Over fifty, and changing careers

Fifty-six, to be exact. Now, after many years of working, I find myself in need of a career change. I loved my job. I love my job history! In fact, I have always refused keep any kind of job I could not love. But then I'm good at finding value and joy in a wide variety of jobs. Why do I need to change? Because my recent mission, that of setting up and training the staff needed for a deaf school in a developing country, is complete. The school is functioning.

Here is what I have done, including those first awful jobs you get when you are sixteen and desperate. I've never been fired from a job in my life. Most jobs I've had, I could easily return to, given the same supervisor and an opening. But I have grown, and I'd really like to have a job that takes many of my skills into account.


Those Awful Teen years


File clerk at a drug company
McDonald's, selling burgers
Waitress at a chain restaurant
Waitress at a nice deli restaurant
Work in retail store

-----------------
Working as an adult


Factory work, repetitive job (Loved it! My hands busy, my mind free to think; this was the first job I had that I really enjoyed, despite what people say about factory jobs being boring. I was the fastest, most efficient person they had ever seen in my position.)


High school staff interpreter (Sign Language)
Vocational school staff interpreter (Sign Language)
College (NTID) staff interpreter (Sign Language)


missionary
     pioneer missions
     Deaf ministry startup
     evangelism
     training leaders

missionary part 2

The second mission needs more explaining, because it is more recent and relevant to my current job search. I went to a developing country, got together with a local teacher of the deaf that I knew, and we went on to establish a school for the deaf.

This job, over the seven years the mission took from start to finish, and leave it in local hands included and/or required:

Creativity
A sense of humor
A sense of adventure
Good people skills
Mobility
Flexibility
A "can do" attitude
Conflict resolution
Ability to stick to a budget
Counseling parents & students
Responsibility for the normal functions of a small school
Teaching
Bicultural awareness
Training teachers
Supervising
Personnel screening/hiring
Developing materials & teaching methods
Mac geekness (for troubleshooting computer issues)
A variety of computer work (mac)
Fluency in three languages (English, Sign Language and Spanish)
Presenting school workshops
Presenting workshops for government teacher training (*Cued Spanish)
Adapting Cued Spanish to the local Spanish accent.
Internet research
Basic website development
Knowledge of a variety of learning difficulties and disabilities
Negotiation skills
Interaction with government offices
Budget planning
Travel and living in foreign countries
Attending workshops
Planning & supervision of short term work teams & volunteers
Teaching language to children without a language (direct method, immersion)

*Cued Spanish is a method which is very useful in teaching Hispanic deaf children to read.


It was a very fulfilling job. I miss it, and yet am glad it is finished. It is good to be back in the land of running water and 24/7 electricity.

I thought of starting a new school, elsewhere, but frankly, living full-time in a developing country is difficult at my age. I'm off to a new adventure in the USA!  It is possible that I will work outside the country at times, but my home base will be in the USA. What can I do?