Apparently I’m not the only one who finds exploring career transformation interesting.
Check out MSNBC’s package of stories including individual stories of how people are adapting to a changing economy as well as pointers on reinventing your career.
Then pop over to Career Diva to read Eve Tahmincioglu’s reaction to some of the audience comments generated by the MSNBC stories. They’ll give you some great insight into the psyche of unhappy people and why some people resist reinvention.

One reader mocked Sheila Keahey, the woman I featured in my how-to-reinvent-yourself story, saying, “oh, it’s so easy for her to just do something new.”
Somehow, this reader missed the point. (then Eve excerpts a piece of the story commented on)
In 2001, Sheila Keahey was laid off for a second time after 11 years in the financial sector, this time from her job as a financial analyst for a telecommunications firm in Dallas.
She tried substitute teaching and even worked as a sales associate at Neiman Marcus, but she couldn’t find her niche. The full-time retail job wasn’t paying the bills, so she started looking for a temporary position to supplement her income.
In the back of her mind, she had always been interested in health care, so she took a temp job at a local teaching hospital as a senior administrative assistant. There she was exposed to a profession she knew little about: medical coding.
“Here I am with an MBA doing administrative work, but I knew it would be a stepping stone for me,” she says.
Indeed, her step down paid off. Today, Keahey is a medical coder helping to manage health information for Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas.
Does Keahey’s story sound easy to you? This woman struggled, had to work two jobs, had to swallow her pride, and had to take a chance on an industry she knew nothing about.

I think a lot of things keep people in unhappy situations — fear is a big one, as is uncertainty about what to do, lack of time or skills to find a better path.
But lashing out at someone else who’s managed to do it is fascinating to me. It’s directing that anger and frustration of your own situation at the person who reminds you that you could be better off if you just made a switch. You don’t want that knowledge because it might force you to take action, so you have to quickly shut that down. Point out that the person had advantages you don’t have. Detail how you couldn’t possibly do the same.
Or, maybe channel some of that energy into taking a baby step toward making a change. It doesn’t have to be all at once. If you can’t afford to quit your job and go back to school full time, could you take one class on nights or weekends?
Sometimes I think coming up with the excuses not to do something must be more exhausting than just doing it.