Page 113 - Marky Stein - Fearless Career Change_ The Fast Track to Success in a New Field (2004)

Ten Success Stories About People Just Like You

From Public Health Educator to Book Editor in
Three Months Using Volunteering

Name: Nancy
Former occupation: Public health administrator
New occupation: Book editor
Primary strategy: Volunteering
Other strategies: Transferable skills, strategic education
Length of time from career decision to a paid position: Three months
Cost (if any) of transition: $150.00

Nancy was a high-level public administrator who had a mas-
ter’s degree in public health and PhD in sociology. Just after com-
pleting her degree in public health, she joined the county health
department of a U.S. eastern seaboard town. Over a 12-year period,
Nancy worked hard to focus her efforts on becoming the director
of public health for her county. It was after her third year as direc-
tor that she felt the stirrings of the need for a change. “I don’t
know what’s wrong,” she said. “I’m at the top of my field, at the top
of the salary range, and yet, I feel like something’s missing.”
She continued, “I don’t feel like going to work in the morning
anymore. I feel distracted and frustrated. I can’t figure out why I just
don’t like my job anymore. Since I have such a coveted position and
I make such a good living, I almost feel like I don’t have a right to
complain. Most people would give anything to be in my position.”
Many people like Nancy become educated in a field that inter-
ests them when they’re in their twenties or thirties, but their needs
and tastes change with the arrival of another decade. There is cer-
tainly no law, written or unwritten, that says just because you were
once content with a job and did it well, that you can’t change your
mind. Career interests can change just as the rest of you changes—
emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and so on.

The key is that you are not most people. It’s your
career, your day, your life that you have to
reckon with at the end of the day—not
someone else’s opinion of the ideal job.

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