03-08-19, 08:49 PM | |
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: KY
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After working as a manager of technical communcations for a corporation for eight years, I spent the next 20+ or so years homeschooling my three kids all the way to college. I started volunteering as an ESL teacher, loved it, got a second graduate degree in teaching ESL, worked part-time at our local university in their Intensive English Program for about four years, and I'm now teaching exclusively online as well as for ETS as a TOEFL Speaking rater. I love it. I never thought I would get back to earning an income after being a homeschool mom ... my husband is now retired and I'm the one who's working. We don't really need the income, although it still feels good to be earning my own money ... but more importantly, I'm passionate about my work and I absolutely love what I do. Having flexible hours and working only when I want to is also a plus
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03-09-19, 12:17 AM | |
Exchange Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: PalmTreeVille
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this really made me smile. i can hear your excitement in your words.
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~jeannine Miyagi: Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don't forget to breathe, very important. [walks away, still making circular motions with hands] ~ Pat Morita, The Karate Kid, 1984 disclosure: in the years 2002-2004 i had a professional relationship with a distributor of fitness videos; see profile. |
03-09-19, 08:14 AM | |
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: SC
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My first career out of college was being a manager. I worked all the time and felt like I was just making a wealthy company more money
I went back to school and got my clinical doctorate in PT. I have been a PT for 12 years. I just moved to a new position this week where I work 4 ten hour days and only do evaluations and setting up a plan of care. I needed this break after 12 years of trying to cajole, bribe, educate, nag people to exercise. I was getting burnt out. We will see how it goes, it is guaranteed salary and more money...but a lot more paperwork (which is why it is considered a 10 hour) I would really love to be a classical stretch instructor but my husband cant work because of health issues so I need the income and health benefits (his RA shots would be 3000 a month without it). So I am studying my classical stretch level one as something to do part time. A lot of people have me a hard time about switching to PT...I sometimes regret the school loans...but the market crashed right after I started school and the company I had managed at closed down..so it was probably for the best. I had wanted to be a yoga instructor 20 years ago but my friends who were were struggling. |
03-09-19, 08:32 AM | |
VF Supporter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Texas
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I have a law degree with an undergraduate degree in accounting. My primary career was practicing law with my now deceased ex-husband. After a few years of that, I stayed home to homeschool our son all the way through high school. During this time my husband and I divorced. After DS finished high school and started college, I worked part-time for a CPA doing tax work. That 20 hour a week job morphed into a 60 hour a week very stressful job and I had to make a change.
I started working about 30 hours a week at a private school in their business office and eventually switched to a bigger private school where I am now their business manager. I oversee most everything that is not on the educational side of the school and I absolutely love my job. I'll turn 63 this year and have no plans of retiring anytime soon. Carol |
03-09-19, 09:33 AM | ||
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Chicago burb
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Quote:
Since leaving that position I've been selling my mosaics on Etsy and doing petsitting/dog walking to get some extra cash. I'm much happier now, but I'm a starving artist. I need to go back to working for someone else but I have no idea what to do. My husbands job has erratic hours and he has to travel with little notice sometimes so I'll have to factor that in to my job search. This thread is giving me hope that at 46 I'll find a job that I love.
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Wendy |
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03-09-19, 12:24 PM | |
Join Date: Apr 2009
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I'm really enjoying all of these stories!
My situation is similar to Hilary's. I worked at various jobs in the publishing industry for a number of years. After marriage and kids, I spent 22 years as a SAHM, homeschooled my kids through high school, and worked as a freelance editor for most of those years. At 51, I was blindsided by a divorce and suddenly found myself in need of a higher paying job with benefits. I thought that the chance of landing a job in my field at my age was small, so I started classes for a paralegal degree (while still freelancing and maintaining my job search). Much to my shock, I was hired as an editor for the research division of a quasi-federal agency. Turns out that all the freelance work I had done over the years dovetailed perfectly with the job. I've been there for 14 years now, and my boss recently gave me permission to work from home. I still have a side business as a technical freelance editor, and I plan to continue doing that after I retire.
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Joan "When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people." -- Abraham Joshua Heschel |
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career, career advice, retirement |
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