The Worker's Open Road

This wicked recession is throwing roadblocks in the way of many careers. It's not just layoffs knocking people off track. Workers are facing years with few or no pay raises, vanishing bonuses, curtailed retirement contributions, longer hours and a heavier workload.

With the national unemployment rate at nearly 9 percent, most people find they have no choice but to accept more work, stagnant pay and less security, at least for now. But some -- a minority so far -- are steering their careers in directions they hope will be more promising, more fulfilling and more under their own control. The money may not be as good as their prior jobs, and the risk of personal failure may be high in some cases -- but the prospect of a new career path -- sometimes one long desired but ignored -- is alluring.

Maxine Gill, 46, took her career in an entirely new direction after she was laid off from her job as sales and marketing director for Comcast in January 2008. "I enjoyed what I did, but I knew I was not going to retire from that job," she said. This was the second time she had been laid off. "Marketing always seems to be first to go," she said.

Earlier this year, she struck out on her own, investing $50,000 to $60,000 in a franchise, College Nannies & Tutors. Her company hires people (taking care of the tax and paperwork headaches) and places them with families for temporary or long-term duty. She plans to move the business out of her Laurel home this summer and into a new learning center in Bethesda. "Everything is on my shoulders, but I enjoy working for me," Gill said.

"If I were still in corporate America, I would have to work extra hard, and I would have to travel. You've got to do more now because of the economic recession to keep your job," she said. "People like me, who have been laid off, are reassessing what they want out of life and what they need to do."

The layoff aligned with an existing desire to open her own business. "The fact that I have an impact on children's lives is very important to me," Gill said. "And the fact that I can employ people in this economy is a plus."

The government is also hiring, and some people are seeking security in the public sector, with applications for government jobs hitting 7.7 million during the first five months of this year. That comes close to the 8.1 million total for all of last year. Other people are pursuing a more spiritual bent. Applications to study this fall at Wesley Theological Seminary in the District are up 10 percent."Most of it is attributable to a change in the economy and to people looking for more meaningful work," said Beth Ludlum, director of recruitment at the seminary.

And the number of people who want to volunteer for charitable organizations is soaring.

Madye Henson, president and chief executive of Greater DC Cares, a group that trains volunteers for work with more than 200 Washington-area charitable groups, said there is clearly an increase in volunteering, in part because it helps laid-off people keep their skills sharp. But she tied much of it to the presidential election, as well. "I think a lot of it is attributable to the president raising a flag and challenging everybody to give back," she said.

Before November (which coincided with the brunt of the economic downturn) DC Cares received about 200 to 250 inquiries from prospective volunteers a month. Right after Election Day, she said, the inquiries shot above 200 a week and stayed near there. "What we used to do in a month, we now do in a week," Henson said.

Laura Murray took a big step in the spring to alter her life. She is a lawyer in her early 50s who closed her 10-year-old crisis-management consulting business in New York, sublet her apartment and moved to throw her energies into an alternative career in Washington. "It is one of the smarter, cooler things I have done," she said.

In September, Murray said, business was so good she had to consider turning away clients. Then the financial crisis hit. "I had people saying they need my services, then becoming too afraid to spend any money," Murray said. She faced a decision: drastically reshape the business -- or grab the chance to try something new.