shesus

Some background info first....(I'll keep it short)

As many of you know I just graduated with my Master's degree in August. I have been teaching for 6 years and have not been happy with it for about 4 of those years. I thought that maybe it was the class or the lack of experience and that eventually I would regain the love of teaching that I once had. Well, the love hasn't returned and now I'm thinking of getting out. There are several reasons for my choice. One, I want to try something different. Two, I'm not making enough money even with the Master's degree ($2000 a year raise doesn't go far to pay back the student loans). Three, I always said that if I don't like teaching I would get out because I'm not only affecting my happiness, but the future of others. I have my undergrad in Elementary Education and my Master's in Curriculum and Instruction.

Now, for my questions of you fine and intelligent TFPers. Does anyone know someone who has left teaching? If so, what field did they go enter? Has anyone has experience with a job hunter agency?

I hate the job hunting scene and since I'm not sure what I qualify for, I'm thinking that an agency would be the best bet. However, I have had no experience with that and the internet search confused me even more. I am hoping to get into publishing or training development for companies. I think I qualify for those, but my job offer at McGraw-Hill this summer was a smack in the face. A $10,000 a year pay cut and no benefits.

Any advice or past experiences would help immensely. Thank you!

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Whatever did happen to your soul?
I heard you sold it

Choose Heaven for the weather and Hell for the company

Elphaba

This is my own experience, but you might be experiencing something similar. The further along I got in my education, the less I made. My first job after my Masters was less than what I was making had I stayed with the company I had been with before those gut wrenching education years. I could have retired comfortably now, as have many of my colleagues that I once worked with, or those that worked for me.

My niece's husband, also with a Master's in Education, would rather clean up rat poop in a laboratory than go back to attempting to teach children who have no wish to learn. Something is terribly wrong when the best and brightest, as you obviously are, cannot find a worthy role in the education field.

Your education *will* open many doors. If you find the field that inspires you, don't be too proud to begin again, salary wise. Cream always rises to the top.

maleficent

Since you're not really sure what you want to do next... check out either the alumni office of your college or graduate school and see if you can set up informational interviews with people in a field that perhaps you want to get into. These are generally not job interviews, but will often be more valuable.. they will give you a first hand idea of what the positions you might be looking at are really like.

Corporate training, either technical (which i do a lot of) or business type training, is rarely handled in house any more.. .it's generally outsourced to companies that specialize in that. While I enjoy doing training, as a part of my job, teaching adults is worse than teaching children. you might not be wiping noses or giving hall passes to use the rest room, but adults in a training environment are just as immature as third graders and they aren't third graders so it can be tiresome.

If you are interested in doing it - check out companies that do corporate training, and set up an informational interview.

Publishing - most of my customers are in the publishing area... if you think the pay is bad in teaching... it doesn't get a lot better in publishing.. especially just starting out... and depending on what you want to do...

For people interested in changing jobs, my standard advice is to pick up a copy of What Color is your Parachute... they put out a new edition every year, and it's invaluable in giving you some direction and ideas as to where to go next.

I'm not overly fond of using headhunter agencies, but sometimes it's the only way to get your foot in the door unless you know someone (ie - you've had an informational interview and gotten the names of people in HR or the hiring manager) Though, if you haven't interviewed in a while, a headhunter can get you out there and interviewing -- even if you aren't completely interested in the position -- it gives you practice with interviews.

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PennyPureheart

I was a teacher (K-12 art teacher) for the first two years out of college when I decided it wasn't the career for me. (My BA is in Art) It was tough getting that first job. When I went on job interviews, no one wanted to believe I really wanted the change. I had to work several temp jobs before getting a position as a marketing administrative assistant (which I was over-qualified for). It was somewhat shocking to find out my teaching experience really didn't count for anything in the business world... and was a fit of a handicap. (But I know now this is because there is not a lot of imagination in the business world in general). Eight years later I have moved about in various marketing/graphic design positions that pay alright and sometimes I think about going back to teaching with its spring breaks, job security etc.

If you have a master's degree, how about teaching Education courses at the local Junior College? If you want to write curriculum or enter the business world, you may have to be prepared to for a few years of struggle to get on track.

SaltPork

I started out as a Shift Supervisor at Burger King and went on to a full service restaurant, thinking that restaurant management was what I wanted to do. The money was pretty good, but it wasn't satisfying. I took a huge pay cut to go into corporate training which I did for a year. Money was definitely tight and it was a huge culture change and an even larger learning curve. I was lucky that someone took a chance on me. Since I was doing a lot of technical training for computers my next leap was to get into a systems implementation company (Unisys). My technical background grew and so did the opportunities, and the paycheck. It was a lot of travel, but I was young and my wife was willing to sacrifice me not being around a lot for a couple of years. When my first child was about to be born, I came to the realization that being away from home for 80% of the time was not conducive to a family life. I jumped into an engineering job as a junior software engineer. All of that took about 5 years. My salary had grown 5 times since leaving BK. I am now in charge of multiple product lines for a software company.

The bottom line is, take risks while you're young and can absorb the cut in pay. If you're miserable, then you need to find something that you like and someplace you can grow professionally. Do a great job, get noticed and the world is your oyster. Good luck!

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It was like that when I got here....I swear.

abaya

Yes, I think this is great advice, Shesus. You are young enough to change careers without any major damage. For me, I taught high school English and History, basically for two years (including student teaching), and I got out of it quickly because I was hungry for intellectual stimulation at the PhD level. I guess I only became a teacher because it sounded cool, I loved my teachers, and my prospects for getting an editing job (as an English major) didn't pan out. None of that meant that I would be a good teacher. I did okay, but it exhausted me and I knew I wasn't above par as an instructor.

Now that I am in grad school, I still do some teaching for undergrad courses, but most of the time I do research and take interesting classes. I am mostly satisfied with where I am at... but once I get that doctorate, I'm going to have to decide whether I want to continue in education (a community college position sounds nice, since I don't feel thrilled about secondary school anymore, nor do I want to have pressure for publishing at the research level), or if I want to work for something like the Red Cross or the Census Bureau, etc. Personally, I think I'd rather take a semi-demanding desk job at one of the latter than go back to teaching... it just doesn't blow my skirt up like it used to, unfortunately.

Some people do worry about gaps in their resume and whatnot... I dunno, it depends on what you want to do. I doubt many companies look down too much on people changing jobs... it happens all the time. For me, I want a creative, demanding, yet structured job where I can travel a lot (gee, that all sounds like teaching, doesn't it?). Teaching aside, I'm convinced there *might* be something else out there for me, and I'm not afraid of taking risks to find those things... my happiness is at stake!

I encourage you to find what really makes you happy, despite the risks.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

shesus

Thank you all for your advice and information. I guess I'm just in a tough spot right now. As many of you said it's good to do a major change while you're younger and I'm starting to feel 'stuck'. That may be part of the problem too. I hate feeling like I can't get out of a situation. Maybe I'm just scared and I am hating the job because I'm wondering what else is out there.
Although I will need to change jobs soon because my school is closing.

I guess an additional question is: Does anyone love their job? I mean I like1-2 aspect(s) of my job, but the other 3-4 aspects I hate. Is this normal?

__________________
Whatever did happen to your soul?
I heard you sold it

Choose Heaven for the weather and Hell for the company

StanT

I like my job, I wouldn't go as far as "love". If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd be turning in my resignation shorty after.

I'm a network engineer for a major corporation. We have many former teachers, some with master's degrees working with us. Some work in education, some in project management, and others do technical work. My employer regards a degree as proof that you are trainable.

JustJess

A co-worker used to be a teacher... and now she's a Recruiter for HR. (Hospital in this case, but she's done other stuff.) HR is actually one of those departments that people end up in never having planned to do anything with HR.

My mom taught for zillions of years, and then went back and got a second Master's degree in Library Sciences - still school based, so her experience helps, but not in the classroom so she's not completely driven insane.

I enjoy about 60% of my job. I do immigration work in the HR dept. But I decided I wanted to be more useful and not be stuck in an office, so I'm going back to school to be a PA. We will be Very Poor for a few years while I'm in school... I guess the point is you have to suffer a little to get what you really want.

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My heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talkin'.

maleficent

you hate more than 1/2 your job... I'd say that is not a good nor healthy situation to be in...

If you spend an hour a day researching and investigating what you do want to, it doesn't seem like work...and you will end up getting the desired results that you want.

I really enjoy my job, there are days where i'd like to throw some people out the window... but if i did they'd be on a bungee cord so they'd come right back... I've been at a job that I hated where I got paid an obscene amount of money to do it... I left that place, and took pretty close to a 50 percent pay cut to go elsewhere.. and it was worth it...

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