What do I want to do when I grow up? How do I job?

January 4, 2022 4:24 PM

I am at a point where I probably need to switch careers, and probably move into the private sector. I have no idea what I'm doing. I was hoping to find some guidance/advice/new avenues to explore. There's a wall of text that you can see from space ahead, but the request is for 1) occupational ideas that maybe I haven't thought of (there are so many titles in the private sector; I don't know what they mean, help) 2) resources for me to explore this shift/career advice and info for a middle-aged-ish person.

Okay, apologies out of the gate because I have no idea how much of this information is relevant.

I have spent 15 years in fire and EMS. Due to a huge shift between the profession and my needs and personality, I am distraught to realize that my profession (at least in my area) is no longer congruent with my values. I am terrified I will not be able to find an occupation in which I excel that meets what I need from the work and the surrounding organizational culture.

I am a good fireman; sometimes I'm even a good employee. I was a good company officer. Within 2021 I changed organizations and have determined that my current organization offers no promotional opportunities and my leadership and creativity are stifled; I'm bored and while everyone is nice enough, this *gestures* is not what I want for my career. I have applied for management and executive positions with a other departments. I'm either "not what they're looking for/promoting someone in-house/had someone else in mind already/you are an obvious optics interview" or I answer some question(s) in the interview incorrectly or I come off as "intimidating and threatening" ["I'm gonna have your job in 2 years" - threatening, not "I'm going to beat your ass" - threatening] and that's that. I have extensive and varied training in technical, practical, administrative, and leadership fields. Jack of all trades; master of none except being a smart-aleck.

I have a BS in parks and recreation/municipal management from 10 million years ago, and a MPA with a concentration in Emergency Management dated 11/2020. Public EM jobs are a charliefoxtrot because EVERYONE wants to get out of Fire/EMS/LEO/Military and slide in; hell, that was my plan, too!

I have worked with a career counselor - he told me to get the hell out of public service, and maybe look at jobs titled "project management." My answer to his describe the perfect job for you: "I want to do research and provide information and guidance to a team/board so that we're able to provide a service/product that on some level provides for the public good. I can deal with providing for some private clients so long as it's not personally morally objectionable [fracking; GOP superpacs, etc]." He says my resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn, writing sample...all just fine. I do need to retool my LinkedIn for the private sector, but I want to dip these toes in first.

A friendquaintance who is a recruiter said "it's a numbers game. Research companies who are local or offer remote work, dig deep ["you loooooove research, Sara!"], and just start hammering out resumes and cover letters." This is great advice, except that I have no idea what the heck the jobs I'm looking for are even called.

The Good:
I'm an ENTJ with a strong personality. Like, I'm A LOT. But you get A LOT in return. I'm a quick learner that can adapt on the fly, I can talk to anybody about *something*, I thrive in super stressful environments WHEN THE STRESSOR IS NOT HUMAN, I'm personable, and have super varied interests. I'm empathetic and I have a tremendous amount of compassion. I want to succeed, I want everyone else to succeed, and I want to be surrounded by intelligent, driven, passionate people who want what's best for the team, the organization, and the clientele. I'm a good salesperson, but a lot of aspects of sales make me feel slimy (no offense to anyone reading this question who happens to be a salesperson). I LOVE THE ACQUISITION OF INFORMATION. I have strong spatial and mechanical aptitudes. I write...decently enough. I write MUCH better than I speak; however, I am a good teacher.

The Bad:
I do not play games. I cannot lie worth a shit [this has gotten me into so much trouble in my life] and if you ask me a question, you're going to get an answer. I am passionate to the point where my professional life and personal life can become way too intertwined for my mental and physical health. I will not step on people or throw them under the bus; I'm not cutthroat enough to work in a profession where that's acceptable justification for the ends. I have compassion and empathy, but I describe myself as a misanthropic extrovert; I value and care about humanity, but I definitely prefer dogs to people. I've been burned out a few times in my career, and definitely passed over/kept out of hiring/promotional processes because of who I am (the whole woman thing, the intimidation thing, "this position is earmarked for Pat Doe", pissed in the wrong bowl of cornflakes at some point, etc) and am cynical. I can develop a terrible attitude when I feel wronged. I will still have the same work ethic! I will still do the job, and probably better than a whole bunch of other people! I'll just be an ass about it. Apparently, I can also come off as pompous and elitist - HOWEVER, I think that's the First Responder environments I've been in. The few jobs I've worked outside of public service - I have not been met with that same criticism. I'm a gold medal procrastinator, but the job gets done, and well. Uh, I have major depressive disorder, anxiety, and some trauma shit that's all over the place. I haven't been tested for ADD/ADHD or autism. I am having huge anxieties re: the undertaking of this project and I anxietyspiral into how much I hate interviews and all of the nervousness and discomfort that hiring processes cause. Also, I wish I was this complimentary of myself and egotistical in interviews - I'm not, and I'm not a horn tooter. Often my coworkers aren't aware of my accomplishments because I don't walk around with my chest puffed out, I *hate* being recognized, and because I don't like being called pompous and egotistical. I'm okay with elitist, because if I'm being honest with myself they're *not* wrong.

Ok, the Qualifiers:
-I think my current salary is low $40's (it's difficult because of COLA/5% increase off of probation/rotating overtime); I was making approx mid $50s at my previous role. I am supplementing with savings right now because my paychecks are not what I was told I would be making (that's its own derail). I was living very comfortably at mid 50s, so I am hoping that this salary is doable?
-All the job quizzes/aptitude tests say I should be an engineer (awesome, but I cannot math, also I still owe a few grand on my masters) or a scientist/medical practitioner (o-chem? looooool). That's great, but I don't think an AAS at the community college will help me become an engineer...or will it? An engineering technician? What is that?
-Please, please, please, I do not want to go into another career field where being female or educated, or especially being an educated female, is a liability. Caveat: not all fire departments. Yes, I know that. However, in this area...the anti-intellectualism and misogyny are strong. I would very much like to avoid harassment and assault that I've already dealt with.
-I need a huge learning curve for 100% office work. I'm not even sure if I can work an office. I did it once for 3 months and quit because it was soul-sucking and I was done with my "work" before lunch and I had to sit at the desk for hours pretending to be busy. I have avoided them since.
-Remote or office/WFH or office/fieldwork or office/remote/fieldwork would be preferable.
-Fieldwork is great!
-Opportunities for forward progression.
-Good health insurance.
-I'm not relocating. My mortgage is $930 a month and you can't even get an apartment here for that kind of price. Also, proximity to the ocean is important to me, and I have a strong social life here.
-I'm willing to go get an AAS. I could potentially be willing to acquire another master's, but I'd also like to stop being in debt at some point in my adult life.
-I have thought about physical therapy assisting. I could see myself doing something like that, but I secretly still want to be a fighter pilot or a nuclear engineer or a physicist at JPL [I know these ideas aren't feasible - insert Susie Derkins panel here].

Ok, that's a lot. I have long since contemplated asking this question, and I hope y'all don't mind my asking. Thank you all.

posted by sara is disenchanted to Work & Money (16 answers total)

You don't live in New Mexico - we don't have an ocean to be near - but if you did I'd like to point you to the NM State Forestry Division. Particularly because of your firefighting experience, but also because you sound like exactly what our State Forester is looking for for some of the more management-level work in watershed preservation, tribal liasion-ing, climate action planning, etc.

Of course this is more public service, but it hits the rest of your boxes: fieldwork, remote/hybrid-friendly, uses your current skillset, health insurance, forward progression possibilities.

Maybe the state forestry department in your state is looking for people as much as we are looking for people here.
posted by byzantienne at 4:56 PM on January 4, 2022

What hours are you willing to accept? Many railroads are looking for staffing. If you can deal with that schedule and away time, there are Engineer/Conductor roles.

Power companies are also looking for responsible people to keep the lights on, and much of their staff is aging out.
posted by nickggully at 5:16 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Sexism and politics and all that shit will still be there in the private sector. The key is finding a place that is better than average at those things, or at least at insulating you from those things. Glassdoor and other sites where people can review their employers are worth looking into.

Seconding your career counselor. You sound enough like the project managers I have worked with that I think you should look at that. It is a lot of people time and cutting through the BS to get stuff done, but remote work is pretty standard. You will need to convince people to do things - so it is a bit like sales in that way. You may want to look into PMP certification with an eye towards the non profit sector. If you can get into a technical department (profit or non-profit), your salary will improve. However, working in tech at a for-profit company will not always be working towards the greater good.

-I need a huge learning curve for 100% office work
The tech PMs that I know of have more work than they can handle. But working from home means less "having to look busy" than being in an office.
posted by soelo at 5:23 PM on January 4, 2022

Project management has included a lot of human stress or in my experience. Unfortunately.

Facilities management, particularly of parks and rec type things, might be a good fit. Somewhere large enough you aren't maintaining things yourself but figuring out how to get things taken care of. Lots of problem solving. Downside is still pretty male but other management might not be.

I'm sorry you're dealing with that.
posted by sepviva at 5:32 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Quick jump in to address a few questions:
Should have added the “Explain this to me like I’m 5” disclaimer
-I scour NCJobs.gov often, and USAJOBS…ehhh every few months. State jobs are freakin hard to get, but I’d always discounted NCFS because my background wasn’t in forestry or ag. I’ll dig deeper.
-Hours: well I’ve worked shift work my entire career. But I won’t lie to you, I’m tired of 24s and getting up 5x per night because someone stubbed their toe. I have a dog. I’d like to spend more time with him, so frequent travel, unless he’s my +1, is out. But I’m pretty easy going; I don’t need a 9-5, but I don’t really want 52 weeks at 60+ hours per week (I understand crunches and deadlines).
-Speaking of not needing a 9-5 I meant acclimating socially to an office environment. I can absolutely guarantee you that the discussions we have at work are not acceptable in an office environment. I need Eliza Doolittle-level reprogramming.
-I’m not hellbent on the private sector (I am vested many years in the state), but I also would love to like, go on a vacation or (gasp) rebuild my savings account.

You guys are awesome! Keep the rabbit holes coming!
posted by sara is disenchanted at 6:05 PM on January 4, 2022

Some random ideas:

1) Travel/Tourism/Hospitality jobs might be good, if you live in an area already that has outdoor/natural attractions. (I know you don't want to move.) Being a general manager onsite at a resort or camp would keep you moving, involves lots of project management and problem solving, and generally means your coworkers are a nice community of like-minded outdoorsy people. You do have to be nice to strangers though, because even if you are behind the scenes, you're still seen as a part of creating "experiences" for visitors. And if you like the people side, you could consider being an adventure leader/tour guide/wilderness safety pro. You might scroll through jobs on https://www.coolworks.com/ or https://www.occupationwild.com/all-jobs for ideas.

2) As mentioned above, facilities manager seems like it would align with your ability and interest in doing all sorts of different things and desire to help the whole team succeed. I think you could look outside Parks/Rec and explore tech companies if there are any in your area. They may call the job Office Manager or Facilities Manager or Workplace Experience, and it can be very multifaceted and involve very little actual traditional office stuff. Many companies are looking to hire someone in these types of roles who can be trusted to oversee many disparate responsibilities, and they err on the side of hiring folks with unique "real world" backgrounds unrelated to tech. You'd likely get A+ health insurance and better pay, though there might be some boring admin responsibilities as a part of the package.

3) Roles with the title "Operations Manager/Director/Lead" can mean all sorts of different things in different industries, and I'd suggest googling what's available near you in that realm to see if anything jumps out. In some places you need a business background, but in others, you're the chief of just getting s**t done.

4) Would you enjoy doing events? Either from a planning perspective or from a back of house perspective, making sure that all the trains run on time, all the stuff is where it needs to be, and everything goes off without a hitch? You might look up events management roles and do some gigs to see if you like the world of planning and pulling big experiences off.

5) Someone else mentioned railroads, and I'd expand that to all kinds of things in the transportation industry. Do you live near a port? Is there a bike share in your area? Public transportation? Might be some roles that sound intriguing to you and would keep you out of the office and on the move, monitoring performance, doing maintenance, managing expansion or public projects, etc.

A final bit of advice with the search is to not get too fixated on finding the perfect role or perfect family of jobs or perfect industry, but to instead apply to a wide variety of places at once, go on interviews, and see what feels interesting to you in person. So much of a job is the people you work with, so if you're open to lots of different types of work environments (and work), approach your search like you're trying to find the people you want to spend every day with rather than believing that the tasks in any job description are true (or forever). Good luck!
posted by luzdeluna at 6:48 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

I want you to stay in public service but as someone who represents a fire department, I understand why you want out. A few ideas:

Paramedic work in an ER might scratch a lot of your itches

Civilian work for the military if there is a base nearby

Flight medic

Safety officer for a construction company or factory floor

Building inspector
posted by notjustthefish at 6:53 PM on January 4, 2022

I work for a community college that offers firefighting and paramedic degrees and we would be THRILLED to have someone with your occupational and educational background teaching for us. Is that something you would be interested in?
posted by mjcon at 7:15 PM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]

A sub field of tech that might make particular sense given your background is computer security incident response. Many of the people I know in the cyber security industry are semi-self taught or have kind of unusual backgrounds. You get to spend all day either protecting computer systems from hackers or trying to figure out what happened if someone did get into a system where they shouldn’t be. One of the guys I work with the field is a volunteer firefighter on the side because… you know. He likes responding to BAD situations. Pays well, should have some remote/WFH opportunities, still will be full of dudes but probably a different type than you’ve spent your career around, might be a bit office-y but if it seems cool enough might be worth it?
posted by A Blue Moon at 7:35 PM on January 4, 2022

I would also suggest the broad field of facilities management. It could give you the opportunity to work for a variety of settings public, private, medical, schools, city buildings etc. i would think your master’s degree could eventually lead you into a research/planning/manager position where you could use your brain like you want to! Seems like a good mix of active, somewhat autonomous, non office, and brainy.

Also - have you ever worked in a kitchen? Being a cook could be interesting maybe. And maybe lead you into a career in dietary management.
posted by ChristineSings at 8:17 PM on January 4, 2022

Park ranger?

Is UNC Wilmington near you? If so, look through their job postings as well as those at your local community college.

Play around with the Occupational Outlook website, something you've never thought of might strike your fancy.

Good luck!
posted by mareli at 7:55 AM on January 5, 2022

Gonna nth facilities management as sounding Very You, and suggest that you widen your search to colleges and universities local to you. The best strategy -- because each school will have its own jobs website, sorry, that's frustrating -- is to figure out what the school calls its facilities unit (it's Facilities Planning & Management where I am, but names vary) and limit to that unit on the job-search page. Don't even type in a search term, just see what's on offer there.
posted by humbug at 10:00 AM on January 5, 2022

Like a few others, my thoughts on reading your blurb were project or facilities management - being able to make sense of a problem and get shit done sounds like strengths you have that would be useful in these fields. Maybe things like national park management would be something to look into as a first step?

Don't kid yourself that the politics of public service life will magically disappear if you transition to the private sector - my lived experience is that the bullshit is worse in the private sector in some ways and, particularly, there are less protections for people who tend to rub others up the wrong way by calling a spade a fucking spade (an affliction I share). But job roles in the private sector tend to have less formal boundaries and there are more opportunities to find a place that suits your personality as long as you can demonstrably get the job done. You're likely to get more anti-female bias in the private sector, though.

There's a lot of positives in working in the public sector, not the least of which is knowing you're contributing to society instead of making it worse (or can at least tell yourself that), but don't limit yourself to either public or private at this stage. Look for jobs that involve project management or operational management etc rather than generic management positions (that will be mostly sitting in an office pushing virtual paper around and involve being nice to stupid people).

Consider a teaching role of some sort? That may sound kind of counter-intuitive, but higher education is full of people who have trouble fitting into any kind of corporate structure.

Good luck - there's a great job out there with your name on it and you just need to get out and discover it!
posted by dg at 1:04 PM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

IT project manager here. A number of people have suggested project management, from what you shared it doesn't really sound like a good fit for you - high on politics, stress, and it is very much about sitting in front of a computer, whether in an actual office or at home. And contrary to previous poster, project management very much involves mostly sitting in an office pushing virtual paper around and being nice to stupid people

posted by coffee_monster at 3:48 AM on January 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Maybe it's a little out there, but I would have loved someone like you as an investigator when I worked at the federal public defender's office. That could be a little human stressful, but what about an investigator in a different context? It's some field work, maybe not much travel, working with people, some teaching/explaining, could be public or private, and if you are one of a few investigators working with attorneys, it's not anti-intellectual. You have a neat skillset and I think you're going to find something great.
posted by *s at 10:54 AM on January 7, 2022

I also struggle with connecting the dots between what I am able to do, and what job titles I should apply for. My success has almost entirely come from networking connections. Taking opportunities to have a virtual coffee with people in different fields, or who do things that interest you.

I have a short description of ymyself, like a cover letter, that I share with people before I meet with them. It has a summary of my background, some work I enjoyed and would like to do more of, and some questions like "what kind of jobs would let me do xyz again?"

I end the conversations by asking if they could introduce me to anyone who they think might like to connect with me.
posted by rebent at 5:28 AM on March 13, 2022