Temp. jobs and contract jobs may pay the bills, but you are learning the hard lesson is that they don't build careers if they are not in your field of expertise.
In the late 1970’s I started work as a cashier for a toy store, moved out at 18 and got a second job working at McDonalds. The weekend job was cashier for a drug store. Plus, I was still getting a few classes in at the time too. I did for several years and eventually got my business degree and went on to manage the drug store, spring boarded from there to a clothing company, built a $300,000 store into a million dollar store in 3 years and got promoted to a district manager of 15 stores.
Then the world crashed in 1996. I got up and started over again. Like my first post says I started over with the clothes on my back. I made more than my husband, so I paid him...the cheat.
While in pursuit of my second degree, I interned in my chosen field at a chemical company. It was a really crummy internship for a lot of reasons, but in my second year a management position opened up and I was asked to take it(at the time I was working as a bank teller, intern for the chemical co., and going back to school). Why would an intern get an EHS management position? Because I also understood business management, which was more than the kids coming out of college understood with their 4 year degree. 5 years later I was the field manager decommissioning two nuclear reactors for NASA. Today I run my retirement business. Yes, you read that correctly, my retirement business. You see I totally understand and was informed since the 1980's I would never see my SS contributions and millions of people were herded in IRA's and 401K's, but like my life demonstrates...I don't herd easily. I figured I would have to work in some capacity into my grave and having put in my long hours working and learning and career building for someone else, I decided it was time to really do it for myself. If I had learned that lesson much earlier in life, I think my life now would be much easier and better. So while my comments seem harsh to you, realize now, before it is too late...that ultimately it is up to you. It is not about 'who will give me the job.' When things were tough I didn't sit around and cry because they closed the toy store or my position got eliminated or even that my world literally crashed with the sudden death of my father, the loss of my mother 6 months later, and a divorce finalized 3 months after that... Who you are today is not who you were 12 years ago. If you've been doing the same thing for 12 years and not getting the results you want...then change what you are doing. What else can a history teacher do than teach at a school? How about historical sites as a history interpreter? How about a history tutor? Or a field history instructor for homeschoolers?
Bravissima.
“What else can a history teacher do than teach at a school? How about historical sites as a history interpreter? How about a history tutor? Or a field history instructor for homeschoolers?”
I had my own tutoring business for about 5 years, tutored pretty much everything except foreign languages. Math, chemistry, physics, biology, english and history.
I’ve worked as a business consultant, I’ve worked in advertising, I’ve worked doing field work, I’ve done research (I can dig through pretty much any library), I’ve done public relations for a small firm, worked as a lobbyist. My 6 month job had me overhauling their database system to upgrade it and create an online catalogue.
I’ve done, many, many different things over the years to pay the bills.
My second field is database entry, and inventory/delivery. I’ve done just about every job in a warehouse save forklift and I am considering going back and picking up that certification.