All Career transitions Q&A

Exploring your dream job and taking that leap of faith to another career can often impact those close to you. How can you work with and involve your family in this process?

What advice do you give people who recognize they are miserable in their job, but are afraid to lose the security of their paycheck?

After test-driving their dream job, what are some of the questions you ask your clients to contemplate in deciding whether or not their dream vocation is right for them?

Create a New Work Life

I am finding myself very frustrated in trying to find work. The consensus seems to be that I am overeducated, overqualified, overtrained and over-age. The age issue is not something I can do anything about. I am 59 years old. I do not consider myself old, but as time continues to pass, I am feeling older all of the time.

By training I am a chiropractor, a Diplomate of the ACA specialty Council on Nutrition, and a board-certified Clinical Nutritionist. Due to an injury I suffered almost five years ago, I am unable to practice chiropractic. I am able to work at the computer, however, and have had 22 articles published in peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed journals during the last five years. The publishing of such articles has netted me $0.00, although I love the work. I have worked very hard for my education and paid a heavy price for my degrees. I keep wondering when the world will catch up. In the meantime, I continue to seek a job that will aid my poor wife to support our family. Any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated.

Turn Those Negatives Into Positives

I am a divorced 49-year-old manager in the financial services industry. I will be laid off next March since this New-York-based company is moving most of the operation to Charlotte, N.C. I am currently earning $126,500 plus a bonus and have been with this company for 16.5 years. I'll get about 10 months of severance pay.

Any thoughts on how to market myself to New-York-based firms to showcase my time with this firm as a positive, not a negative? I'm also afraid my salary may make me unattractive to potential employers. How much of a pay cut should I consider?

Job Hunters: Discover Your Life Path

I enjoyed your article Over 40, Seeking New Career very, very much. It really resonated with me. I have been in the software development field for 20 years and I am ready to do something else, I just do not know what to do. It's very overwhelming. How can I even start to identify what my next path should be? Is there anything specific I can do to help myself figure it out?

Help! I can't decide between two job offers! While one pays a little bit more, they're pretty much equally attractive to me at this point. I figured I'd be lucky to get even one offer I was happy about, and never figured I'd find myself in this position. How can I choose between the two?ANSWER: First of all, congratulations on your job offers! How wonderful to have a choice. However, I understand your concern. How do you make the right decision? Trying to use logic to figure out the right job to take only gets you so far. That's where your intuition can help.

Expert Advice: Creating a Home Business

I'm interested in creating my own home business. I've seen a lot of ads on TV and in the back of magazines. I also get a lot of e-mails. Are these all just scams, or is there really money-making potential with them?

Two years ago, I started a new job, and I've recently been promoted to a supervisor position. I am now supervising people that trained me and with whom I have become friends. We have socialized at each other's homes and gone drinking and dancing after work. Establishing Authority in a New Position While I don't want to distance myself from them, it is hard to discipline friends. Any suggestions on maintaining boundaries without alienating my buddies?