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I hear it all the time. Go back to school to train for a new career if you are unemployed. I have even thought about it many times, but I am afraid of ending up with yet another worthless degree. Is it really worth it for an unemployed person to go train for another career? Are there any fields worth studying for in this crappy economy? I just want to be out of this unemployment hell so bad.
I have thought about physical therapy assisting, respiratory therapy, medical lab technology, or computer security. Would any of these fields be worth my time? I would certainly want to study something where I could finally join the ranks of EMPLOYED and don't want to waste my time if these fields have a bad job market.
Note: Some people in my current field have been out of work for over two years because the job market in my current field is so bad.
Feel free to post other careers that have excellent job markets. I am looking for a way to get out this unemployment hellhole.
Are there any fields that may have short training programs that have a decent job market? I am only asking this because of the whole financial aspect of retraining.
I am a chemical engineer PE going back for a masters in EE, not exactly a short retrain but if its to easy that means the chineese or indians can do it too. If it requries substantial credentials/experience/technical know how your job wont be in/out sourced becuase contrary to popular belief the chineese are not all that. They have ALOT of people that are marginally trained but they are not even on the radar screen as far as engineering/technical/scienctific know how. Also china is pushing multi nationals to give up technology as the part of doing buisness in china and theres no way any rational corporation would do that so I think china is going to torpedo their own economy, never the less we need to close our boarders.
Also if you selectivly look for a job that requires a security clearance, no indian or chineese will be qualified. High tech positions that require security clearance is what im shooting for with my EE, right now my job could be in/out sourced to someone in india who got their degree out of a cracker jack box. If you dont want to spend a ton of time in school then you could try getting into a high tech military MOS and get your security clearance that way, then network with defense contractors while you are in. The down side is the military is a pretty brutal life style (unless you get really lucky and get a cush station or manage to get into the air force which is down sizing).
The reality is nothing is going to change until washington closes our boarders to in/out sourcing and forces companies to pay a fare market price for professionals and labor (not nessicarily ultra inflated union rates but fare prices). What people dont realize is indians and chineese that work here send money back to where ever they came from where the cost of living is MUCH lower so to them its alot of money because they are not paying a mortgage or a car payment in the US, they likely live 3 or 4 of them in a low cost apt and take a bus to work and then go back home and live it up, if we were to do that we would be taking the bus the rest of our lives they are only doing it for a few years and then can go back and virtually retire.
I hear it all the time. Go back to school to train for a new career if you are unemployed. I have even thought about it many times, but I am afraid of ending up with yet another worthless degree. Is it really worth it for an unemployed person to go train for another career? Are there any fields worth studying for in this crappy economy? I just want to be out of this unemployment hell so bad.
I have thought about physical therapy assisting, respiratory therapy, medical lab technology, or computer security. Would any of these fields be worth my time? I would certainly want to study something where I could finally join the ranks of EMPLOYED and don't want to waste my time if these fields have a bad job market.
Note: Some people in my current field have been out of work for over two years because the job market in my current field is so bad.
Feel free to post other careers that have excellent job markets. I am looking for a way to get out this unemployment hellhole.
Are there any fields that may have short training programs that have a decent job market? I am only asking this because of the whole financial aspect of retraining.
I can tell you there is a market for the PTA's and MLT's plus the opportunity to advance with additional education. The RT's are pretty full up. I'm glad you didn't say RN...there is a myth about nursing shortages.
It will also depend on where you are located and are you willing to re-locate after school. A lot of big metro areas won't have jobs, but many 2nd tier cities and towns will.
I personally would go MLT and then work towards MT, but that's me I'm a science geek. For the PTA there will be a lot more schooling to advance as the BS in PT is gone now they require a Masters or Doctorate. So do your research, make sure your going in the path you want to go before investing time and money. Try to go visit a Lab and a PT area and talk with people who work there. PTA's are patient oriented MLT's are not.
If you can afford it without taking out loans, or can get someone else to pay for it, then I would say yes. Definitely have a plan before going in, and do your best to get an internship while in school. The economy might be bad, but I would think that there are companies out there who would love to have people do some of their work for free.
The whole working for free thing just seems extremely cheap from these companies looking for that. I understand the purpose but could never see going in working for free. The least they could do would be to pay the Intern $10 an hour.
The key is not taking out loans (or taking very few loans), I took out loans for my engineering education and it paid off but it was extremely nerve racking having that kind of debt and HAVING to make GOOD money to get them paid. They are mostly paid now but I was taking a heck of a gamble.
So many people who lost their jobs decided to go back to school, i.e. "well if I'm not owrking right now, I may as well go back to school". I emphasize so many people, in which case so many schools are producing graduates with education credentials but so many didn't get internships so they didn't get work experience, or an employer with whom they have experience and a relationship.
The above is the case in law schools right now. I believe I read that enrollment has increased by about 20%, the 2008 graduating class has been called "the lost generation" of law students since they didn't graduate into jobs with the employers they had interned with.
I'm sure it's not as bleak in other areas like engineering and health care, but the idea is still that with such an influx of students and an outflux of graduates, you as a graduate will have lots of equivalent competition in your new area of occupation.
...
One thing to look at is, whatever your chosen new employment field may be, that your current skill set have some applicability; you want some transferrability from your current career to the next. You don't want to rely solely on your new education credentials.
Of course there are manuals on how to do this. One among the multitude would be "the career change resume" by Kim Isaacs.
Look at what career fields are projected to have openings but won't be too competitive. I know that's not an inspiring piece of advice- it will leave no one misty-eyed- but the more competition there will be, the more difficult it will be to break in if only because there will be so many other candidates for employers to sift through, so many resumes to wade through..
Let us know what you decide.
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