What should I do when I grow up?
June 7, 2017 7:34 AM Subscribe
I'm moving to a new city in a couple weeks and I haven't started looking for a job, because I'm not sure what I should be looking for. Maybe you can help! Flurry inside.
Background/work history: graduated with a BA in psychology from a good liberal arts school, got a job as a research assistant doing pediatric public health research in Philadelphia. Worked with that research group for 3 years, decided I didn't want to get a master's or PhD in public health and I also didn't want to be a research assistant forever. Joined Teach for America and taught middle school in Chicago for 2 years. Got totally burned out due to a confluence of work and personal stressors, and moved to Madison, where I do manual software testing for a large electronic health record company. (I do not have any software/technical skills beyond that of your average millennial.) I've worked here just under a year, but now I'm moving back to Philadelphia to live with my girlfriend.
Things I liked about each job:
a) research made me feel like I was a part of something important. I loved helping put together grant applications and proofreading/editing papers. I still do both of these things on a volunteer basis for my girlfriend, who is a researcher.
b) I loved my students, especially working with them one-on-one or in small groups. I enjoyed having to think on my feet and improvise when it became clear my lesson plan wasn't working. I also really liked writing unit plans (taking big common core standards and breaking them into daily/weekly objectives)
c) I like the deviousness of software testing. It's fun to get paid to break things.
Things I hated about each job:
Managing people. I went into all 3 jobs with the expectation that my coworkers or students were going to do the right thing (get things done on time, behave correctly, etc.). This often turned out to be an incorrect assumption and I got very frustrated, and was also not good at helping them get back on track. I also hate talking on the phone (which I had to do to schedule research participants and communicate with parents). I have a fair amount of social anxiety that manifests when talking to adults -- I was fine in a room of 32 kids.
Other skills/interests: I'm a good writer, a skilled amateur baker, and play roller derby. I'm particularly interested in health/medicine/science, literature, and music.
Career counselors of MetaFilter, what should I be looking for? Bonus question: how do I frame my pinball-like career trajectory in a positive way to potential employers?
Background/work history: graduated with a BA in psychology from a good liberal arts school, got a job as a research assistant doing pediatric public health research in Philadelphia. Worked with that research group for 3 years, decided I didn't want to get a master's or PhD in public health and I also didn't want to be a research assistant forever. Joined Teach for America and taught middle school in Chicago for 2 years. Got totally burned out due to a confluence of work and personal stressors, and moved to Madison, where I do manual software testing for a large electronic health record company. (I do not have any software/technical skills beyond that of your average millennial.) I've worked here just under a year, but now I'm moving back to Philadelphia to live with my girlfriend.
Things I liked about each job:
a) research made me feel like I was a part of something important. I loved helping put together grant applications and proofreading/editing papers. I still do both of these things on a volunteer basis for my girlfriend, who is a researcher.
b) I loved my students, especially working with them one-on-one or in small groups. I enjoyed having to think on my feet and improvise when it became clear my lesson plan wasn't working. I also really liked writing unit plans (taking big common core standards and breaking them into daily/weekly objectives)
c) I like the deviousness of software testing. It's fun to get paid to break things.
Things I hated about each job:
Managing people. I went into all 3 jobs with the expectation that my coworkers or students were going to do the right thing (get things done on time, behave correctly, etc.). This often turned out to be an incorrect assumption and I got very frustrated, and was also not good at helping them get back on track. I also hate talking on the phone (which I had to do to schedule research participants and communicate with parents). I have a fair amount of social anxiety that manifests when talking to adults -- I was fine in a room of 32 kids.
Other skills/interests: I'm a good writer, a skilled amateur baker, and play roller derby. I'm particularly interested in health/medicine/science, literature, and music.
Career counselors of MetaFilter, what should I be looking for? Bonus question: how do I frame my pinball-like career trajectory in a positive way to potential employers?
I think you should throe your resume up on a couple laege job boards with your future city address, and see if you get any interest.
I think you should also scan the job boardaswith search terms related to your skills and individual interests. Maybe you will see something that fits one or more of your interests. Do you know someone who works at that company?
A lot of job finding is networking. Do you kniw someone in city X that does something at all related to what you've done or are passionate about? Reach out to that person, and let them know you are moving soon and have broad interests. The more you can do this the better.
Basically, you can probably play the field and see if anything catches your eye. A lot of career search ud networking and then luck.
I'd really sell your career track as passionate. You are really interested in x,y, and z. I think everyone understands the desire to teach kids as a true calling but then getting burnt out. Just spin it as an interest related to the job (or just generally an interest that is considered good, like public health or education), and then say why you could be passionate about this job.
posted by Kalmya at 12:21 PM on June 7, 2017
I think you should also scan the job boardaswith search terms related to your skills and individual interests. Maybe you will see something that fits one or more of your interests. Do you know someone who works at that company?
A lot of job finding is networking. Do you kniw someone in city X that does something at all related to what you've done or are passionate about? Reach out to that person, and let them know you are moving soon and have broad interests. The more you can do this the better.
Basically, you can probably play the field and see if anything catches your eye. A lot of career search ud networking and then luck.
I'd really sell your career track as passionate. You are really interested in x,y, and z. I think everyone understands the desire to teach kids as a true calling but then getting burnt out. Just spin it as an interest related to the job (or just generally an interest that is considered good, like public health or education), and then say why you could be passionate about this job.
posted by Kalmya at 12:21 PM on June 7, 2017
I think the spin you put on your career trajectory will ultimately depend on what jobs you end up applying for. It's great that you know what you liked/disliked about each job already, because you can build off of any of those in a job interview. (Ex: "When I did Teach for America, I realized that my favorite part of the job was actually the lesson planning, even though I loved my kids" or "Being a research assistant was great because of X and Y, but it could be a little chaotic at times with the scheduling.")
It sounds like curriculum design might be something that would tick a lot of your boxes. Grant writing for non-profits or colleges/universities may also be an avenue to investigate. And heck, if you liked software testing, that might be something to continue to pursue.
Writing and editing sounds cool on paper (heh), but I've found that doing it for a living usually requires a lot more talking to people than some people realize, especially if you're writing for a serial publication. The writer in my department is on the phone or in meetings ALL THE TIME.
posted by helloimjennsco at 1:08 PM on June 7, 2017
It sounds like curriculum design might be something that would tick a lot of your boxes. Grant writing for non-profits or colleges/universities may also be an avenue to investigate. And heck, if you liked software testing, that might be something to continue to pursue.
Writing and editing sounds cool on paper (heh), but I've found that doing it for a living usually requires a lot more talking to people than some people realize, especially if you're writing for a serial publication. The writer in my department is on the phone or in meetings ALL THE TIME.
posted by helloimjennsco at 1:08 PM on June 7, 2017
I'd advise something similar to helloimjennsco. My partner has worked in a decent variety of different industries (sports, massage, education, tech), but had been able to extract from those different roles a thread of customer success that has helped make a number of semi-unconnected jobs seem like a career trajectory. And it helped define for her what she was looking for in a new role.
posted by Carillon at 2:50 PM on June 7, 2017
posted by Carillon at 2:50 PM on June 7, 2017
If you're working for the electronic medical records company I think you're working for, there are definitely places in Philadelphia that use your current company's product. Poke around the U. Penn. medical system job boards and see whether anything sounds interesting.
posted by yarntheory at 6:08 PM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by yarntheory at 6:08 PM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
I work in a job and a field that is somewhat related to your previous experience, and I have some thoughts about what kind of jobs you might look for, but I think your strong dislike of managing people is going to be a stumbling block for many of them. I think you could look for research coordinator or management positions, or grant writing positions, or for project management jobs, or for training jobs, and probably spin your experience into a story about why you would be great at any of those. The problem is that all of those jobs (and maybe all jobs?) involve working closely with other people and in my experience at least, that inevitably involves disappointment when people don't follow through, some amount of chasing people down for their work, having to adjust your expectations and communication methods to actually reach people and get things done, and so on.
You don't say whether you would consider this or not so I won't assume either way, but are you willing to maybe accept that your hatred of the people-management aspect of work is something you can work on? I hate talking on the phone as much as any millennial, for example, but I've realized that it's something that I can work on, and I have gotten better about it and developed some strategies to make it easier. I also struggled with the realization that well intentioned, smart, professional people just don't get shit done by when they say they will some of the time and that I need to own that and adjust any deadlines/completion dates I ask for accordingly.
If you really want to avoid people-managing (and that's a completely legitimate choice I think!), I think you may want to consider focusing on jobs that are more task-oriented and less collaborative. Look for jobs where you are assigned or take on tasks that you can complete almost autonomously and with minimal interaction with others. This may require that you do some skill building, whether to learn some new skill or get good enough at something you already do that you can basically go into business just doing that (although then you have to manage clients and billing, so maybe as part of an company where other people do that part?). I'm having trouble thinking of how else to avoid people management in the jobs that I have seen.
posted by MadamM at 7:41 PM on June 7, 2017
You don't say whether you would consider this or not so I won't assume either way, but are you willing to maybe accept that your hatred of the people-management aspect of work is something you can work on? I hate talking on the phone as much as any millennial, for example, but I've realized that it's something that I can work on, and I have gotten better about it and developed some strategies to make it easier. I also struggled with the realization that well intentioned, smart, professional people just don't get shit done by when they say they will some of the time and that I need to own that and adjust any deadlines/completion dates I ask for accordingly.
If you really want to avoid people-managing (and that's a completely legitimate choice I think!), I think you may want to consider focusing on jobs that are more task-oriented and less collaborative. Look for jobs where you are assigned or take on tasks that you can complete almost autonomously and with minimal interaction with others. This may require that you do some skill building, whether to learn some new skill or get good enough at something you already do that you can basically go into business just doing that (although then you have to manage clients and billing, so maybe as part of an company where other people do that part?). I'm having trouble thinking of how else to avoid people management in the jobs that I have seen.
posted by MadamM at 7:41 PM on June 7, 2017
If you worked for Epic, Jefferson just went live with them. I think you might be a good fit for a job as a trainer for a large health system like Jefferson or Penn (i.e. you teach classes of new hires how to use Epic).
posted by WeekendJen at 12:53 PM on June 8, 2017
posted by WeekendJen at 12:53 PM on June 8, 2017
Response by poster: My employer has a 1-year non-compete. I can't work for any of their customers until next summer.
posted by coppermoss at 7:17 PM on June 8, 2017
posted by coppermoss at 7:17 PM on June 8, 2017
I would double check those are the terms of your non-compete. I've usually seen them used to not work for other employers (other EHRs), and rarely with customers (in this case, health care services, which are very different).
Teaching how to use your EHR sounds like a great fit. Adults are easier to teach than kids.
posted by treetop89 at 10:13 PM on June 8, 2017
Teaching how to use your EHR sounds like a great fit. Adults are easier to teach than kids.
posted by treetop89 at 10:13 PM on June 8, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sulaine at 7:57 AM on June 7, 2017