More workers seek to reinvent themselves as old jobs fade

Five years ago, Steve LaRose decided he was no longer content to sit behind a desk working as a computer programmer for somebody else.

The Eden Prairie resident, now 52, had been programming for 18 years. But he decided to venture out on his own and pursue a career built around his longtime passion - woodworking. And today, LaRose owns a branch of Kitchen Tune Up, a company that restores or replaces kitchens and woodwork in existing homes.

Though such mid-career shifts are hardly new, Matthew Hanson, a University of Minnesota Counseling and Consulting Services psychologist and coordinator for career services, said he's seeing more people make the move now by necessity, as their jobs get phased out in the struggling economy.

While those with solid jobs now show "more of a tendency to stay put" because of all the economic uncertainty, there are also more people facing imminent job losses who are actively looking for alternatives.

Janet Pelto, a LifeWork consultant and psychologist at the College of Continuing Education at the University of Minnesota, said she has never been busier than in the months since last fall's economic crisis.

Helping alumni and community members, Pelto said she has been working with more and more people who have lost jobs and haven't had success finding a new job.

Some are making big changes. Recently, Pelto worked with a client who went from a career as a marketing manager to becoming a landscape architect. Another went from practicing law to teaching in a public school.

Pelto said most people shy away from such dramatic career changes - like Hanson, she finds that people are actually less likely to risk a wholesale career change in a shaky job market. But many are looking to use the skills they already have in new ways, and want to learn how to make themselves more appealing to a new employer. "Sometimes adults don't need another credential. They need a knowledge or skill."