Desperately need a new job.
December 23, 2008 9:01 PM Subscribe
I'm in a toxic job & I need out. Help!
I'm currently working as a Service Writer/Manager for a small motorcycle dealership. This position is difficult & stressful at the most organized shops & this shop is not one of them. I need out.
I'm 32 and have been in this industry for almost a decade now. I've done everything in a dealership from wrenching to sales to parts and more. I love motorcycles & I loved doing sales & I love dealing with customers. I never went to college, but did go to Motorcycle Mechanics Institute and did very well.
I'm considering a few different options.
Find a job in a related industry that I enjoy. - My favorite part of all my jobs have all revolved around dealing with customers. My two favorite jobs have been as a salesman at a BMW dealership and as a CSR at a gas station. So something that has me dealing with customers directly would be right up my alley. The question is what.
Go back to school. - I've pondered completely switching careers. Economics and investing fascinates me, but I'm not sure exactly what I'd do with that. The only idea I have is become a financial advisor. Separately, I'm naturally good at things like programming & mechanical design, though I have no real training in them. My ex has repeatedly suggested I go back for mechanical engineering.
Stick it out until I find a better job or get fired - Motorcycle dealerships are few and far between where I live so jobs are had to come by. I've got a great resume, but it's useless if no one is even thinking about hiring.
Win the lottery & become a dilettante
Any suggestions or thoughts would be most welcome.
I'm currently working as a Service Writer/Manager for a small motorcycle dealership. This position is difficult & stressful at the most organized shops & this shop is not one of them. I need out.
I'm 32 and have been in this industry for almost a decade now. I've done everything in a dealership from wrenching to sales to parts and more. I love motorcycles & I loved doing sales & I love dealing with customers. I never went to college, but did go to Motorcycle Mechanics Institute and did very well.
I'm considering a few different options.
Find a job in a related industry that I enjoy. - My favorite part of all my jobs have all revolved around dealing with customers. My two favorite jobs have been as a salesman at a BMW dealership and as a CSR at a gas station. So something that has me dealing with customers directly would be right up my alley. The question is what.
Go back to school. - I've pondered completely switching careers. Economics and investing fascinates me, but I'm not sure exactly what I'd do with that. The only idea I have is become a financial advisor. Separately, I'm naturally good at things like programming & mechanical design, though I have no real training in them. My ex has repeatedly suggested I go back for mechanical engineering.
Stick it out until I find a better job or get fired - Motorcycle dealerships are few and far between where I live so jobs are had to come by. I've got a great resume, but it's useless if no one is even thinking about hiring.
Win the lottery & become a dilettante
Any suggestions or thoughts would be most welcome.
If you love sales and dealing with customers you're quite fortunate in having some very useful inclinations. It's probably not at all a bad time to explore alternatives to the motor vehicle industry. You've got management experience. Do a thorough, formal job search. Think through the important questions, like whether you'd be willing to relocate and what your acceptable salary range is. I think it can be very worthwhile to run through a "find your ideal career" type series of exercises like in the What Color is Your Parachute books if you haven't done that before. It's never necessary to tell your current employer squat until you accept an new job. The pressure of being in a rotten job is a bad context to go straight into school from unless you have a very clear idea of what you want to do and know why because you're liable to just go down any educational path just as an exit from the job and of course the school is not going to discourage you because you're signing up to pay them. Testing the job market is low commitment, cheap, it will generate a lot of info and just looking seriously at options will probably make your current job more tolerable. In the worst economy jobs open and people get hired. You will leave your current job and they will have to find someone to replace you, the wheel of commerce is still rolling.
Win the lottery & become a dilettante
At this point I'm probably lapsing into my Dad Voice but lately I've been reading old Ben Franklin essays on gaining wealth and a prescription of his has impressed itself upon my mind: it is to "not divert my mind from my business by any foolish prospect of growing suddenly rich." It's hard not to get diverted by that prospect. I know it's just a joke but it's an alluring joke but daydreams mostly don't go anywhere. If you're in a toxic job that's sapping your initiative: try to find a better job and see if you can find a better context from which to search for your bliss or whatever. (If you can't get over the seduction of rapid wealth though shoot me a memail, I've been chewing over some get rich quick schemes. It's probably a bad idea though. I mean, Ben Franklin would've thought so).
posted by nanojath at 9:44 PM on December 23, 2008
Win the lottery & become a dilettante
At this point I'm probably lapsing into my Dad Voice but lately I've been reading old Ben Franklin essays on gaining wealth and a prescription of his has impressed itself upon my mind: it is to "not divert my mind from my business by any foolish prospect of growing suddenly rich." It's hard not to get diverted by that prospect. I know it's just a joke but it's an alluring joke but daydreams mostly don't go anywhere. If you're in a toxic job that's sapping your initiative: try to find a better job and see if you can find a better context from which to search for your bliss or whatever. (If you can't get over the seduction of rapid wealth though shoot me a memail, I've been chewing over some get rich quick schemes. It's probably a bad idea though. I mean, Ben Franklin would've thought so).
posted by nanojath at 9:44 PM on December 23, 2008
Best answer: If you have a head for numbers you might consider looking at being a financial adviser. The role of most retail adviser's is mainly that of being a people person and selling yourself. Although you'll have to understand the products you're selling, you won't be constructing them. That is to say, you won't be making the investing decisions, just allocation and suitability decisions. It can be very lucrative. It can also turn into being an insurance sales job depending on where you work. The first two years are hell, as you need to cater to your precious clients every whim. But once you've established yourself, you should be OK. It's all comish based too... an interesting career that is definitely not for everyone.
I'd consider going back to school for a general liberal arts degree. It may seem pointless, but you have a vast body of technical and practical experience already. Rounding out the rest of you seems like a good use of time IMO. Engineering might be a bit of a stretch at this point. I was having a drink with a friend the other night, who is >35 and has gone back to school for his math masters (we're both math guys). He was lamenting that math is a young mans game. I won't go into the specifics, I/we just think math gets harder and more frustrating as you get older; and engineering math is the worst kind of math ever invented.
Maybe look at the corporate motorcycle side of things where your customers are the dealerships themselves? That might be a nice, natural, step up.
posted by teabag at 5:57 AM on December 24, 2008
I'd consider going back to school for a general liberal arts degree. It may seem pointless, but you have a vast body of technical and practical experience already. Rounding out the rest of you seems like a good use of time IMO. Engineering might be a bit of a stretch at this point. I was having a drink with a friend the other night, who is >35 and has gone back to school for his math masters (we're both math guys). He was lamenting that math is a young mans game. I won't go into the specifics, I/we just think math gets harder and more frustrating as you get older; and engineering math is the worst kind of math ever invented.
Maybe look at the corporate motorcycle side of things where your customers are the dealerships themselves? That might be a nice, natural, step up.
posted by teabag at 5:57 AM on December 24, 2008
Maybe look at the corporate motorcycle side of things where your customers are the dealerships themselves? That might be a nice, natural, step up.
That sounds like a great idea. That kind of job movement often makes the best fit - for example, the best printing salespeople are ex-graphic designers. They understand the industry, the pressures and the technical limitations. You would have mutual empathy and rapport with your clients, because you understand their perspective very well.
posted by letitrain at 7:26 AM on December 24, 2008
That sounds like a great idea. That kind of job movement often makes the best fit - for example, the best printing salespeople are ex-graphic designers. They understand the industry, the pressures and the technical limitations. You would have mutual empathy and rapport with your clients, because you understand their perspective very well.
posted by letitrain at 7:26 AM on December 24, 2008
Seconding the last two. You'd probably do great as a purchaser or buyer at the company or manufacturer level, with vendors or retailers being your customers. My cousin's experience also attests to your skills (like his) are portable to other industries. If you do purchasing for motorcycles you could probably do purchasing for any automotive company, and in turn could probably do puchasing for any transportation company, ergo puchasing for any manufacturer. Your workflow is common in business and if you can avoid missing the forest for the trees you may just be in the catbird seat for your line of work with your resume, probably even wherever you live.
posted by rhizome at 12:52 PM on December 24, 2008
posted by rhizome at 12:52 PM on December 24, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
With that said, if you are terribly unhappy and as miserable and miserable can get and there are no bright lights on the horizon regarding new opportunities, then by all means - don't stay miserable for long. Life is too short, as they say.
posted by Brettus at 9:16 PM on December 23, 2008