It's official! Here we are approaching the seven-month mark of my unemployment stint and it seems as though no one wants to hire an unemployed business analyst / project manager with minimal training and experience! It seems that I am not considered for lower level positions such as help desk, supervisor or manager roles because I am "overqualified" or there is a concern that I will jump ship as soon as something better comes along. Apparently this means I am supposed to take a step back to re-evaluate the direction of my life and see if another career will be more amenable and in which it will be easier to find employment. Let's look at some details as we consider a life-changing decision (which will not be the first life-changing decision in the last half-century as we know it).
Biographically, I am the youngest son among eight children born to barely above poverty level farmers in southern Minnesota. As such, there are seven older siblings (six sisters and one brother) with my brother being the closest in age (seven years older). Staunch Missouri Synod Lutherans by appearance, I attended public schools in Dodge Center, Minnesota, where I graduated third in my high school class. I made a brief appearance (I was there long enough to move in, party and later drop out.)at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa during the spring semester following high school.
After a period of wandering like an Aramean, I returned to the family farmed and engaged in farming with my brother until I decided to get married. Some time later, it was decided that I would return to college and attended Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota in the pre-seminary program. Upon graduating from the program, I attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri to pursue my Master of Divinity degree and to become eligible for ordination into the clergy of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. During the seminary program, I served a year of vicarage or internship at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Niles, Michigan.
By this time, the marriage has been blessed with two children, our older daughter Amy, born prior to the return to college and older son, Ryan, born during the last year at Concordia, St. Paul. Younger son, Alan, was born during our last fall in St. Louis, thus becoming the only one of our children not born in Minnesota. Following seminary, I became the assistant pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Gillette, Wyoming. Other parishes served include Trinity-Fieldon and Zion Lutheran Churches, Lewisville, Minnesota and Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Lidgerwood, North Dakota.
1999 was a big year of life changes for me. Not only was that the year I "celebrated" my 40th birthday, it was also the year I stepped away from ministry. As a result, I have now worked as a milker on a large dairy farm (550 cows per milking), resident apartment manager, restaurant host and trainer, convenience store cashier, telecom representative support agent, e-commerce support representative, independent contractor, part-time minister, database manager, front office manager, volunteer scheduler, volunteer trainer, bank mail room worker, help desk support representative, help desk supervisor, help desk manager, business analyst and project training manager. And no one wants to hire me! What's wrong with this picture?
Looking briefly at my experience prior to 1999, this would include independent farmer, fraternal life and health insurance sales, church youth worker, airport and stadium security, financial aid office support staff, admissions support staff and youth choir director. Extracurricular activities throughout school would include choir, National Honor Society, student council, Sunday School teacher, Vacation Bible School coordinator, drama, junior sales publicity chairperson and Spanish club.
Biographically, I am the youngest son among eight children born to barely above poverty level farmers in southern Minnesota. As such, there are seven older siblings (six sisters and one brother) with my brother being the closest in age (seven years older). Staunch Missouri Synod Lutherans by appearance, I attended public schools in Dodge Center, Minnesota, where I graduated third in my high school class. I made a brief appearance (I was there long enough to move in, party and later drop out.)at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa during the spring semester following high school.
After a period of wandering like an Aramean, I returned to the family farmed and engaged in farming with my brother until I decided to get married. Some time later, it was decided that I would return to college and attended Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota in the pre-seminary program. Upon graduating from the program, I attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri to pursue my Master of Divinity degree and to become eligible for ordination into the clergy of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. During the seminary program, I served a year of vicarage or internship at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Niles, Michigan.
By this time, the marriage has been blessed with two children, our older daughter Amy, born prior to the return to college and older son, Ryan, born during the last year at Concordia, St. Paul. Younger son, Alan, was born during our last fall in St. Louis, thus becoming the only one of our children not born in Minnesota. Following seminary, I became the assistant pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Gillette, Wyoming. Other parishes served include Trinity-Fieldon and Zion Lutheran Churches, Lewisville, Minnesota and Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Lidgerwood, North Dakota.
1999 was a big year of life changes for me. Not only was that the year I "celebrated" my 40th birthday, it was also the year I stepped away from ministry. As a result, I have now worked as a milker on a large dairy farm (550 cows per milking), resident apartment manager, restaurant host and trainer, convenience store cashier, telecom representative support agent, e-commerce support representative, independent contractor, part-time minister, database manager, front office manager, volunteer scheduler, volunteer trainer, bank mail room worker, help desk support representative, help desk supervisor, help desk manager, business analyst and project training manager. And no one wants to hire me! What's wrong with this picture?
Looking briefly at my experience prior to 1999, this would include independent farmer, fraternal life and health insurance sales, church youth worker, airport and stadium security, financial aid office support staff, admissions support staff and youth choir director. Extracurricular activities throughout school would include choir, National Honor Society, student council, Sunday School teacher, Vacation Bible School coordinator, drama, junior sales publicity chairperson and Spanish club.
Educationally, after high school, I graduated summa cum laude from Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree with a double minor in Christian Thought and Biblical Languages. Furthermore, I earned a Master of Divinity degree from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, where I was certified for ministry and also received a Theological Diploma. Recently, I have attended a number of computer software related courses, been certified as a Help Desk Analyst by the Help Desk Institute and completed nearly three years of Spanish language training through Berlitz International.
At this point, the question with which I am face is this: "What direction are you going to go with your life now, David?" Did you ever thoughtfully consider the poem by Robert Frost, "Road Less Travelled"?
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood...."
Perhaps the road I have been travelling is the wrong path. I must ask myself whether I have reached a dead end. Nancy Fox is president of Fox Coaching Associates, a business and career coaching firm. The following is an excerpt from her internet article entitled, "Reinventing Yourself After Fifty":
"What is it about reaching the age of fifty that is like a life switch being flipped on? All around us, people are hitting this momentous milestone. Suddenly, a new hunger is generated within,almost like an uncontrollable hankering for a piece of chocolate. But this craving is not quickly or easily satisfied with a sweet because this yearning comes from deep within hearts and soulsof boomers seeking purpose and fulfillment in the second half of their lives......"How many of us selected our careers or made personal life choices based on what we considered practical, socially acceptable, or because we thought the money would be good? How many of us feel passionate about what we are doing because it lights us up and allows us to feel truly fulfilled? ......"It has been found that most of us stopped allowing ourselves to have life dreams by the age of ten. As early as age ten, societal expectations put us in figurative strait jackets, and we becamelogic machines. Some of us may allow ourselves to think about our dreams. Most of us, though, have been conditioned to think, “I could never do that,” or “Who am I to do that?” A common self-sabotaging statement among boomers is, “I’m too old to try something new,” or “I’m not good enough.” Or “It’s too risky.”......"There is a huge misconception about what reinventing oneself is all about. Personal reinvention is not about change. It is about living life from the place of who you truly are – your most authentic inner self. Not what the world expects you to be, not what you think you should be, but whom you know you are inside of you. For many, the ability to know who we truly are has been lost..."...
A well-known, and my favorite, Shakespearean quote from "Hamlet" sums it up best:
"This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man..."
~ DB Turnmire
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