Hellobee Boards

He might want to check out the 2019 edition of What Color Is Your Parachute. I was recently reading it myself and found it very helpful because it emphasized you did not necessarily go back to school to start a new career. It talked about how to reassess your skills to see how they could apply in new situations. Good luck! I've been where your husband is and it's hard to know what to do!

My sister recently worked with a career counselor. She has a lot of experience and education, but she has been out of the field for a few years and doesn’t think she wants to do exactly what she was doing before. She had no idea where to begin looking because she doesn’t even really know what to do. If that’s an option he could consider it (it costs $ though). It could help him identify his strengths and experiences and how these apply in different careers/fields, and also help identify a type of career that would be more fulfilling. Unless he is very lucky though, I’d assume you’re facing a pay cut, starting from scratch with PTO and sick time, and if he carries the benefits then that’s huge.

I would note I know several parents who are going to school/went back to school. At least around here, there are a lot of programs for adult learners. My husband wanted to be able to do more in his field and was able to knock out close to 30 credits in a year while working 60 hours a week because it was all online. One of my closest friends dad’s went to school to become a PA while working and while their mom was pretty high up at IBM locally (they hired a nanny). So it’s possible. And the education part is short term. So it depends on how each of you feel about sacrificing in the short term for a long term benefit.

My husband and I discussed this quite a bit. Neither of us like our jobs, but they are super specialized and pay well with good hours. What my husband did was look for other opportunities within his company. He found a job he liked better that had a better commute. He doesn't love it, but he's home by 4 to get the kids everyday and it's way better than his last job.

My job is a unicorn in the sense that it's so specialized that if I leave I can never do something similar again. Overall I like what I do, just not my big bosses. I know they will leave, so I'm waiting them out. I can deal with the suck for 2 years. Again, I put out feelers and decided none of my options were better than what I had.

Before my husband decided to stay he did a lot of informational interviews to figure out what he wanted to do. He ruled out many, many career paths because they would be worse than what he had. I recommend talking to a ton of people to figure out where you want to go before spending time trying to switch.