Career Reboot Question -

[sideslipper.]

I currently work for the government doing seasonal fire fighting work. In the interest of working in the same county as my wife and maybe starting a career which will offer me more flexibility in where I work and what I do I'm looking outside of forest management and fire fighting. Also looking at jobs which require less physical work as I'd like to ski and walk when I'm 55.

I currently work with cool people, have awesome job security, good benefits and a decent salary. Downsides are that I'm 3 hours from home during the week, work seasonally, gone for 3-6 months (2 weeks on 2 days off) have to maintain a second home (shithole apartment), etc. Current career doesn't really line up with the wife's goals and I'm flexible so long as I'm challenged at work and get to go home at night for the most part.

I've taken the shotgun approach to applying, lots of non-interest up until now.

I'm beginning the interview process for a assistant store manager for a major retailer (you probably have one where you live). I have about 2 months of retail experience that is about 10 years old. On the other hand, I have a ton of experience training, leading and motivating people. No idea if I'm going to even be competitive.


Big questions I have:

Is getting into retail a bad idea? IE - Can I get out of it and into something different in a year or two?
Is it going to suck my soul?
Where can I go from here? Whats the next move?

Thoughts?

[schuss]

Retail sucks and has basically no upside unless you're willing to part with 70 hours a week. It's soul sucking and demeaning.

Alternatively: What do you enjoy doing? If you're good at leading, training etc. you're probably good at sales. If you have any math/data aptitude, learn analytics and business intelligence, that shit is blowing up.

[VC]

My guess is retail isn't going to do it for you, could be wrong. You sound like many people in wildland I know. Are you working for the Feds? Where do you live? If you working for the feds theres plenty of jobs in fire that will allow you to walk when you retire.

[sideslipper.]

The ski and walk when I'm 55 was sort of tongue in cheek. I have a pretty cush job in terms of wildland fire. (helicopters) I could probably bounce around a few duty stations and be a GS9+ in a few years.

I am a Fed (USFS). The issue isn't so much where I live now, as much as it is where I will live in 2-3 years. There aren't FS jobs where my wife is likely to be working (she makes more, has better benefits, and is lining up to make dramatically more than I ever will in fire, etc) in the future. We also are not interested in living in California if we can help it. Me having 10+ years of wildland fire fighter on the resume is not going to be super awesome when she gets a high paying job in Chicago or something like that. (Maybe I will just retire.

The future is more of the same. I live 3 hours away from my wife 7 months a year for at least 5 days a week. That isn't going to work with kids.

It is a common problem in fire, I know at least 4 other people in the same position.

Your right, retail probably isn't going to cut it. I probably have the best work environment I could ever ask for currently, but that doesn't mean shit unless I can line it up with my personal life.

[VC]

Chicago? perfect go work for Midewin.

Go structure? Which would probably mean medic school.

[TII95]

I work in financial services and several of our low level managers are from Walmart, Kmart, etc. That being said, just front of house bigbox retail isn't going to get you anywhere. I'd suggest you find a way to contribute to a profit center side of a business if you don't plan to waste money on a degree.

For example, sales translates into many industries and there's always a good argument to give you a trial run.

Once your good at it jump ship to a higher paying sales job. Financial services wholesalers work remotely, cover a specific region, and typically make 70-100k if not more depending.

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[Angle Parking]

From my experience, retail is most certainly a soul sucking experience.
Do you have kids?
Are you willing to go back to school?

[ex-powderbroker]

If I was you I would only work retail if it meant Internet access in a land where there was no other way to browse, simply as a means of looking for another job.

I see no upside in it for you. At least if you were a ski tech you're actually doing something and people bring you beer. Big box? I just can't see any upside and I think your actual in demand skills will get lost in the mix.

What about something in education?

[schuss]

The ski and walk when I'm 55 was sort of tongue in cheek. I have a pretty cush job in terms of wildland fire. (helicopters) I could probably bounce around a few duty stations and be a GS9+ in a few years.

I am a Fed (USFS). The issue isn't so much where I live now, as much as it is where I will live in 2-3 years. There aren't FS jobs where my wife is likely to be working (she makes more, has better benefits, and is lining up to make dramatically more than I ever will in fire, etc) in the future. We also are not interested in living in California if we can help it. Me having 10+ years of wildland fire fighter on the resume is not going to be super awesome when she gets a high paying job in Chicago or something like that. (Maybe I will just retire.

The future is more of the same. I live 3 hours away from my wife 7 months a year for at least 5 days a week. That isn't going to work with kids.

It is a common problem in fire, I know at least 4 other people in the same position.

Your right, retail probably isn't going to cut it. I probably have the best work environment I could ever ask for currently, but that doesn't mean shit unless I can line it up with my personal life.

If you're good at managing people/things/logistics, there are a lot of opportunities in a lot of places. People who know how to lead and manage are always in short supply. I'd honestly see if you can recast the resume in a more "business-y" light and go for any number of corp jobs or something like event management (event logistics and planning)

[TBS]

You are a rotorcraft pilot - or crew chief? There's gotta be opportunity for that, even though it will take you away from home for more than a day...