Trying to make a decision

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Here's the deal: I have a good job that has flexible hours that fit my kids' school schedule. I make good money during the school year and am off in the summer. And I really like what I do. BUT, DH got laid off and he is very worried. It looks very likely that he will get his job back, but it could be a while and he is afraid now that lay offs will happen again. And now it is summer so I have no income.

So, I am looking for other work. In order to get the kinds of jobs I used to have I need to take this monster exam. It costs $250 to take the exam. Every time.

If I had taken the exam when I first got out of school it would have been fine, but back then you didn't need the exam to do what I did, now you do. There have been many changes in the field in the ten years that I was doing this other job and raising my kids. I don't want to waste the money taking an exam, for a credential I may not need, to get a job I am not sure I want. Besides I am accustomed to doing well on tests, but there is a decent chance I could blow this one. That's alot of money if I screw it up.

So I am stuck. I feel like I don't have enough information to make a good choice. What do you think?

 

[sune42]

Well...Is this exam something you feel that you could study for? Probably a poor example, but I didn't take the ACT when I got out of high school. I decided to go to school at 27 and had to take it then. I did a lot of studying for that test. If you are not sure you even want the job, is there something you could do in the summer while you aren't working? Tutoring, lessons, babysitting etc, all good things for the summer. Watching 2-3 kids a week in the summer could bring in a nice income. If your DH thinks lay offs could happen again is he looking for something more stable? That's what I had my DH do. He worked in the airline industry, and it's been bumpy.

Best of luck!

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Thanks Sune!

DH has training in other areas and he is working on boning up on his credentials. I am not totally happy with some of the choices he is making, but I understand and support them. He is doing the same. For right now we are staying the course. We discussed it again and decided would not take the test right now. I am applying for more jobs and in most cases I can get a year to pass it after I am hired. I know I have a job in September and we agreed I would sign the contracts for that. Other than that we are focusing on the land and the crops. He is making some extra money with the tractor and we are hoping to have lower food bills and some surplus to sell. We got free chickens! So we can extend our flock some and sell more eggs.

These are hard times for most of us and I guess we may all have to get used to more instability than we had hoped for. This is why "May you live in interesting times" is considered a curse!