Re-entering your old profession after three years in an entry-level job

Thinking I would be called back to my old job, I did not really try to find another position in my profession. I also began to feel more comfortable working at the dealership despite the much lower salary because it’s less stressful. The callback never happened. Weeks turned to months and years, and I am still working in the car lot.

Now that my savings have dried up, I feel like I need to return to my original profession. I’ve had numerous interviews over the past six months, even in sectors outside my previous profession, but have yet to receive any offers.

A stumbling block during all the interviews is the lag period since my last professional job and the question of why I am working in a used-car lot even with the robust job market. To be honest, I am still very comfortable working at my current job. However, my financial situation and my social situation with my old friends are finally catching up to me. Any advice?

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Karla: In anticipation of any “kids just don’t want to work” and “what you should have done” tutting: Three years ago, you were riding the struggle bus of early adulthood when a global pandemic hit. You and thousands like you were cut loose from your job to make your own way.

Midcareer professionals like me in remote-friendly jobs with established connections had it easier — yet I for one am still carrying existential malaise and a forever-altered view of what work means to me since that time. If a curveball of that enormity had interrupted my early professional progress, I can’t imagine where I or my priorities would be now. So I’m inclined to cut some slack to anyone who’s been through it.

As you’ve seen, the longer you’re off the professional hamster wheel — whether to raise children or manage a health problem or weather a global disaster — the harder it is to jump back on. I’d like to think employers were more forgiving when just about everyone had a “covid gap” in their work history, but I suspect that window of tolerance is already closing.

Ordinarily, I’d advise you to refine your narrative to recast your stumbling block as a shrug-worthy fact, not a fatal flaw. But the bigger block — rather, the path-obscuring boulder that I guarantee interviewers see as clearly as if they were reading this letter — is that you don’t want to return to your old profession. Employers in any sector aren’t eager to invest in a hire who sees them as a fallback.

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My advice is to get off this binary track that has you stuck between going broke in your comfortable interim job and beating your head against the door of your old profession. You have so many more options between those extremes.

If that sounds more overwhelming than liberating, just focus on the next best step toward your immediate priority: financial stability. Unless you’re retired, living on savings is living in emergency mode, and you know that’s not sustainable.

First, see where you can reduce expenses. The Washington Post’s Michelle Singletary is my gold standard go-to for tips on that.

Michelle Singletary’s five pillars of post-grad financial planning

If you’ve already cut as close to the bone as possible, try these income-enhancing baby steps that start from where you are, not where you feel obligated to be:

• Find a side gig. Not ideal — it’s mentally and physically exhausting working more than 40 hours a week to scrape by. It’s also super common in a nation where minimum wage isn’t enough to cover rent on the average apartment.
• Look for another dealership that pays more for the same job, possibly dealing in new or luxury vehicles.
• Use the foot you already have in the door at your current workplace. Look for promotion opportunities, or openings that require skills from your original profession. (Accountant? Bookkeeping/payroll. IT engineer? Digital inventory management. Writer? Marketing or customer communications.)
• Focus on what you like about this job. There must be a reason you gravitated to a car dealership instead of a restaurant or retailer or call center. Do you enjoy cars enough to learn how to sell or even repair them? Does your employer offer on-the-job training or tuition subsidies? (Also, it’s not “unskilled”; it just requires less-specialized skills, so the barrier to entry is lower. What skills of yours are being put to use?)

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If you had any savings cushion left, I’d suggest hiring a career counselor to guide you through your options. Your local college career center or public employment services agency may offer free or low-cost job counseling.

As for your social situation: If you haven’t yet, be honest with your friends about your struggles. Supportive friends are a literal lifesaver, and those worth keeping will value your company over expensive social outings.

I was struggling with money. Here’s how I learned to finally talk about it.

Yes, all of these invoke more stress. But your current comfort zone is about to be swamped by financial stress regardless. And there are many ways to reach that sweet spot between effort and reward that generates enough purposeful energy to pull you out of a rut and onto a more productive path.

Reader query: Does this young professional’s story resonate with you? Do you have any warnings or encouraging perspective to share? Write me at karla.miller@washpost.com and tell me about it.