Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Second Career

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
When I left Chrysler, after spending my last 10 years in Finance, I wanted to take some time to recover from the experience and then embark on my second career. I wasn’t sure what I wanted that to be, but I knew it wouldn’t have anything to do with a quarterly accounting close.

Since I love volunteering for hospice, I think it would be great to work for a hospice organization. I would also enjoy either hospital or university administration. (If I worked for the latter, I’d want to take some courses, maybe get a masters in counseling.) I’m also pretty sure that I’d like working for a charity or a foundation. So there are all kinds of possibilities.

Or so it seemed. The plan was to finish several major projects in our home (clean and organize the closets, organize our little office and clean and empty the basement). I wanted to get rid of a ton of stuff we’ve accumulated, so that if we could ever agree to sell the house, we’d be ready to list it. I allowed myself six months to get everything done. Ha!

Nothing was completed within six months. After about a year, the closets got done. The basement was finished last fall, just over two years after I left my job. And the office is still only half done. So what’s been eating up all my time? Lots. I make silver jewelry and take a weekly class and occasional one-day sessions on special techniques or pieces. I also took a lapidary course and made a lovely agate pendant from a piece of agate that I cut and polished. I’m learning (for the second time – the first was 15 years ago) how to make pottery. I grow orchids and am a Master Gardener, so I take gardening classes and volunteer at gardening events, in order to maintain my certification. Photography is a favorite pursuit, and I’m registered for a Photoshop class. As I mentioned, I’m a hospice volunteer, as well as a tutor for the local literacy council, although I haven’t requested a new student since mine “graduated” from the program a year ago.

When I left Chrysler, I was naïve enough to believe that I’d be able to find a job within a month or two of looking for one. I never expected that I’d walk away from Chrysler into the toughest job market in the country. It’s SO hard to find anything in Michigan, much less embark on a new career in a completely different field. One university told me that they received over 100 applications for each position posted, and that was over a year ago. The job situation here is much worse now.

So I decided that, although I’ll continue casually looking for a job with benefits, I’m going to do something that I’ve always wanted to try. I’m starting a writing business, which I’ll get into in my next post!
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