Sunday, January 11, 2009

4,000 Questions - #3: Careers


Here's the background info on the 4,000 Questions posts...

And, here's Question #3: How many times have you changed careers or line of work?

My Answer:

In High School, I worked for a visiting nurse organization; I did the unskilled work, like helping with bathing and dressing. I found that most of my clients, who were usually elderly and infirm, were less interested in getting help with their physical care, and more interested in having someone to talk to and to listen to them.

In the Army, I was a Medic (91C10, for anyone who knows what that means; this MOS is no longer available, but that's what I was while I was on active duty). My permanent assignment was at Fort Gordon, Georgia, where I worked at DDEAMC on 6West (Labor/Delivery/Post-Partum).

During College, I waitressed and was even promoted to hostess and waitstaff trainer!

With my new Art degree, I went to work in a local framing shop/art gallery. This job was REALLY fun, but I was also married, so didn't need to make enough money to support a family (which I didn't!). I did that for nearly 13 years and loved the work.

After getting divorced and becoming a single mom, I needed to support a family. So, I decided business was the way to go, got myself back to college, and earned a Master of Business Management degree. I then began as a Management Trainee in a bank, and I'm now the Vice President of Marketing for a financial company.

Your Answer...
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5 comments:

Blair said...

This is a great idea for a series of posts! I love reading all the answers.

My answer for this question isn't very interesting, since I'm just starting out! I had a few summer jobs in high school and college, including working at a dentist office and the local wax figure museum, and my favorite--laying sod for my aunt and uncle! But I've been on the journalism and magazine track for several years now, interning with six different publications in NYC and freelancing for a few others. Eventually, I hope to start making some actual money for my writing!

LoveANewIdea said...

Blair-
I think you're list of jobs so far is pretty intersting! I enjoy reading your blog, and have often thought as I read it just how much I like your upbeat and funny writing style. I know you'll do well with the writing career.

Blair said...

Thank you! That's so nice of you to say. :) And thanks for visiting my blog!

Sean said...

This one is hard for me. I've had many jobs (10 over a 20-year career, if you just count bullet items on the resume), but they were fairly closely related in responsibility (all technical), yet widely separated in field, so it's hard to say what constitutes a "career change."

What I can say is that in my "professional life" (whatever that means), I worked in academia, public utilities, non-profits, and high tech. Oddly, the longest stretch at any one place was in academia.

But I have also "worked" as a motorcycle safety instructor, an adjunct instructor of computer science at a university, a uniformed motorcycle traffic officer, a volunteer conference and trade show manager, a volunteer TV studio camera operator and floor director (for PBS), and, now, a disaster relief manager. I guess I'm hard to pigeon-hole.

I'd have to say that all adds up to about a dozen different fields, so you might say that's how often I "changed careers."

I hope these get progressively easier to answer!

-Sean

LoveANewIdea said...

Sean-
First, thank you so much for answering my 4,000 Questions!!
Second, wow - what a varied professional life you've had. I have no doubt that so many of the skills you used on those jobs are coming in handy in your life on the Odyssey.

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