My girlfriend and I are living in San Francisco. We both finished grad school in December of 2010, and we moved out here because I got a job here. My girlfriend is 36, has a Bachelor's in Art History and a Master's in Education. In between her ungrad and grad work, she worked in retail as a manager of a toy store. Currently, she works as a core para-professional substitute for the San Francisco Unified School District, as well as taking some after school jobs babysitting children with autism. She enjoys the work, but the pay is shit, especially for this city. She's been trying to get a job as a full time teacher with the district, but it hasn't been going well. In our entire time here, she's only been to two interviews for teaching positions, both of which went nowhere. She's been exploring going back to school to get a special education certification to try to improve her employment prospects, but that looks like it might not happen for another year because she dragged her feet on the admissions process. I'm of the opinion that another two and a half years of school and another $20,000 of debt is not worth it, especially since public education in California seems to be on its last legs.
I really don't know what to suggest to help her. I'm a musician in an orchestra, and I have no clue about finding employment outside of my field. I was hoping someone here would have a suggestion about another field that might be well suited for her background, because I'm at a loss. I really want to help her and give her advice, because it seems like she's close to the point of giving up and I don't know what to do.
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Regarding the job hunt advice, see if she can figure out what skills she has beyond her academic credentials and write those down. You'll be surprised the kinds of jobs you can at least get an interview for based on work experience and actual skills, rather than just the subject that shows up in your degree.
She's tried for a few museum jobs. There was a job opening in Education Outreach at the De Young that was perfect for her, but they advertised it as an internal posting only. She sent in an application anyway, but she's not holding her breath.
Brian, do you have any more info about these consultant jobs? I've never heard of that before.
Has she considered becoming a Behavior Analyst? In special ed it seems to be similar to the above with more pay, prestige, and I would assume responsibilities. There's also a lot of demand for it in other fields if she ever needs to leave the field. She'd need a credential for that one, though, either a BCBA or a BCaBAs.