Can anyone help resolve my inner conflict towards a career change?

February 6, 2023 1:23 PM

I recently took a role at an arts nonprofit and I am loving it. This is the first time in many years that I am enjoying my job and can see a new career path. My colleagues are lovely and I get to work from home. However, my salary is low and the work feels rather intellectually unchallenging. I work in marketing and communications so at least it's a potentially lucrative field and I could switch to an agency or for profit. However, I am wondering why I feel conflicted about pursuing money for the sake of money?

While I enjoy my current role and could see how I could develop a career in arts and culture marketing / administration while pursuing creative projects, I find myself drawn to switching to working in a marketing agency doing the same job but for much more money. I think the same way about my writing - I would prefer to write novels but could make more writing for television.

Throw in the problem that I also have ideas of studying again especially in a traditional field such as law or becoming a therapist. To be honest, many people have told me that I would make a great therapist and psychology was something I always wanted to pursue since I was a teenager. I feel very resentful for listening to my parents when I told them I wanted to study psychiatry but they swayed me away from it ( I come from a family of doctors and academics but I suspect my father didn't want someone doing better than him), and I ended up studying literature instead. Don't get me wrong I love literature and books but geez, to muster up any kind of career with it has been challenging without falling into the abyss of marketing or publishing. And I did.

Deep down marketing and writing feel like careers I fell into or settled with after failing to persevere towards an academic career - I have an MA but didn't pursue a PhD, because of this I didn't know what to do so trained as a journalist which I actually hated. I did end up becoming a magazine editor but that wasn't the dream career it seemed to be. Ok, I didn't mean for the middle part to get ranty but obviously there are some unresolved issues...!

I also have lots of conflicting external voices (family, friends, peers - for every person who tells me to keep writing, there is another telling me to follow the money) and obviously my ego and idealism at play here, or am I missing something?

posted by foxmardou to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Best answer: There's a lot here, but to answer the question as you've posed it in the heading - only you can really resolve it, because you're the only one with your particular aptitudes and preferences. Why not give your current job a year or so, then go to an agency and see what you make of it? At the moment you're comparing the reality of one, with the theory of the other, and that never works.

If, after a while at the agency, you're still unfulfilled, maybe it's time to start thinking about moving into a totally new field. You could start doing some relevant reading or adult education classes in the meantime to see how that feels.

You don't have to resolve all your career dilemmas at once, in fact it's impossible - you have to live the options to find out which suits you best. It's OK for you to only be part way through this process, which takes time to do properly. Careers, and lives, are processes.
posted by penguin pie at 1:46 PM on February 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Go for the agency job making much more money. If you love working at a nonprofit but you can't afford to work there and stop looking for other jobs, move on. I was pushed into journalism and broadcasting by people who liked my writing and voice and found the entire industry deeply toxic. Many people questioned why I would do something as basic as bid or grant management - and want to teach others to do it. It's really okay to write novels, tell your famous father to fuck off, study medicine.
posted by parmanparman at 1:49 PM on February 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

However, I am wondering why I feel conflicted about pursuing money for the sake of money?

You're not pursuing for the sake of money. You're pursuing security, comfort, retirement, heaven forbid travel and a little fun, being able to support family members in their old age, being able to make charitable contributions to organizations you care about...

There is nothing wrong with making money.
posted by joycehealy at 3:07 PM on February 6, 2023 [5 favorites]

I am wondering why I feel conflicted about pursuing money for the sake of money?

Well...by your own description, you are not happy in jobs that don't feel fulfilling to you. Money will not make any job more fulfilling, though it certainly helps in other ways.
posted by praemunire at 5:05 PM on February 6, 2023

Best answer: There's no one right answer. Becoming a therapist is very different from marketing or writing however, so you might want to think about whether you, personally, want to counsel people all day, a demanding job. Maybe you truly do! Or maybe you've since changed your mind.

Mostly I would stop privileging other people's opinions on what you should do. They are not in your head and their opinions aren't relevant. Find the the thing you truly want to do next and do that, even if you later decide to change again.

Pro/con lists are good; you can rate not just money and personal fulfillment but what you can afford, where and how you want to live, etc. Write all those down, make multiple lists if needed, and then take your next step. You won't know if you're right until you do.
posted by emjaybee at 9:07 PM on February 6, 2023

Also... I worked in a counselling service with many new psychologists and psychiatrists of all ages. Question your motivation before you invest in this career change. There are many people who enter this field with Quixotic ideals and personal problems they can hope will be solved through classwork and being a counsellor - vicarious healing is rare. If you need support: go to a therapist, don't aspire to be one.
posted by parmanparman at 1:35 AM on February 7, 2023

Best answer: You have a little bit of a false dichotomy going with work for a non-profit for peanuts or work in private industry for lots of money. Yes, that's all true in broad strokes, but there are lots of low-paying for-profits jobs and a decent number of well-paying non-profit jobs, particularly once you're experienced enough to lead a communications team at a mid-sized non-profit (say 2-3 people working for you). So, if you like the mission and focus of your work but want more challenge and money, why not look for a more senior communications role at a non-profit with a mission you care about?
posted by snaw at 3:48 AM on February 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

Sounds like you'd benefit from talking with a career coach. They can help you sort all of this out and refine your vision for a satisfying career.
posted by Miko at 8:20 AM on February 7, 2023