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Hello all,
I need come career/life advice. I have not been feeling happy and want to make a change. I have worked in sales for 10 years (advertising and pharmaceutical). I got my MBA which I received through 3 years of night classes during this time. When the economy crashed, I decided to go back to grad school for a Masters degree in Speech Therapy which took about 2.5 years and I graduated in 2012. I have been working professionally in healthcare now for 2 years. Although I like what I do, I feel trapped. With the healthcare changes, companies are trying to reduce salaries. I am also paid by the hour, and I feel anxious when I don't get close to 40 hours (which is often) and find I am making less money now than ever. I also have poor benefits, no 401k match, etc. I have been looking at going back to sales but I am running into 2 problems. The first is that recruiters tell me that since I am not currently in sales (last sales job ended in 2009) that I am not a good candidate for sales positions. This baffles me b/c I have 10 years experience in sales with multiple awards received and only 2 years of clinical work...I am more of a business person than anything else! A recruiter suggested that I take an entry level sales position just to get it back on my resume again, but that seems drastic to me! There is no guarantee that if I take a lesser job that it will help me in the long run. The second problem is that I don't want to stay in Cincinnati. I would rather be in Florida. I am 38 years old, single, and need to make a change. I have always longed to move and feel that I am just waiting to get my life started. I find that I am not moving forward with my personal life, dating, etc as long as I am still in Cinci. I have tried to look for a Speech job in Florida (at least to get myself down there) but it appears to be a very competitive market and jobs are taken within a day! Also companies have quoted me drastically reduced salaries as much as $20k less than what I currently make. So that's it, I want to change my career and location, and I am finding it impossible to achieve. I feel depressed and it's all I think about. I feel like I made a huge mistake by getting a clinical degree for the time and tons of money that it has cost me. I think I am an intelligent accomplished person who just needs a break. I am feeling desperate and am thinking about quitting and moving without a job, but I don't have anyone to put me up or help me out until I land on my feet. Can anyone offer any advice or help? I am having a hard time sorting though this. Thank you!
My honest opinion? Based on what you've said, these are your current problems:
1) a job that's underpaying you relative to your value/worth
1a) a lack of understanding of how labor markets work despite an MBA, so potentially a degree that didn't actually provide what it should have for the money you spent on it. Recruiters don't want you because they don't want to pay you. It's about capturing larger returns/profits for shareholders at the front and then burning out the employee before they get to expensive.
2) a location that you don't like mostly due to personal fulfillment reasons.
3) no prospects or ties in your preferred next location, making it sort of a Shangri-La, "everything will be fine in Florida" sort of place. It's a quest for the Fountain of Youth, it seems.
4) Depression
Of these, the most serious issue that you have to deal with is #4, and yet it's the one you're not looking at.
As far as actual career advice, your only two good options are:
Stay with your current position
or
Start your own company that utilizes your Sales/Speech/Business skills
The second one you can do either here or in FL, but you likely need a network and contacts first, not to mention a viable business plan.
Last edited by RustBeltOptimist; 07-22-2014 at 06:21 PM..
regarding money, it's unlikely you'll ever make as much in speech therapy as you can in pharmaceutical sales. you also are back at being relatively inexperienced. however, try to remember the reasons why you switched careers in the first place. it isn't easy to make such a change and I admire your doing so.
certainly if you can make a major career change, moving across the country is not going to be a problem. the first step is to eliminate your obligations. car payments, mortgage, etc. do what you to bring your monthly expenses to almost nothing.
then give yourself some time. travel, camp, live as cheap as possible. tour the country and determine where you want to be. then move there. work at whole foods, get a roommate, get by on whatever you've got. maybe you'll eventually find another job in speech therapy, or sales, something else, or decide that you want to move back here or even somewhere different altogether.
so that's one way to move. but remember that where you move, there you'll be. but the experience can be empowering.
here's a suggestion from left field -- peace corps generally has a major shortage of people in your age group. it tends to change people's lives drastically. PM me if you want more info about what that might be like.
First, don't make a job change unless you have something lined up first. Don't quit your job. About the only jobs that are easy to find most anywhere are retail, fast food or perhaps something in the medical field. While the job market in most industries including manufacturing is starting to improve, we have not reached a point yet where we are in a fully saturated employment market. 4.0% unemployment is usually considered the benchmark for full employment.
Second, sometimes we have to do something we don't like or would rather not do. I'm in the very same position. Like it or lump it so to speak. Currently I am in Indianapolis and would rather be elsewhere. But I moved here to be closer to my house in Covington and also to help my older brother who has been in Indy for a while. I could transfer to St. Louis with my existing employer and have touched upon that subject with them since my pay started to drop here but that has changed in recent weeks and now I may stay in Indy a while longer just to achieve a short term goal of paying off some debt. Then at that point I can either move to Covington or elsewhere. I may have to look at other places to relocate because my plans for Covington have suddenly gone awry. The housing market is getting busy and prices are going up which is going to make it nearly impossible for me to purchase a second home which is critical for the plans I had to develop a small business. And a major problem now exists at the current home I own thanks to some serious noise from a hangout for a biker gang which is about half a block from my home. A dozen or so Harley's revving up their engines or just idling makes a tremendous racket.
My suggestion is to work on a Plan B. Personally, I would take whatever job I could find to make ends meet and then save some money and then work towards my ultimate goal. I am doing this myself. Start thinking about what you would really like to do and then find which areas of the country offer the most jobs in this field. If you can find an area that you like, start getting in touch with potential employers and see if you can land something. Try to be flexible. I am willing to live in many places even if they are not a perfect match for me just as long as I can achieve my object of developing a small proprietorship. If where you live is most important then you may have to take any job you can find, even one you dislike, if that is the only way to get to where it is you would like to live.
I am hoping that I can still find a way to develop what I had in mind for Covington but the odds are diminishing thanks to the robust housing market and noise factor at the existing home. Thus, I am working on Plan B.
That is my advice. And I am taking my own advice at that. LOL
If it were me I'd get a second job in sales. Something part-time and local, like weekend sales at the car dealership if that's all you can find by the end of the week. Because that's the type of time frame I would allow for finding this second job. Get it quick, do your best, and make waves (as in, be their best employee) over the next couple months. Then redistribute your resume.
I know that sounds harsh, but employers appreciate hustle. If you're working less than 40 a week, you most likely have 15 extra hours to spare. They would be a lot more likely to look at your resume if you had a second job paired with an explanation about getting it to "keep your sales skills up to date" as just one potential avenue you can use for an explanation. Worst case scenario you make a few extra bucks, have a chance to win another sales award, and maybe even expand your opportunities to network into a job you want.
Also - if you want to move to FL, go for it! But give the part time job time first to rebuild your sales credentials. A change of pace sometimes is a great idea, and the singles scene is probably more active there. My only advice would be to go straight to Miami if you do go there, because Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, etc. don't really have good infrastructure to support non family or tourist people.
Florida is a place to go after you make your money. If I was young and was ready to leave Cinti, I would look at a pro-business Southern city like Nashville, Charlotte, Houston and Dallas.
To the OP: I think you're going to have to start over in an entry level sales job. Sales managers aren't looking for speech pathologists....they want hungry go-getters that will tear the throat out of someone to close the sale. Bust your hump for a couple years to refresh your "brag book" and jump-ship for a better job.
Everything medical is a growth industry. Contact the manufacturers, distributors, and large rep groups of speech therapy, autism, and ENT surgical recovery products and equipment. Direct letter and one page resume to the president or owner and copy to their HR person. Just say you want an interview for a sales job.
Hi all,
Thanks for your responses. It has given me more to think about. A few more bits of info on my end...
I have eliminated all financial obligations here in Cinci. My car is paid and I have low rent which I can get out of at any time. I also have substantial savings that could last me several years if need be, but I hate to spend it. I want to keep that money to buy a house.
If I move, other options would be to get some PRN work in the city I relocate to have some income. I could take a travel job, but those jobs are not usually in desirable cities.
As far as my work now, I am able to pick up extra hours with another company on a PRN basis, but it is not always consistent. I also have a third side job at a bar one day a week. So, overall I do feel like I'm a hustler/hard worker. :-)
On my sales resume I list my title as Clinical Specialist, b/c I find that most people don't know what I actually do for a living. What's funny is that if I said I were an RN (associates or bachelors), it would make more sense to employers and could open more doors, when in reality my therapy degree is more advanced and specialized. The reason I changed careers to create more employment options. I thought I could "go anywhere" with my clinical degree and that it would make me more desirable for jobs. Unfortunately in some ways it is limiting me.
Well that is all for now. I will take your advice into consideration! Thanks.
I like Wilson's advise about selling what you're currently working with. So if you're working with hospital supplies, for example, then identify the companies that are selling them to your employer. That way you're bringing current and real-world experience working with that kind of product to a prospective employer. You have the prior sales experience coupled with your more recent experience working with the product that company produces. Convince them that being on both sides of the business makes you uniquely qualified.
Probably the most important thing is to be upbeat and confident in interviews.....act excited to be there.
I have to consider the OP's statement they feel adrift at 38 years od age. At 38 I had 4 kids, been working for the same company for over 20 years, and felt my feet were firmly planted on the ground. Don't know how I would have felt in the OP's position, other than it obviously would have not been good.
OP go back to your best strength. You said you had success in sales so obviously you have some talent there. Ignore the recuiters, they are only following their guidelines. Send a simple statement with a one page resume of your experience to the president's of companies in the fields you know best. Simply ask for the chance at an interview. If you have the experience you have the HR people will recognize that.
Postpone the moving until you reestablish your sales capability. Then look to companies in the same field in a different location. Try and get the job before you move, particularly to a place like Florida.
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