Introduction




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  I think that I will have some insight into changing careers because my mother has just graduated from the Nursing program at J. Sargeant Reynolds.  She had decided to stay home for a few years after my youngest sister was born, and that was 21 years ago.  When she went back to work, she decided that after a while she wanted to do more, and not having a degree severely limited her options.  She enrolled in the nursing program at J. Sargeant Reynolds after "testing the waters" to see if she could succeed at going back to school after so many years.  She is a great inspiration to me.  But it seems like more and more people are changing careers recently, either from necessity, by being laid off from a position, or by just deciding that there may be something better suited for them.  I believe that there may be more people in the first category that lost their jobs.

 I am currently in the latter category because I want to do something different with my career, and also because I want to make more money and to be better appreciated.  But I will admit that this was originally spurred on by the possible restructuring of the organization that I work for.  They have since decided not to restructure, but it did get me to wondering what would happen if I were thrown back into the pool of candidates for jobs today. 

 
     I knew that when I enrolled in school, that things would be difficult, and I don't always get the support that I need from my family, and just being a mom and wife is a full time job in itself. Some of the questions that I hope to answer will be: What are the reasons for changing careers? What are the options for obtaining new careers? Are there still plenty of opportunities out there for older college graduates? How can the older adults compete with the younger and possibly cheaper workforce?