Yes, another career change suggestion box

September 12, 2009 6:14 PM

Me: Working in an industry that catastrophically failed during the last 12 months and I STILL can't get laid off. So now I'm going to have to make a career change without the kick in the pants that being laid off would've given me. Now I just need to figure out what my new career is.

My salary requirements are modest, my needs are simple. My desires...rather narrowing. The problem is, I don't really know anyone who has a job I'd want and I'm too cynical to believe career/school counselors and their ideas of job prospects and potential and/or their ability to place me in jobs. I am, however, very realistic regarding the job market and my abilities.

I'd like a job that doesn't involve touching people or providing customer service or listening to a persons victimology. Been there, done that, avoided IA and PTSD. I want to be a cog, the bigger the company, the better. I just want a paycheck, not a chair on the birthday committee.

I like numbers, paperwork, independent playtime, alternative schedules, using my brain and finishing things. A perfect world would have me leaving work when I'm done with my job tasks instead of faking til 5pm but I've been working long enough to know that that.will.never.happen.

I'd like to go back to school for a minimal amount of time and complete a degree or certificate program that will lead to DIRECT employment.

I've looked into the local community college and the healthcare administration and accounting appeal to me the most. I'm looking for a field that has longevity and multiple avenues to explore. I'm leaning towards health care admin since there are at least 7 hospitals within 10 minutes of me and a large retiree population in my city. Accounting-type jobs in the healthcare field=even better.

Problem: As usual, all job postings I see want certificates AND job experience. So does anyone have experience with direct employment with a Accounting Certificate or an Associates in Accounting or with an Associates in Health Information Technology (with RHIT certification)? I can crank out a degree or certificate but want to know if I'm actually employable with one. And if so, give me actual jobs I someone would give me without experience specific to that area.

As a side note....any graduates with a BS/BA in Public Administration? Thats also a long term possiblity so tell me what specific job you got with that degree!

posted by SassafrasSweetCharity to work & money (5 comments total)

Answering a limited part of the question:

Do you currently have a BA/BS in any field? If so, you should probably go back to school to get a MPA rather than going for a BS/BA in Public Administration, if you can, many of those programs will admit someone with any reasonably broad background.
posted by Jahaza at 6:42 PM on September 12

No BA/BS. Completed 5 semesters before I was overcome with indecision and bailed....I know, I know.
posted by SassafrasSweetCharity at 7:04 PM on September 12

I second your thoughts about accounting. Although there will be pressure at various deadlines, it is straightforward work that can be completed and left behind. Most of your initial jobs will be bookkeeping ones, but they are reasonable. Could even set up your own bookkeeping consultancy and do it for several smaller mom and pop type operations from home or their site.

Also being a postal delivery carrier will do the same thing. Finish your route early and head home. Good benefits and longevity.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:53 PM on September 12

Being a cog in a larger corporation and having a flexible schedule are for the most part mutually exclusive, at least in accounting, but you can at least reasonably expect to find one or the other. That said, I really don't know many people working with an associate's in accounting. Bachelor's, yes, and I've known quite a few people who worked while taking courses part time towards that, and a few people who had just been trained on Quickbooks and the like, but strangely I just haven't really encountered many people with that associate's even though I see ads for the programs all the time. I'm not sure that gives me a lot of confidence.

But I've mostly worked in smaller places, the ones with the nice flexible hours--my job in college was bookkeeping and I was literally told that as long as the work got done and I had at least a few hours a week when my boss was there so we could review the bank statements and he could sign checks, I could work whatever hours I liked. Sometimes I didn't go in until 6pm. I loved it. Corporate may be different; I'm the sort of person who is far happier with the notion of being self-directed.
posted by larkspur at 11:51 PM on September 12 [1 favorite]

SassafrasSweetCharity: Problem: As usual, all job postings I see want certificates AND job experience.

Yes well, I want a pony, and that isn't happening either.

A job posting is very often a wish list rather than a hard requirement list. If you have your certificate and you have work experience even if isn't in that job or field, tease out your transferable skills and do a skills-based CV and apply anyway.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:20 AM on September 13