when a student can say their name or communicate when they haven’t been able to before, it makes it worth it. I’m trying to get more efficient with the non-student contact work, so I have more time with students. I’m also trying to stress less, everything will get done. I’m not trying to be superwoman. I do what I can as much as I can.




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[dogmom]

I’m a nurse. I guess it is technically a second career. I had a liberal arts degree and was a few years out from my bachelors starting on the track to do financial management of non-profits. (I was working at MIT as a grant administrator.) I was looking at a Masters program at Harvard school of Education of the subject and the next thing I know I was thinking about nursing school. I wound up going to an entry level Masters in Nursing program which was more work, but enabled me to do teaching and some non-bed side nursing stuff during my 26 years as a nurse, but I’ve always gone back to direct care which is where I am now. There are draw backs, mostly the rotating shifts and physical demands. I have taken breaks from direct care at times which has helped. However the upside is I’ve always be able to work part time and go up and down on my hours. Seeing my non-nurse mother friends I realize how valuable that is. Being in a female dominated profession no one goes, “Hey, why were you working part time here?” in a job interview. So to answer some of your questions,

Do I love my job? Yes, emphatically yes. It’s not just that I help people, but it is something I’m good at. It’s something that intellectual interests me. It something I get paid fairly well for. It’s something the world will always need. It makes me more useful in my day to day life. I am constantly confused by nurses who say they don’t like nursing. I understand not liking your job, but not the profession. It’s a calling for me. I think the most import decision of my life is not marrying my husband or having kids, but going into nursing because I can’t imagine how those other decisions would have followed. I was married before and if I didn’t have my love of my career to give me some meaning I probably would have stayed in that marriage and it wasn’t good for me. It’s the perfect center of this Venn diagram for me:
http://www.humanbusiness.eu/purpose-venn-diagram/

Have your trained yourself to love it? Over the years I also have closely watched for emotional burn out. I’ve recently left my old position of 13 years because I realized I had given enough and went to another department that is less stressful. But I did it seeking new experiences (I now work with children for the first time in my career and try to bring knowledge form my previous position to others.) I found to prevent burnout it is helpful to really listen to what everyone around you say about their jobs, not just the people in your field. I found many nurses having legitamate complaints, but half the time the stuff they complain about isn’t taking into account what other jobs are like because they haven’t done anything else. For example, people constantly complain about working holidays, I figure that’s the deal. But when I AM off, for a day or a vacation, NO ONE is asking me to do anything at work. I figure it’s a good trade. And the 5 day work week sucks as far as I’m concerned. . So I guess I’m constantly tuning up my attitude about my vocation to keep me happy and making adjustments when I realize I can’t.

I really encourage you to get What Color is Your Parachute. I was reading it and doing some exercises when the idea of nursing came into my head decades ago. I don’t think it gave me the idea of what direction to go, but it helped confirm that was the direction and got me started thinking about it in a way that enable me to keep my career going this long. I revisit it at times. I encourage you to also figure out what you do and do not like about teaching. Do you need a different environment? A different subset of teaching? Do you want to specialize? Go back to school? Do adults instead of kids? Use your experience in corporate? There are so many job openings for qualified people now. It might also be beneficial to think about starting back into teaching to get the job experience back on your resume then switching careers.

[icunurse]

I’m a nurse. It is definitely not an easy job at all, but I love what I do. We tend to get paid pretty well, but we also have daily exposure to contagious diseases and bodily fluids, there is workplace violence from patients and families, and it can be physically and mentally stressful.

I worked in an ICU for over 20 years and loved my job. I left mainly because of management and systemwide changes to my role (there has been a huge turnover the last few years). I went to a smaller dept in the same system in a procedural area. I didn’t think I would like it, but I really do! We see some patients repeatedly, so you get to build a relationship and see their progress. This area is known for having tough patients, so I can walk away each day knowing that I gave someone a little hope or a caring ear. We have a small staff and only a few doctors, so we are a tight bunch. My only complaint is that when I started, I was in a satellite location that was very close to my home and now we have been sent back to the main hospital (where I worked ICU) and it’s a longer drive again. But I’m happy every day to see my coworkers and make a difference.

I currently work around part-time. I’m registry, which means I work as little or as much as I want and depending on department needs. So I am able to be there for school events, which is very important to me right now. This job also isn’t open weekends or holidays, which I always had to work with my ICU job, so I’m really enjoying this whole “weekends off” thing. I am now working only 8 hours vs 12 which is easier on my body, but somewhat of a pain to have to work more days to get the same number of hours per month. But now I see my kids every night and do things in the evening.

[pinkmomagain]

I am a psychotherapist in private practice. It is a second career for me -- I started school for it in my late 40s after 14.5 years of being a stay at home mom. My second Masters degree.
I love it and find it extremely fulfilling and meaningful work. Being in private practice means that I'm in charge of my schedule, my income, etc. It is very flexible -- I still have a middle schooler at home. I also make a very good income.
The drawback here would be no health insurance/benefits. My husband gets insurance/benefits through his job so this set up works for us. Not sure what it will look like when he decides to retire. I guess we will have to buy health insurance. I intend to continue doing this work until I cannot do it due to physical or cognitive impairments. The other issue is that if I am sick or take time off, I am not earning money. So income relies on my ability to show up for work. But it all works out. I account for that when setting my fees, it isn't really a problem.

Good luck in figuring out your next steps!

[DualvansMommy]

I’m a Social Worker. Since graduating, I’ve worked with different populations with developmental disabilities first, then mental health in a psychiatric hospital setting for 10 years. I decided to leave this particular job, as wasn’t loving it from serious burnout, and management changes, in addition to the increasing work violence.

But I loved my choice of career though, as that always seemed to stay interesting. It’s mainly because I have a lot of flexibility which sub set I want to work with, conditions and morale among staff, etc. The pay was actually pretty decent for me because I have additional special skills that commands more of pay than the average social worker with similar experience, years in workforce. The hours suited me too somewhat, the first job I had was when I was single and you g, it was structured such that I only had to work Monday to Thursday mornings leaving me my long weekends off. That enabled me to do a lot of fun travel with friends too. Second job was strictly 8-4, something I would find hard to do if I had stayed after having my kids since if you wanted to see your child’s play, etc it meant approval to come in early or early leave. And if it wasn’t approved then you had to use up one of your personal days to do it. Not really family friendly employment.

I just returned to work on a very part time basis 5 months ago. This time it’s in an area I always wanted to get into over the years, but for various reasons never worked out. Working for a Domestic and sexual violence organization can be exhausting, not to mention emotionally wearing but my organization is really good and very tight since it’s fairly small with only 15 employees and executive director. Self care is pretty big in office, so every few days there’s always something going on that keeps things light, fun and happy. This is where I can see myself staying and continue to grow, even increase my hours over time as still have Pre-K kid at home. I also feel it’s very crucial for my own mental state of being to feel I’m making a difference in the current political climate. As I was honestly feeling really down with the direction this country is going, morale and such.


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[scrooks]

Thanks for this post. I am unexpectedly thinking of the potential of a “second act”. I have a degree in engineering and trying to figure out if I want to stick with that field or do something totally different.

[Cam&Clay]

After being a classroom teacher for more than 10 years, I got my MLS and now I've been an elementary school librarian for the past 10 years. I absolutely love it! I still get to teach, but I see all grade levels. I don't have to deal with testing, report cards, difficult parents, etc.. I work in a school system that is well-funded so I have an adequate budget. I still have a great relationship with the students. I worried I would miss being so close to my classroom of students. I always say that I have the best job in my school!

[elephantmeg]

I'm a nurse and love it. I've been able to shift around, work part time and full time, different shifts etc. I get paid well and have a great boss. I've built up seniority and experience and have been able to do some amazing things not just at my hospital but in the system (we are one of 12ish hospitals in a system)-next year I'll be chairing the system wide pediatrics council and that's pretty cool for a part time nurse from a small-er town! I'm also interviewing for the pediatric educator job at my hospital this week-it's a very part time job that will have to be mixed with floor nursing but would be an interesting change...

[mom2binsd]

I've been a SLP for over 25 years, schools, preschool, outpatient hospital and for the last 12 years nursing homes/adult rehab. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a patient who came in on a trach and tube feeding be able to resume eating regular food and speaking again, being able to work with someone to be able to upgrade their diet from puree or thickened liquids to something they are happy to eat (I often celebrate by picking up fast food and sharing a meal with them). In the schools the parents who were appreciative made it good, but also seeing students make gains, and be able to communicate with their peers was rewarding. I still have a note an 8th grader wrote to me as he exited therapy, he was grateful that he didn't say "wabbbit" and especially could say his name ROBERT! anymore ! For the most part I am independent, have had wonderful experiences, especially working in the most dangerous/high poverty schools in San Diego, I was able to give students there some life skills and experiences that they will never forget (took some of my special needs teens to a Charger football practice and they used their augmentative speaking devices to communicate to the players and tell them how fun it was, the players gave them all kinds of swag and high fives!). Pay is pretty good, although it varies from place to place.