Changing Careers During a Bad Economy

There is a saying that goes along the lines of "do what you love, and the money will follow". I love to lay around the house reading books or watching movies all day, or sometimes go hiking in the mountains. So far I haven't been able to translate that into a paycheck that will support me in the style that I would like to someday be accustomed. In other words: to get paid good money and never have to feel as though I were working. As goofy and New Ageish as the saying of "doing what you love..." may come across, there is a definite truth to it when you really examine what it means. But is it wise to try and change careers during a bad economy with unemployment soaring?

You may have also realized at some point, or read about how the amount of time we will spend during our lives working at a job or career is the most time we will ever spend doing anything. No one wants to spend the majority of their lives doing a job that they hate; career choices are also important lifestyle choices. Of course, we need to support ourselves and most of us would like to have a career that pays a decent living wage. In addition, we now have high unemployment rates and jobs being cut right and left. So can we have our interesting job and eat with it too?

The first thing to think about when deciding whether to make a career change at all would be determining what career you would like. Are you interested in a specific topic, like Civil War America? Possibly you could teach, be a teacher's aid or get a Museum Studies or Public Administration Degree and work at a museum that features Civil War history. Maybe you can pursue a Master's Degree online, and teach American History at the local community college - that would be a flexible schedule, and even something you could do a couple evenings a week while you still have your "day job". All of those choices encompass an area of interest, and a few different ways to pursue careers that incorporate that interest. A teacher's aid will pay less, but is also the quickest way to get into the educational field. Then you could finish your teaching degree, or if you already have either some college or a full four-year degree - you could take the teaching certification tests and complete the process. There are tons of opportunities in the area of education, and regardless of recessions and bad ecoonomies; there will always be schools and the need for educators.

Another area of interest may be health or medicine. Are you transfixed by medical dramas such as ER? Or maybe you spend your free time researching the natural alternatives to taking medicines, or visiting your chiropractor or Yoga instructor. If health and wellness are important issues to you, there are not only many excellent career choices in this field, but it is also a career field that will grow and is always in demand despite bad economic times. Here is an example: You could be a pharmacy technician. This isn't anywhere near as time-consuming and expensive an educational process as becoming a nurse would be, and the pay is fairly decent to start with. You can work anywhere from a hospital to the local drug-store assisting the pharmacist. You would learn a lot about medical terminology and the various drugs and their properties. From there, you could possibly work up to becoming an actual pharmacist over time with additional education.

There are so many areas of interest that you may have, choosing a new career that you may have to invest time and/or money into is also an important step. You could probably come up with five different options, and still not know which is the best way to go. Don't hesitate to research the realities of the career choice you are considering. Sometimes when we are looking for a way out of a dead-end job, we can get suckered in to expensive schooling or other programs that cost us more money and time than we can spare. Continuing your education is a positive step; but make sure you have fully researched your potential career choice and the realities of what you can expect as a salary for the area you live, and what the education will cost you over time. Also consider the realities of your time commitment and if you believe you can see it through. You will not be in a better position if you commit to student loans or trade school payments, and never finish your degree or certificate, or never use it at all if you do complete it. See if there's a way you can go through a community college, and finish your training over a period of a couple years for little money, instead of trying to "fast-track". Is a couple years really that long in the long run?

One excellent way to research job options is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics at: http://www.bls.gov/. This government agency gives unbiased information on the job outlook for tons of careers. Just scroll down the left side of the home page. When you get to the employemnt tab, scroll over and the drop down menu will give you several choices. You want to get to the OOH, or Occupational Outlook Handbook. Start researching different careers. If you look up the previously mentioned pharmacy technician, you will find out what this job would entail, the type of training you need, how long it will take, and things such as projected job growth and pay rates. The most interesting aspect is if you go to the bottom of the page - keep scrolling down - you will find related careers. If you think being a pharmacy technician might work for you, you might also like being a medical trancriptionist, pharmacy aide, dental assistant and so on. You can keep on searching related job fields untl you hit on one or two things that you think would work for you financially as well as an ongoing career. Now you have realistic options!

Another way to research whether or not your new career choice is a good fit with the area you live, is to do a fake job search. Basically, go to your local newspaper and internet job sites such as Monster, Career Builder, Indeed, Snagajob and even Craigslist, and get a feel for whether there are that many job openings in your chosen field. Especially right now during this awful economy, you will see whether anyone cares about your potential new skill. You won't get much in terms of salary info, but job availability is an important consideration. It doesn't matter how much your skills are worth if no one is hiring!

Finally, I would go right to the source. There are always trade organizations, and many of the interent job sites also have forums. Also check blogs in that career field. Is everyone who is already working in your new chosen career crying because they are being outsourced? Are they giving tips on where the best jobs in that field are available? Is there a local chapter of that particular trade organization that you could join while still learning, and network now? Take action before you complete your new career training so that you can be ready to be super hirable.

Changing careers at any time of your life is scary, but even more so now in a bad economy with unemployment rates so high. The best defense against becoming the next unemployemnt statistic, or feeling trapped in a dead-end job is to do your homework. I still want to lie around the house all day reading books and watching movies. Maybe I could become a manuscript reader or editor for a publishing house? Hmmm... I'd probably have to move to New York where all the publishing houses are. Time to start researching those new career opportunities!