Making a transition

[MamaM]

I have mentioned I do not want to stay in corporate. I am literally a month away from starting my MBA and backed out. It just doesn't feel right. So, any sage advice as to how to make that big jump to something completely different? Good, bad and the ugly? Reality?

My reasons for doing so are as follows.
1. 22 years in healthcare- just plain burnt out. Tried to seek out other avenues to pursue but nothing floats my boat.
2. Hate the pressure I am feeling as a Director. I feel like I am about to bust, after being so responsible for so much, especially for the past 12 years or so.
3. Want more time with the family, more time for my own health and just want to be a happier, peaceful person all around.
4. Terrified of change sometimes when I think about it too much- healthcare and the path I am on is ALL I know..it was THE PLAN, THE GOAL...and now..kaput!!!!!

Thanks. :help:

[razz]

Do you have some peers in your field to discuss these strong sentiments? Quit often others will see or hear about options that are available that you are not able to see at present.

You have mentioned what you don't like about what you do in your career but little about what you like. Explore some of those by writing them down and then mulling how to bring that back into your life.

Perhaps you like teaching staff or researching/setting up protocols of practice or mentoring or comparing/exploring alternatives or one on one activities.

Until you know what you like, you wont' be able to move forward as readily.

EG:I left healthcare but really missed the analysis and research that I had done.

[MamaM]

Thanks Razz.

Hmmm..what do I like? I like helping the patients though my job is more administrative than clinical. I would like to teach but the colleges/schools around here require a Master's and relevant experience. How do I get experience if I can't get hired to teach? I even offered up the Department Head of the college I graduated from my own free time just so I could learn. She turned me down. :(

[chrisgermany]

Can you collect teaching experience by doing internal trainings for your company?

Is your company connected to a relevant school or college or regularly employing their graduates? If your company or the person who "owns" the connection refers you your chances will improve significantly. And if you'd teach in your free time it is not negative to the company. They might even like it as it is good PR.

[lhamo]

Do you think any of your skills might port well into a non-teaching academic environment -- I'm thinking program staff for a medical school program, for example, or grants administration. I have an old friend from high school who does something related to clinical medical education, I think basically trying to help doctors in training develop better patient skills/bedside manner. From what I have seen on her FAcebook posts she LOVES it. I work in a position that is largely administrative, but I've been able to carve out some significant chunks of time/energy that I devote basically to coaching of young researchers. One of my grantees from last year just told me she had a very good interview at a top school last week, and has another one lined up for the following week -- we had a lot of discussions about the relative merits of academic versus other careers, and I think the fact that people can see that there are other options out there like the work I do helps give them the courage to be themselves. OK, that is kind of off topic but I guess what I am saying is that there are lots of way to mentor people/help them develop themselves and pursue their real goals/dreams without going into a purely teaching role. I actually had an exchange last week with one of my grad school friends who is a tenured prof at a big name, very prestigious school and he was saying he was jealous of ME! I do get to work with some pretty cool people.

Good luck figuring it out. Good on ya for not doing the MBA -- if you want some reinforcement there is this great book I read a couple months ago by a journalist who went through the Harvard MBA program and basically pulls back the curtain to show it isn't all that.

[Rosemary]

I wonder if there might be part-time teaching opportunities at a local community college?
What about a corporate training environment? That might be a way to bridge the gap.

[SteveinMN]

So, any sage advice as to how to make that big jump to something completely different? Good, bad and the ugly? Reality?
MamaM, I don't know as I can offer sage advice, but I can tell you what I did. :) As I've written in other posts, almost exactly 52 weeks ago, I looked up from my computer screen and realized I was totally burned out. I'd seen some symptoms before, but they were mitigated by having to use up my vacation-time bank the previous year (lots of 2-3 week periods out of the office) and exacerbated by a switch to a steaming pile of software, the fixing of which was taking up most of my working time.

I looked around the company and didn't see anything that floated my boat. Working elsewhere would have meant working on the same crappy software, so that was out. So I had to look for something else to do. I was fortunate enough to have a decent second income in the house; I realize not everyone has that luxury. So I was able to consider making a hobby my profession and start a photography business. Long story short, my aims on that have changed some as it no longer needs to bring in the income I thought it would, so I've been pretty slow in getting that up and running. It took a few months of DW and I examining our income and outgo and our financial timelines and for me to prep my colleagues on what I did in my job. It turns out they had to hire two people to do what I did (would that they figured that out while I was there...).

It sounds to me like you're going to have to make an end-around move to where you want to be. Options I can think of:
- Some college placement offices/alumni associations and some continuing-education programs and community colleges offer sessions designed to help you identify what your strengths are and how to find jobs which capitalize on those skills. They're not typically expensive or time-consuming, though you will get some "homework" to do.
- You might want to spend a few hours poking around Web sites like LinkedIn and Monster.com looking not necessarily for specific opportunities in your locality, but for pointers toward less-traditional places and jobs where they do what you like to do. For example, if you like to teach, maybe you don't qualify for a college instructor position, but you might easily fit into a role training people in using a company's machinery/software/whatever. Or working at a non-profit teaching people new skills.
- If you can (or have to), consider making your nascent career your second job and investing in it the way you would have in your MBA.

Start planning for what looks like your new income stream. Is there any big expense you need to make now before the loss of your income and/or a lack of work history as a self-employed person does a number on your credit? Do you know (by tracking expenses, etc.) that you can make it on less income? Start transitioning away from your current job. If you're working 45+ hours a week, start pulling back. Leave time for readying yourself for your next career. Start documenting what you do so that you cannot be claimed as "indispensable" in what you do (making it that much harder to leave). Frankly, the busy-ness of disengaging and knowing that it was coming to an end made the additional months survivable for me.

There are a number of us here who have made the same transition. I think I can speak for all of us in saying that we're willing to help and support you in this.

[citrine]

First....congratulations on realizing that you are burnt out and coming to terms with the fact that you need to do something else....and asking for help in doing so :) Many people just get to the burnt out part and stop there :)
I used a Life Coach in helping me design my life. We did a few personality tests, visualization, and lots of homework. During the interim, I just socked away money, became drastically frugal, and then handed in the resignation and went back to school. I would definitely urge you to find a Life Coach in your area and see what you can do.