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Books that can help you explore and define yourself include the latest editions of Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type, by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger (Little Brown) and What Color Is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changers, by Richard Bolles (Ten Speed Press). Do What You Are, whose authors have decades of experience training career counselors, outplacement consultants, and human-resource specialists, is a guide to personality type and can help you determine how you process information, make decisions, and interact with people. It links personality types with occupations and uses case studies to help readers tailor their job searches to their strengths or get the most out of a chosen career.

Libraries such as this one are great sources for information on occupations, on technical schools and colleges, on careers opportunities, and on other aspects of job hunting.

Financial Considerations

You may or may not make a lot of money in your chosen career. Sometimes, working in a field you love requires financial sacrifices. This is not always the case, but it’s definitely something you should be prepared for. Lots of people have an interest in working with animals, which means that employers often have their pick of the best people and can set their own terms. You have to consider whether working with animals or in a pet-related field balances out the possibility that you won’t be rolling in dog biscuits. That’s especially important if you’re thinking about making a career change.

Answering the following questions will help you decide if a career is right for you financially and whether it is feasible for you to make a career change:

 What income level can I reasonably expect from this career?

 What benefits (health insurance, paid vacation, sick leave, retirement plan) can I expect from this career?

 If benefits are not included, can I afford to pay for them myself or do I have another source of coverage?

 Would I rather work directly with dogs or would I be satisfied with a higher- paying position in a pet-related industry?

 How much money do I need for personal expenses (housing, food, medical costs, utilities, transportation, child or pet care)?

 If I am starting a business, how much will I need for start-up costs?

 Is my credit good enough to get a loan for educational or start-up expenses?

 Am I organized and disciplined enough to pay quarterly estimated taxes and keep track of my expenses? If not, can I afford to pay a bookkeeper to do those things for me?

MIND YOUR MANNERS

Remember what you learned in kindergarten: Always say please and thank you. If someone spends a great deal of time with you for an informational interview or gives you a great lead or piece of advice, write a thank-you note. Not only is it the polite thing to do, but it’s also a way for you to stand out.

Once you have a handle on your personality type, What Color Is Your Parachute? described by Fortune magazine as “the gold standard of career guides,” offers practical job-hunting advice not only for people new to the workforce but also for career changers, victims of layoffs, and people reentering the job market after taking time off to care for dependents or to go back to school. Neither book is pet oriented, but together they provide a foundation for finding the right job in any field.

Exploring your career options is the next step. To supplement the career information in this book, check your library or a bookstore for books about your chosen career. Look beyond the typical career guide. For instance, aspiring veterinarians may enjoy reading Nick Trout’s Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing, and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon (Broadway, 2008). Want to be a wildlife biologist who studies wild canids? Look for Swift and Enduring (E.P. Dutton, 1981), by George and Lory Frame, about their time in Africa spent tracking the endangered painted dogs. Read books by trainers and behaviorists, people who show dogs, and animal-welfare advocates. Their experiences can give you an idea of the highlights as well as the problems these types of work.

For more information about the training and education needed for a specific career, earning prospects, job outlook, working conditions, and job-search tips, consult the Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. You can find it in your library in the reference section or online at www.bls.gov/OCO. It provides an excellent overview of most careers, from animal-control officer to veterinarian, as well as seven- to ten-year job projections in each field.

Don’t forget to check consumer magazines and trade journals, such as Dog World magazine, Pet Product News International, and the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. You can subscribe to them or find them at newsstands as well as at libraries. If your library doesn’t carry a publication, talk to the librarian about obtaining a copy.

The Internet is another great source of both objective and subjective information. Lots of trainers, veterinarians, and other pet professionals have blogs, for instance. Reading them can give you a window into their work life and the issues they face in their fields.