What other career could I have with my credentials?

[DisneyLovingMama]

I really need a new job. I have for a couple of years. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find one in my area or background. So, I've thought of branching out. Just wondering what else I can do.

Right now, I'm a Marketing Specialist for an insurance company. I write brochures, fact sheets, manuals, speeches, and other promotional material. I also manage internal and external website content for the company. I've involved in marketing campaigns from concept to delivery and have 15 internal clients that I manage on a day-to-day basically.

This is basically what I've done my entire career; at various times I've focused on internal/employee communications or external/marketing communications. I've had some PR experience. Overall, I have approximately 13 years of experience in Corporate Communications or Marketing.

I have 3 - 4 years in the insurance industry, 4 years in accounting and 6 in investment banking. All the companies I've worked for have been Fortune 200/Big 5 (4? 3?) accounting firms.

I know HTML, but am self-taught. I have no college degree. I make pretty good money, but am probably underpaid, given my experience and location (at least according to salary.com).

So, any ideas? Most of the things in my area are pharmaceuticals and they all want a history in pharma. I have a lot of universities by me, but they all want degrees.

I need to maintain my income level, for a variety of reasons.

Thanks!

 

[DisneyLovingMama]

Bumping for ideas.

 

[Planogirl]

Have you gone to Monster.com? You might want to if you haven't because they have several areas that deal with career change and so on. They also have experts that help people with question such as these.

Good luck!

 

[CapeCodTenor]

Couldn't help ya, but I'll give you a *bump.*

 

[LoraJ]

I don't have any suggestions as to what to do, but I don't want you to get discouraged by job postings that list a degree as a requirement. My company lists that for every single job they post, but there are a lot of us who don't have degrees. Apply anyway. Your experience and accomplishments will get you in the door.

 

[Florida_Mom]

I have a friend who is the marketing director for a real estate firm in town. She really enjoys it. She does all the advertising, writing the ad copy, etc. Perhaps with your web designing skills you could also create web pages, etc. I dunno...just a thought.

 

[grlpwrd]

Taking a tangent here...

Would you consider getting certification or even going the full nine yards to earn your degree? Your employer may even pay for it or even part of it so be sure to check it out. A degree may very well increase your salary and open more opportunities for you.

GL!

 

[KelNottAt]

Your career pretty much matches mine. I often look at some of the things my husband does and think I could make a career switch to his line of work: film and video production.

Now, I couldn't do cinematography like DH, but I definitely have the organizational and writing skills necessary to be a producer or production assistant. It's hard to find a production company that keeps producers on staff. So most of them are self-employed. Typically they charge $400 - $750 per day for their services. But, keep in mind, they don't work every day.

Good luck.

 

[siouxi31]

I don't have any suggestion but it can't hurt to send your resume in even if you don't meet the requirements by 100%.
We had a position open and didn't receive a great deal of response from candidates who had experience. I decided to pull more than people with experience and two of them did not meet requirements. One did not have a degree and the other had no experience in international transportation (usually a must for this position). In the end, the job was between one who had the experience and the one who didn't. Both interviewed well but something about this girl without the experience told me she was the right person for the job. She was level headed and very pleasant among other things. I liked her so much that I was willing to spend extra time with her to teach the things that she should have known coming into the job. She's been the best employee and I'm greatful every day that I work with her.
Good luck to you! Reach for whatever it is you want to do.

 

[Doug123]

Are you near a college or university? Each college within a university hires marketing/communication people.

 

[DisneyLovingMama]

Thanks for the responses. I'll look into the other fields suggested - I get so caught up in banking and insurance, I forget other fields need marketers too.

To answer a couple of questions:

I've looked at Monster, but only in marketing/communications. I'll look at their career change stuff, too.

I'd LOVE to go back to school and finish - I'm not that far off from getting my degree in English. But, I don't have the money or someone to watch my children right now. My employer doesn't offer reimbursement for undergrad classes.

I do have a certification in business communications, but it's not a university cert - it's from an industry association.

Thanks again for any and all ideas - I need them!