Full Careers
Can I find a well-paying job and be happy?
Hi, I have a BA in French and am an alternate route candidate for elementary education teaching. I also have a BA in Baking and Pastry. Right now I work for a engineering company as an inside technical sales rep. The problems are: 1 - I'm not getting paid well and I'm not happy at my office job. 2 - I keep applying for teaching jobs and noone will hire me because I'm doing Alternate Route. 3 - I keep looking for pastry job positions, but the pay isn't enough for me to live on. Serious help, please. I just want to be happy with what I do and have enough money to survive. I'm not asking to be rich, just happy! Any hints or tips on what career would help me or where I should be finding them? Newspapers and online career sites aren't cutting it! Thank you!
Public Comments
- What a diverse background! Teaching: Depending on where you live, the market for teachers varies a LOT. In the Las Vegas area, they don't seem to mind Alternate Route. Try registering to do temp/fill in teaching. If you are able to get a few weeks worth of in-class experience, most places will overlook how you got them! (of course, this may require you to be suddenly sick at work ... not that I would ever suggest such a thing!) Also - pay rates aren't usually that great - are you sure you could live on this? Pastry: You could see if you could do this part-time to start (weekends/evenings maybe? Catering/Events?) This would give you a chance to build your reputation and be able to ask for more $$. You might check around on www.hospitality.net Finally, just in general, while it's great to have diverse interests, it sounds like you studied stuff you liked - then after wards tried to figure out how to apply it. Which doesn't necessarily work out. You might consider doing some assessment testing (Meyers-Briggs is the big name in this arena) and see what strengths/weaknesses line up with what kinds of work - then, look at the career fields that are suggested. Figure out what the job market is like before embarking on furthering your education. Sometimes these kinds of tests are offered at local community colleges (or mini versions are linked off of Monster.com) Best of luck
- You have an amazing background with lots of skills. Because I am a teacher, let me give you some tips that might help you find a teaching job: 1. Drop off resumes directly to principals (after you've applied through HR offices). Principals will be more excited to interview you if they've "met" you and you set a positive impression. Most principals work during the summer-- walk into some school offices, introduce yourself to the principal, share his/her hand, and give them a copy of your resume. Once they've met you, they'll me more likely to set up an interview. If you wait for HR offices to call you, you might be waiting a long, long time. 2. Be sure your cover letter and resume stand out-- don't be afraid to use bold face for key words.... write a catchy first sentence.... describe your teaching philosophy... add a colorful/graphic letterhead.... use a bulleted list to make it stand out. 3. Sometimes additional experience -- like substitue teaching can be the extra "icing on the cake" (pastry pun) for teaching candidates. I would suspect your alternate route to certification isn't what's keeping them from hiring you-- it could be your lack of experience working in a school setting. If you sub for a little while- you might just move up to the top of their preferred candidates list. :) 4. There's a good ebook about getting teaching jobs. Maybe it can help you. It's "Guide to Getting the Teaching Job of YOur Dreams" It has advice on finding teaching jobs, cover letters and resume, interviewing, etc.... Maybe the book will be useful to you. It's at: http://www.iwantateachingjob.com Good luck to you!
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