Ivan Dzombak ⋅ Pinckney, MI HARMAN International ⋅ 40 years experience

Hello Danielle -

If you don't mind doing something that is related to teaching but without the stress and low pay (speaking as the husband of a teacher who recently retired), you might consider a job in corporate training. Many larger companies have in-house training programs, and/or they contract with training companies to handle their training needs. Assuming that you don't want to move for this but are willing to travel for training gigs, the training contractor option might not be a bad one. Your background and education would be well-suited for that, I would think.

Good luck!
Ivan Dzombak

Jeff Martin ⋅ Ashburn, VA The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ⋅ 25 years experience

I’d suggest that you network at the target company or industry. Use LinkedIn to find people already working there and reach out to them. Ask them the process they used to get hired and ask them to help you navigate the hiring process and if they are willing, ask them to submit you as a referral. These activities require much more time on your part but in my opinion would greatly increase your chances for success. Good luck!

Joe Engle ⋅ Indianapolis, IN Electrical/Software Eng. + MBA ⋅ 30 years experience

Hello Danielle. You have a BA with Masters, that is great. Generally, when changing careers to a path where one has little experience, tradeoffs should be considered. That is, if a company can hire someone with experience versus someone without experience, they will most likely hire the person with experience. I am not saying you cannot get a position in a new career path, without experience. But going after an entry position, will be the most likely prospect, plus it will lead to experience! That said, look at positions in smaller companies, that do not attract as many top level experienced candidates. Also, companies in smaller towns, tend not to attract as many applications, as big companies in big towns. I think you are in a small town, so that is to your advantage! These are good ways to get your foot in the door and get some experience. With the experience, many doors will be open to you.
One example of a large company position would be internal instruction. Very large companies sometimes have internal training, within the HR department, which you would fit in well.

This is really a good time to change careers, as there is high demand for all sorts of positions. That makes changing careers easier. You need to promote your degrees and the experience that you have. I put together a document for doing just that. It was written for military people leaving the military for the civilian job market. It deals a lot with going after several different career paths, and writing good resumes for such. The concepts work fine for civilians as well. I will be happy to send it to you. Just message me requesting it.

Good luck.
Joe

Richard Byrne ⋅ Hillsborough, NJ Intel Corporation ⋅ 53 years experience

This section of my EE webpage lists many job search links and a section on how to view the BLS.gov
http://eehot.com/ee.html#jobs

I recommend you look at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm to look up your dream job.

Then do some job searches for your dream job to learn the specific job requirements, and if necessary, decide if it is reasonable for you to add training or education to meet those requirements as stated in the job openings your search reveals.

These sections might also be useful:
http://eehot.com/ee.html#resumes
http://eehot.com/ee.html#gjobs
http://eehot.com/ee.html#fgov

These sections also available from the Jump index at the top of he page:
http://eehot.com/ee.html

Here is an example job search using the keywords HR and Project Management:
https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=HR%20%26%20Project%20management&l=Charles%20Town%2C%20WV&vjk=686f63095b1f7129