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Exploring Career Choices

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you can’t stand the thought of going to work one more day, it might be time for a change. If you hate everything about your current job, a total change in career may be in order. While this thought might scare you (or feel like a relief to admit), changing careers might be exactly what you need.

There’s many reasons why people, especially baby boomers who have worked in a specific field for years and years, decide a second career change in is in order now.

Don’t like it, never liked it, went into it because of parental or family pressure.

Current and upcoming technology is making the position obsolete.

Liked the job when single, but too time-consuming now with a young family.

No room for advancement; the glass ceiling has been hit.

There’s discord between personal ethics and business ethics.

Doesn’t pay enough to support a desired lifestyle.

When thinking about a career change, don’t rush into a new job just because you see there’s an opening. Take your time investigating options and deciding what you want your next career to be in. Learn about yourself – what you like, what skills you have, and what kind of temperament you have. Do some self-assessment or take an assessment test.

Unless you already know absolutely what field you’d like to work in, do some research on the possibilities. Start a list of potential career choices. Then dive deep into each one and find out what the job tasks are and what training and/or skills are necessary. You should be able to narrow your list down the more information you discover.

It’s also important to know what’s going on in the different fields. Are there cutbacks and problems? Or is it a growing field that just received federal funding? Is the field going in a direction that meshes with your personal beliefs? What’s the pay range? Spread your information-gathering net a bit wider.

Next you should determine what you have to have in the way of training and education. It may be in a related field where your skills transfer nicely. For example, a Financial Officer’s duties when working for a hospital may be almost the same as a Financial Officer’s duties when working for a car dealership. If you’re jumping into a totally new line of work, find out exactly what kind of training or accreditation you will need.

There’s plenty of program information available to you if you know where to look.

The USC Rossier School of Education’s MAT@USC offers current educators and aspiring teachers the prestige of earning a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from an elite research university with the convenience and flexibility of studying online.

You’ll be able to experience the benefits of:

• Highly interactive online learning combined with field-based experiences

• Groundbreaking tuition reimbursement program

• Accelerated program you can complete in as little as 12 months

• Full USC student status and benefits, participation in commencement ceremonies and free lifetime Alumni Association memberships

If you’re an experienced professional looking for a career change, an example of a degree that you can obtain is a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from an internationally renowned research institution with a 100-year history of educating teachers.

The USC Rossier School of Education has been ranked #22 in the United States, and #9 among all private universities by US News and World Report.

I’m a big advocate of online education as I obtained my B.S. when I was in my 40s and online education was in its infancy. The benefits of online education are many. I was able to continue my studies at home while working full-time and taking care of my young children and home obligations.