When does my Career Begin?

You could say I came late to the party. Or that life got in the way. Or that I was too busy having adventure. But really I think it was more like I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do ‘when I grew up’, so I tried many things.

I am of that generation that was told to get a bachelor’s degree, I’d be guaranteed a job at graduation. But my job at the public library did not change when I finished my English degree. So I went overseas to teach English in Asia for two years. When I came back, even with international experience, I could not find the great jobs. So I went back to school again. I did the first two years of a second undergraduate degree so that I could be accepted into a Master’s program, which took another two years.

But guess what? Upon graduation, no one was hiring someone with my skill set. I had done ground breaking research and I was the first in my class to graduate but I could not find a job. So I followed my husband’s career. That led to me doing all sorts of interesting things, like working in the commercial fishing industry, a yarn shop, and doing inventory in a hospital, none of which require a bachelor’s degree, much less a Master’s.

Eventually my husband’s work took him, and eventually me, to North Carolina from Western Canada. For me that meant a long immigration wait (I’m from Canada), and when you are waiting for immigration, you never know when you will get your visa. So I didn’t pursue serious employment, because I didn’t want to get entrenched in a place only to leave. So I volunteered, I knit many, many socks, and I helped my father in-law renovate his basement (including pouring concrete floors and walls, building forms, and doing some geoscaping). Landing in North Carolina once my visa came through was another disappointment. I managed a live music night club for six months, another job for which post-secondary education was unnecessary. I got used to being told I was ‘overqualified’.

Somehow we landed in Utah and I would say that is where my career finally took off, just as I was turning 40. I ended up doing a second Master’s degree, but it was in the American context this time, and it put me in touch with lots of the right people that eventually got me the job I am in now. So even though I have been working for 30 years, I feel like my career is still in its infancy.