A Toast to Second Careers

A couple of years ago I took a class down at the Book Passage in Corte Madera on how to write the personal memoir. Partly because it was being taught by the SF Chronicle's legendary Adair Lara and partly due to the fact that I had (and still have) a motley collection of my own U.S. immigrant tales stuck somewhere up my sleeve.

The one thing which sticks most in my mind to this day was a heartfelt offering shared by the newly retired guy at the end of the table. When asked why we each felt compelled to write, he simply responded that it was the thing which gave him the most joy prior to embarking on a career-long, corporate career. "Go back to what you first wanted to do," he advised. In short, save yourself several decades of stumbling around the corporate workforce and follow your heart.

"Yeah, right," you might well have muttered a year or two ago."But someone has to pay the bills." Only now are we at the collective point where the safe bets in the business and corporate worlds have gone the way of the proverbial open window.

It's open season in the job market. Second careers are all of a sudden in vogue. You, like millions of people are possibly considering the merits of going back to what it was you really felt compelled to do when you sat in on the obligatory career counseling class in high school.

Many second career candidates have taken time out from the workforce to raise kids. Take Petaluma's plucky Karen Brockman for instance. Karen's about to graduate from the Culinary Institute of America this week, after a super-intensive course in baking and pastry arts.

Karen had always had a passion for pastry and taking the plunge into a rigorous, career-changing course at the prestigious Napa Valley institution of the CIA gave this mother-of-two an entirely new outlook on career possibilities.

Rising at 4.30am for the better part of a year, Karen followed her dream and drove across county to class where she has excelled in the decorative skills of a classic wine country baker.

I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with her newfound skills in creative baking and intricate cake decoration in the Southern Sonoma County social and event catering arena.

There are many people amongst us looking for new direction in these distressing times. It's encouraging to hear how many new paths are opening up to those who have the spirit to take a bold, new direction. Congratulations to Karen and all of her contemporaries who are intent on reinventing themselves in the midst of a moaning majority!

Comments

[Meloni]

Three cheers to Karen. She will no doubt be impressing us all with her pastry skills soon!
Great blog and oh so appropriate!

[Lindsey]

Oh yes, I can second that. I have never looked back since leaving an established career in order to follow a path I'd considered even as a child..And in the current climate, leaving behind both the advertising and automotive industries was a pretty good move!