Page 109 - Marky Stein - Fearless Career Change_ The Fast Track to Success in a New Field (2004)

Ten Success Stories About People Just Like You

producing the results you want, art historian may. You may find
nothing that catches your eye when you enter the word psychology,
but discover a number of offerings if you call it counseling.
You’ll surely come up with some degree programs that will
allow you to take a limited number of classes without undergoing
the time and paperwork of the regular admissions process.
Marie paid $350 for her first graduate course and attended
class just one night per week. By about the second week, she tried
changing the summary clause of her résumé (which you’ll learn
about, in detail, in Chapter 8) to include the phrase currently
enrolled in a course of study leading to a master’s degree in environmental
planning at California State University at Hayward.
By specifying on her résumé that she was enrolled in a relevant
graduate course, Marie immediately got interviews with three envi-
ronmental planning companies that had formerly rejected her. Before
she ever made it to her third week of class, Marie had two job offers!

Why did strategic education make all the
difference? Because her potential employers
were more interested in her intent, that is,
where she was going, than where she
had been before.

Marie finished the course but never completed the master’s
degree. She started her first day only weeks after registering in the
class. She was helping a team of scientists clean up the swamplands
on the Northern California coastline. The last time I talked to
Marie, she was working for the state of California, tagging baby
owls for a scientific study. “I love what I’m doing,” she said, “and my
salary is three times what it was when I was a landscaper.”

This story may sound too good to be true, but
this is exactly how it happened. You’ll hear sever-
al more accounts of just how powerful strategic
education can be as this chapter unfolds.

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