amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

LatteLover · 09-29-2006, 11:38 AM

I am finally finishing my bachelor's degree in business admin/management next spring. DS will be 2 then. My degree is specifically in entrepreneurship, and it is a very broad degree. I have been trying to figure out where I am going in life with my career as I plan on working full time once both my kids are in school, and probably start working part time or continue my education before that. Lately, I have thought of maybe going into teaching (high school business). DH thought I was insane when I told him. I have never worked in an office environment though I did own my own business for a while. A couple years ago I was looking for more entry level office positions and I keep getting the "overqualified" run around. I feel so lost. I have always wanted a career and I am just not sure where to start. Has anyone else had this challenge?? What did you do? How did you find your path?

tinyterror'sma · 09-29-2006, 01:39 PM

Well mine was easier as I have a degree that is the same title as a career. Although there are a few ways an environmental engineer can go-you all start basically the same.

Your college should have a career center than should be helpful (although it's probably based around FT work). Can you try a few internships to get your foot in the door and figure out where you want to be? Some are PT and most are paid.

I got my first real job through my college department - they sent out a resume book of all the Srs. to all the local engineering companies and one of them called me.

Barb · 09-29-2006, 01:43 PM

not really sure cuz in my case I got a degree, a BA in Psych. I did use it for many years. After college I started out as a teaching assistant in a special ed classroom. Then I got a job as a case manager working with Seriously mentally ill adults. I did that for a few years and was promoted to team leader and then to CSP supervisor (over the team leaders). I did mental health for 12 years and then scored a job as a marketing rep for a psychiatric unit at a local hospital. That combined the psych and marketing and sure paid alot more lol. I did that for another four years before I became a sahm.

Now I work at Curves. lol
I don't use my degree and sure don't get paid what I used to. But its my 'in' to start my new career path. I'm studying for the ACE group fitness instructor certification. So I can teach group fitness. I'm guessing i'll still use my psych experience lol.

Sunflower_Momma · 09-30-2006, 09:28 PM

I'm the same as a pp - my career kind of is my degree - so that was easy and I've pretty much known what I wanted to do since I started college.

First of all your degree sounds really interesting. Second, why not teaching? Assuming that is something that would interest you. You could teach for a few years until you narrow your ideas. What interests you most? If you were fantasizing about your dream job, what would it look like?

bookmom · 09-30-2006, 11:51 PM

I have a Journalism degree. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it so I have a cross-emphasis of public relations and print journalism. I ended up going into the editing side and I really like it. I did have to do an administrative assistant type job for awhile (7 months) but that job fell in my lap (part time whatever hours I wanted to work) and my son wasn't in school yet so I didn't want to work full time. After that I did a full time desktop publishing job for about 8 months. My job now is editing/layout and training of staff. The reason I originally accepted my job was because I knew it was so flexible and I had really wanted to get a state job (great benefits). I never really knew what path I was going on, I just sort of went with the flow when doors opened, kwim?

My dh is a music teacher. He LOVES it. But it can be very emotionally draining. He was a music major in college and actually went into the education part because he knew he was going to have to do something to make some money. Once he started taking the ed classes, he fell in love with it. He has two Bachelors of Music, one performance and one music education. Plus a post-baccalaureate certification. So, lots of school. He finds teaching to be extremely rewarding, fwiw.

I think some careers have a clearer path, ie. teachers, nurses, etc. and some are more open like yours. Good luck!