Deciding On A Profession

[StrawberryFields]

How did you decide what you were going to do in your life for a career?

This is the question the has me up this late/early......

[prisonchaplain]

I thought I was training to go back to Korea to serve fulltime as a campus missionary--most likely for the rest of my life. Half way through my schooling I read about a need for chaplains in the federal prison system. The Holy Spirit impresses me to "check it out." The rest was that gentle nudge turning into an irrestible directing. That was 1996. I'm coming up on my tenth full-time year, which was preceeded by two years as a volunteer.

[StrawberryFields]

While I was in High School I worked in retail at the mall and loved being around ppl. After High School I went to college in Fashion Merchandising. The school specialized in Fashion Merchandising, Interior Design and Fashion Design. My dream was to become a buyer for a large department store but that gave way to my hubbies wishes of being a stay at home mom.....

[onyx]

How did you decide what you were going to do in your life for a career?

This is the question the has me up this late/early......

I was a bit confused about what I wanted to do when I was in high school.

So I graduated and went to teachers college.

Half way through that I deferred to serve a proselyting mission.

On my mission I was transferred to the welfare 'arm' of missionary service.

Found that I loved working with people's health and welfare.

Came home and subsequently studied in the natural therapies.

Been a private practitioner for 16 years now....looooove it!

BTW....the teachers college was not wasted....I now also lecture in the natural therapies.

I guess I was nudged in the right direction....like prison chaplain.

I have heard it said that it is not uncommon for a person to change their career path several times during their lifetime.

Onyx

[shanstress70]

While I was in High School I worked in retail at the mall and loved being around ppl. After High School I went to college in Fashion Merchandising. The school specialized in Fashion Merchandising, Interior Design and Fashion Design. My dream was to become a buyer for a large department store but that gave way to my hubbies wishes of being a stay at home mom.....

So you're now thinking of going back to work, SF? That's exciting... it's pretty much open to you, huh? Go be a buyer for a dept store now if you still want to do that... never too late! You may need to take some classes now though to sharpen your knowledge.

[shanstress70]

Oh, I realized that I didn't answer the question. I got a degree in Geography with a minor in Biology, with the plans to go into Environmental Science. Not sure what I was going to do with it... those fields were just fascinating to me. In a lot of my geography classes (mostly the more technical GIS and mapping classes) I got some valuable computer experience. My first job out of college was GIS mapping for a private company. I did a lot of Quality Assurance there to make sure the maps that already existed were correct. I then moved on to a software trainer job for a software company that made E-911 dispatching software. Next, I got a job offer doing software QA that had nothing to do with mapping in the city my (then brand new) husband and I wanted to move to. I worked my way up to manage the dept, and I've been here for almost 9 years - love it.

I've never really sat down and thought about how it all progressed to where I am now... interesting to me, although I'm sure you are all asleep by now.

But yeah, I didn't really plan this career path for myself... it just kind of happened.

[Canuck Mormon]

If there's one thing I've learned over the past 4 years, it's that it's never too late to go back to school or change careers. I was a mechanic/service writer for 15 years after I finished high school. I started my own shop and 2 years later declared bankruptcy. I stayed in that profession for 2 more years than had the strong desire to go back to school. I'm now a draftsperson for a oil & gas engineering company. It's never too late to follow your dreams, just make sure they're in line with what HF has in store for you.

[Dr T]

From as long as I can remember I said, "I'm going to be a psychologist." I thought it was "getting paid to listen to people talk" and though-"that would be a great job." I never realized all that went into that or how much schooling was invovled and other roles of the job. The rest is history.

[StrawberryFields]

Yes, Shan I did get to sleep for 4 hours, hopefully that will be enough for today :)

I am thinking more on the line of my children who I feel I need to help direct a little. There is a lot more history into my career of choice and I will follow up on that in a bit. I do believe that what we do following high school does have some impact on where we end up...

I am trying to help Nick into a career with his limitations following his accident....

I am trying to help my daughter who has just finished high school and is not sure what she wants to do but I want her to follow her own path and not mine which wouldn't work either because we are so different in what we like.

Hearing some of you has been helpful. It helps me to see that careers happen as a process and not to be discouraged if it isn't 'right now'.:)

I love hearing how you all have made the progression.

[shanstress70]

Yes, Shan I did get to sleep for 4 hours, hopefully that will be enough for today :)

No, I meant that you are all probably asleep after reading my rambling about how I got to my present career.

[StrawberryFields]

<div class='quotemain'>

Yes, Shan I did get to sleep for 4 hours, hopefully that will be enough for today :)

No, I meant that you are all probably asleep after reading my rambling about how I got to my present career.

Not at all! That is exactly what I was hoping for. :)

[Annabelli]

While I was in High School I worked in retail at the mall and loved being around ppl. After High School I went to college in Fashion Merchandising. The school specialized in Fashion Merchandising, Interior Design and Fashion Design. My dream was to become a buyer for a large department store but that gave way to my hubbies wishes of being a stay at home mom.....

During the early 90's, a friend and I owned a fashion consignment shop. It was totally FUN. It has a very low financial start-up and that gives you about three months to get your business going.

We were ousted by E-Bay as was nearly every consignment shop. Consignments shops earn 50% of the sales. E-Bay has many % cost to the consumer so they are not getting 50% on their sales; more like 15%.

So, the consignment shops are coming back. We have a few that have opened this past year. While I am not going back into business, I might do some business with them.

Basically all you need is a tax id to get started and that is free, a decent location with low rent, hangers, and about $2,000. It is easy to build a clientele data base. You can even create your own fashion line and sell it in your shop. It is fun.

[shanstress70]

<div class='quotemain'>

While I was in High School I worked in retail at the mall and loved being around ppl. After High School I went to college in Fashion Merchandising. The school specialized in Fashion Merchandising, Interior Design and Fashion Design. My dream was to become a buyer for a large department store but that gave way to my hubbies wishes of being a stay at home mom.....

During the early 90's, a friend and I owned a fashion consignment shop. It was totally FUN. It has a very low financial start-up and that gives you about three months to get your business going.

We were ousted by E-Bay as was nearly every consignment shop. Consignments shops earn 50% of the sales. E-Bay has many % cost to the consumer so they are not getting 50% on their sales; more like 15%.

So, the consignment shops are coming back. We have a few that have opened this past year. While I am not going back into business, I might do some business with them.

Basically all you need is a tax id to get started and that is free, a decent location with low rent, hangers, and about $2,000. It is easy to build a clientele data base. You can even create your own fashion line and sell it in your shop. It is fun.

Sounds like that would be fun. My SIL did that for a while. She would go to Goodwill Stores and other thrift stores and buy things for really cheap, then put a much higher price tag on them. Capitalism at its best, I suppose!

[Annabelli]

Consignment Shops do not invest in inventory and storage. The clientele data base is for inventory. The clothing is brought in and stays for a season. If it does not sale, the owner picks it up.

It was always fascinating to design the window displays and the store layouts. The men's dept can obviously look drab with hews of gray everywhere.

Our largest clientele came from women working in offices.

We were members of the retail merchants association.

[FrankJL]

Oh, I realized that I didn't answer the question. I got a degree in Geography with a minor in Biology, with the plans to go into Environmental Science. Not sure what I was going to do with it... those fields were just fascinating to me. In a lot of my geography classes (mostly the more technical GIS and mapping classes) I got some valuable computer experience. My first job out of college was GIS mapping for a private company. I did a lot of Quality Assurance there to make sure the maps that already existed were correct. I then moved on to a software trainer job for a software company that made E-911 dispatching software. Next, I got a job offer doing software QA that had nothing to do with mapping in the city my (then brand new) husband and I wanted to move to. I worked my way up to manage the dept, and I've been here for almost 9 years - love it.

I've never really sat down and thought about how it all progressed to where I am now... interesting to me, although I'm sure you are all asleep by now.

But yeah, I didn't really plan this career path for myself... it just kind of happened.

Ok going a bit off topic here, but Shan do you know a good place where you can get the 1:24,000 scale USGS Quadrangle topo maps at?

The best topo maps I can find are the 1:100,000, from the software that came with my GPS (Garmin Mapsource).

[Jbs2763]

i kinda fell into trucking, i was stresed out managing a motel and was working over 100 hrs a week, had made freinds with several of the "regulars" that were truckers, went down to the truck stop, picked up a recriuing magazine, made a few phone calls and went to truck driving school....

the rest is history

[shanstress70]

Ok going a bit off topic here, but Shan do you know a good place where you can get the 1:24,000 scale USGS Quadrangle topo maps at?

The best topo maps I can find are the 1:100,000, from the software that came with my GPS (Garmin Mapsource).

Gosh, I don't know. But try this site... http://store.usgs.gov/scripts/wgate/ZWW20/...p;~OKCODE=START

[Palerider]

Lets see.....my oldest daughter is a RN and her hubby is a Aerospace Eng....then my next daughter is still going to school to get her Teaching Degree and her Hubby has always been in Banking but now he is a General manager of Health Fitness Gym. My son who just returned home from Mission wants to Teach High School and is pursuing that. My youngest daughter is pursuing a degree in Buisness. As for my wife and I...she went to school for 1yr to be a Medical Asst and is now a Supervisor over all Lab Asst at our local Hospital. After I came home from my mission I attended a Trade School and made Surgical Instruments under a Microscope. After 20yrs of that I guess I had a mid life crisis I changed careers. I sold Cars for a few yrs and the Service Dept Manager position opened up and I asked if I could have that position and got it. After doing that for 1yr I found the job I currently have as a Service Advisor for a RV dealership. I am responsible to have all Sold units ready for delivery. I have 10 people that work for me. I have been doing this for 2yrs now.

[Aphrodite]

I struggled to know what I wanted to do at school. I absolutely loved history and thought about being an archaeologist. But I realised I wasnt cut out for it really. I did all the subjects I liked for A-level, English, classical civilisation, Greek and psychology. Towards the end of my A levels I was still no closer to deciding what to apply for at uni. So I decided to take a year out to think about it some more. I had worked part time at a nursing home since I was 15, and I began to work full time there. It was in that year I decided care work was really where my heart was at, and I wanted more from it. At first I thought about midwifery and applied for that. I didnt get in, and realised it was because nursing was really more suited to me. So I did nursing. I've never looked back, its the best career in the world!!!

[Gabelma]

How did you decide what you were going to do in your life for a career?

This is the question the has me up this late/early......

At 31 I still don't know what I want to do when i grow up lol, my patriachal blessing has a lot to say about my career but still no idea what - I am thinking recently it has to do with helping women with post natel depression.

Until I was about 6 or 7 I wanted to be a pilot and fly concorde they told me then because of my eyesight it would never happen lol so that dream was up the spout.

At about that time I saw my first episode of Quincy and wanted to be a pathologist and also something started a desire to be an archaeologist, went through other desires but right through school these were my two choices, I had decided I wanted to combine them I didn't know until I was about 14 what I wanted to be was a forensic anthropologist, I didn't get the grades to do medicine so started down the archaeology route with my degree and had managed to talk the professor at another university into letting me do the forensic course post grad as long as a passed my first degree. However I got sick and that was end of that lol

Until I was 15 I also wanted to be a Nun or a Minister, but becoming LDS stopped that dream as well.

-Charley

[sixpacktr]

I got my degree from BYU in Japanese and a minor in English. I was going to be a translator when I grew up.

That lasted about 18 months and my head exploded!

So I took a job in automotive purchasing, and spent the next 19 years either buying parts for cars or selling the parts to the automotive companies. Now I am back full time in purchasing/planning in a manufacturing company.

I admire those that know what they want and go for it. I think, though, that most of us kind of fall into what we end of doing, and some are happy, some aren't...

[StrawberryFields]

Most of you know I waited for my missionary and then married him 2 months and 10 days from the day he walked off from the plane.

My husband didn't know what he wanted to do professionally so my FIL got him a job where he was working. He started at the bottom and learned the product inside and out. Now he sells the product and does quite well.

[Elphaba]

I’ll skip the drama of my college days and just say I ended up with a degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations and a minor in English. Yes, one of those worthless degrees. But it done me good.

My career started with a company that exploded with creativity. It was made up entirely of women artists, and its most successful product was cross-stitching designs. I started as an editor and quickly moved up to managing editor. I was lucky enough to come on board when they were ready to go high tech, so I got to choose the computer system.

I loved my Mac IIci. I spent more time with that machine than with my own husband. It was my baby, my lover, my everything. Soon my specialty became quilt books. I designed them, wrote the instructions, composed the photos, and best of all, illustrated the quilts, on the computer. I essentially did everything but actually print the book. They'd never had anyone do that before, and were amazed. The company received a lot of acclaim for my quilt books, and I am very proud of them to this day.

Next I moved into curriculum development at one of Utah’s applied technology centers. Eventually I was in charge of various curriculum programs at the state level. This involved hiring and supervising people to develop curriculum on a contract basis, which meant I usually ended up re-writing whatever the idiot I had hired had assumed was sufficient for my purposes. Ha!

Finally, I realized I was working too hard and paying others all the money for it. So I quit, set up an office in my home, including a new Quadra, and I became the contractor. I loved it, and best of all, I got paid for the work I did by making a boatload of money. I did it all: political campaigns, publications for the state, curriculum, magazines, annual reports, hospital brochures, book designs, corporate design, editing, writing, even a t-shirt logo. I even did another quilt book.

Funny story about that. I made it for the company I had previously worked at, and it still had my old friend, the Mac IIci. I needed to make some minor adjustments while I was at the office, and the Mac was sooooo slooowwww compared to my Quadra, I wanted to kill it! I couldn’t believe our love affair was over!

Anyway, it was at this point I became ill, and had to let my company go. I went through a horrible mourning period, and still miss it terribly. But that is the story of my career. I would not necessarily recommend publishing unless you were going to have your own company, as it is high stress and mediocre pay. But if you love it, it is non-stop excitement, deadlines and creativity. If you love it, you really love it a lot.

And then you really miss it a lot.

Elphaba

[pushka]

From as long as I can remember I said, "I'm going to be a psychologist." I thought it was "getting paid to listen to people talk" and though-"that would be a great job." I never realized all that went into that or how much schooling was invovled and other roles of the job. The rest is history.

My daughter is in her final year at college, doing the CACHE Diploma in Childcare and Education. She has had placements in nurseries and infant school, as a nursery nurse and teaching assistant, but she really wants to be a Play Therapist...she hates planning lessons and loves observing the children at play and making notes about their development...

She soon has to apply to University, and wonders what is the best course to take before she can do her Post Graduate Play Therapist course...have you any ideas Doc? We thought that she would definitely need to do Psychology and maybe specialise in Child Psychology at some point, but we're not certain of which other subjects would be appropriate..

[miztrniceguy]

i had several different jobs during my high school years...restaurant, fast food, paper delivery. After high school continued fast food for awhile, eventually leading to my first management position...shift manager at McD's. Next was the car wash business for a few years. first writing sales tickets as people drove up, selling extra services. After 1 month i was asst mgr, and 4 months was manager. Eventually returned to the Palm Springs area, where i had gone to high school. There i started in the convenience store business as a clerk in a Mobil station. after a month i was doing asst mgr job without title or pay. Left to try out the hotel industry, for a few months, then went back to c-store with a different company. Promoted to asst manager in 3 months, then started manager training program a month later. I spent about 20 years in the c-store business, managing stores for big companies and small companies. I was very good at it, and my specielty was taking over problem stores with slow sales and high theft(mostly employee).

I year and a half ago i decided that with a wife and 2 kids, working 80 weeks, no days off, phone calls contantly wasn't worth the pay anymore. i needed something different. I now work as a customer service/sales in a call center for a Fortune 5 company. The pay is good, the benefits are awesome, and i am never called when i am not working. Today I found out i was top salesperson for my team last quarter. I just changed teams, and now work four 10 hour days.

Although what i currently do is call center work, i do hope to move to other areas of the company. I wish we had a fraud dept here in MO, but we dont. I hope to move into another area of financial services when the time is right.