TRYING SOMETHING NEW: A STRONG ECONOMY HAS OPENED DOORS TO CAREER CHANGES

Unemployment rates nationwide hover around 4 percent and a good economy has opened the door to a new career for many people who might not have considered it otherwise.

Surveys from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics show that nearly a quarter of the workforce in February 2000 had been with their current employer a year or less -- which indicates that people are changing jobs, and sometimes often.

Whether leaving for dot-com jobs, computer consulting opportunities or just starting over, Americans are no longer tied to making a career choice and sticking with it until retirement.

"I think that if we are smart, we can arrange our lives so that we can have many choices," said Jayne Moore of Sikeston, Mo., who is beginning her third career.

Moore, 38, is working on a degree in mass communications at Southeast Missouri State University. She started working as an intensive care nurse but left that field after six years. Now she's a legal nurse consultant for attorneys working on medical malpractice or personal injury cases.

"I just became disenchanted with the managed care world and the effect it was having on the ability to give good patient care," Moore said.

So she decided to try something new. She was nearly ready to graduate with a nursing degree when the revelation hit: Why not try something else?

Today she commutes to campus for classes twice a week and works on consulting cases as well.

"I got burned out," she said. She had been taking classes at Southeast on a part-time basis when she decided to make the move to full-time student. "Once I realized that the degree didn't mean anything to me, I decided it was time for a move."

The options are limitless'

Charlie Herbst of Cape Girardeau also sensed that he needed a change of careers when he left the police force two years ago. He'd been with the department for 10 years when he left to work in sales and marketing at Innovative Idea Integration in Jackson, Mo.

"I think the options are limitless," Herbst said. In the business community, employees can make lateral changes or reinvent themselves in a new business model.

There aren't as many of those options in law enforcement. The decision to leave wasn't an easy one to make, he said.

"I have some people tell me that they wished they had gone ahead and taken advantage of an opportunity" that arose for them, Herbst said.

But as a community police officer, Herbst was essentially working in sales and marketing for the police department. His job involved meeting residents and working as a community liaison.

He holds a business degree also and had worked with the department's computer servers so the switch wasn't that difficult. But "some things are the same and some are different" in his new career.

Herbst said had the economy been different when he graduated from college, he probably wouldn't have ever taken a job in the police department. "I was unemployed," he said, and couldn't find a business job.

But today, the options are open. Jobs are being filled almost as quickly as their vacancy notices are posted.

But the switch to a second career shouldn't be just about finding a new job, Moore advised. "I wanted something that would take me into the next step," she said. "I just keep putting one foot in front of the other."

In nursing, Moore found a calling and said that's what made her better at her job. Working in intensive care is something that you do as a job, but you really have to have a calling to be any good at it."

Moore expects to mix her medical calling and her legal knowledge into a journalism career that can thrive. She wants a career that gives her some freedom and latitude but also lets her point out injustices.

"You don't have to choose one track and stay with it forever." That's the lesson she wants her teen-age daughter to learn, she said.