Dear Kate & Dale: I cannot get any jobs except working in nursing homes. I am 45, and the work is taking its toll. I know a little about a lot of things, but not a lot about one thing. I’ve applied for jobs, but I hardly ever get an interview, and when I do, I don’t get called back. – Ranae

Kate: You need more than a new job – you need a career. For that, you’ll need help. Go to the unemployment office in your area and ask if they provide career coaching. If not, it’s likely they’ll know of a free service. (If nothing else, you can find books at the library.) Once you’ve gone through an assessment process, then you’ll start to work on your career. Here are two examples of what can happen when you do:

¢ Ella was a low-level aide with the department of welfare. With the help of a career coach, she got a position in the police department as an administrative aide. She later landed a job as a civilian investigator. She not only found a career – she doubled her salary.

¢ Sandra had worked for the department of corrections at Rikers Island for 13 years. She loved her role as a public-health educator, but wanted to get out of a prison setting. She beat out 263 competitors for a job with the department of health.

Dale: Notice the theme of these examples: career evolution. Take the second case, where Sandra embraced the part of her job she loved, then got rid of the part she didn’t. There’s a vast difference between saying to a hiring manager, “I’d like to work for you because I’m sick of X,” versus “I’m looking for a chance to do more Y.”

So, Ranae, you start by finding what you want more of. Then you find new job possibilities by examining every job that intersects yours – maybe you could work for a company that supplies nursing homes, or an agency that oversees them, or a company that markets long-term care. Instead of stepping back and starting over, you need to grab hold of what you know, and use it to step up to a better job and into a new career.