The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 99

PART TWO MAKING THE BREAK Switching Gears Workers Willing to Take Career Risks in Pursuit of Job Satisfaction DE 40 8 000 BRIAN GADBERY Los Angeles JEST SHARE Los Angeles Times Financial consultant Patricia G. Walter, top, used to aid the hearing impaired. Robert L. Bowker, left, opened a restaurant after giving up accounting. Engineer Darryl A.

MoDuel is studying law. for people to accept collective bouncing between accounting jobs A decision to make a career viewpoints: the 9-to-5 job, making at various oil companies. change should not be made hastily, lots of money, doing things harmful "At that time, little oil companies career counselors caution. Merely to the environment," Beckhusen were being gobbled up, merging, feeling dissatisfied is perhaps the said. going bankrupt, going out of busi- worst reason to leave a job.

"People Bowker, for example, made a ness. There were no jobs in the oil tend to think it is major decision not to stay with business," he said. Because he in this job, where it may not be the Unocal after 15 years when the needed to keep working, Bowker, job but new working conditions or a company moved its Denver subsid- now 68, opened Wings of the West new boss," Beckhusen explained. iary to Midland, Tex. He stayed in fast-food outlet in 1986 with his The discontent may stem from Denver and then moved to Los son, who had experience in the overwork or not having enough Angeles in 1978, but found himself restaurant business.

time with the family. "There's more support for not putting up with the intolerable or a nonsatisfying option. Lesah Beckhusen, career counselor Satisfaction By NANCY YOSHIHARA Times Staff Writer tate atricia audiologist, the G. hearing Walter helping was impaired, rehabili- an before she became a vice president and financial consultant at Shearson Lehman Hutton in Chicago. Robert L.

Bowker was an accountant in the oil business before he started a fast -food restaurant in Hermosa Beach. Darryl A. McDuel is an engineer at Southern California Gas Co. who is going to law school to pursue a new career as a lawyer. Count these three among the thousands of Americans changing professions in search of the ultimate in job satisfaction and personal growth.

"What we see today is people are making more and more changes," said Susan Geifman, director of the career development center at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, where the average age of students is 37 and most are returning to school to enhance or change careers. "What's happened in the workplace is that companies are in so much flux. Employers cannot guarantee lifetime employment any more. People need to be aware of what they want and how they can find it.

From my standpoint, job security begins with yourself." Not long ago, job security and money were the key factors in changing jobs. Today, workers rank job satisfaction as their No. 1 employment concern, according to a 1988 survey of employees at 100 companies by Personnel Journal, a Costa Mesa trade publication. Job security ranked second, followed by more money, better benefits, new challenges and opportunities for promotion. The shift in attitudes reflects rising expectations among today's workers, who increasingly see their jobs as a source of personal fulfillment, social relationships and community responsibility, according to career counselors.

"There's more support for not putting up with the intolerable or a nonsatisfying option," explained Lesah Beckhusen, a career counselor at Square One Career Services in Oakland who specializes in identifying career options. "More people have a sense that they can do something about their jobs, that 'I don't need to stay 10 It's much more acceptable for people to make radical changes," Beckhusen said. One of her clients, a lawyer, gave it all up to become a massage therapist. "With new -age consciousness, people are not as willing to compromise their values. It's difficult LEE "You need to clarify what's not working and what do you need to feel satisfied," Beckhusen said.

"The starting place is yourself," said Geifman at John F. Kennedy University. "Who are you? What do you like to do? What do you know of your skills and abilities? What kind of work environment do you want to be in? Here at the center when we get someone who doesn't know, we do -assessment and look at values. What is important to you at this point in your life? Is the dissatisfaction with what you're doing, or would a change within the work situation help or alleviate your situation? You may not need a complete career change; maybe you need to change to a different department, different tasks. When you look at your present situation and more or less determine that you're not satisfied, it's time to look out there." Three years ago, McDuel began studying his options.

Seeking "a combination of job satisfaction and having more control," he decided to attend Glendale School of Law part time. The 38-year-old, who has a master's degree in mechanical engineering, is the pipeline safety regulatory administrator at Southern California Gas Co. But he felt his opportunities at the company had topped out. "After 15 years, job opportunities that I wished I had had didn't happen for It's a good feeling to know there are still opportunities to gain with Although the gas company subsidizes some of his law school tuition, McDuel may be looking for law job elsewhere because, he said, employees who have earned law degrees rarely have been hired for the company's legal staff. But McDuel is confident that his marketability will be enhanced by his combination of technical and legal skills.

"The next three years will be sacrifices but the opportunity around the door is what I'm looking for," he said. It is easier to go from one job to another than find a new one when unemployed. "The longer you're out of a job, the more difficult it is" said Joseph J. Carideo, a partner in the management consulting firm of Thorndike Deland Associates in New York. Another rule of thumb is the higher your current earnings, the longer it will take to find a job with equivalent pay, if that is important.

It also is unwise to freely discuss a search for more career satisfaction. One of Beckhusen's clients who was taking a career workshop talked about her experiences at Please see BREAK, Page 16 TIMES SUNDAY, SEPT. 17, 1989 13.