Connections

Hooray! I have heard back from 2 dietitians I have contacted, asking for some time to sit down with them and have a career chat. Hopefully I will be able to speak with them both this week and have some great info. Some other questions I have thought of you ask:

Is there anything about your career that was surprising to you, or that you don't like?
Is this your only "job"?

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of these professionals seem to work part time. Now, this COULD be because they only NEED to work part time, or it could be that this is not the kind of career that is full-time appropriate... meaning, there isn't enough work to make it full time. This is concerning, because that's where I am already coming from, and I don't want to take lots of time, money and commitment to be right back where I am. However, I know that at hospitals, dietitians work full time. But, are they "just" RDs? Or do they have further education? This is what I need to find out. ASAP.
Along with moving toward a degree as a registered dietitian, I am also considering looking into fitness science as well. Gateway offers an associates degree in fitness technology, and since I will be taking a bunch of courses there anyway, I was thinking of adding that. In that vein, my next goal is to start going to the gym. Not just working out at home, but getting to the gym and trying out different classes. I would love Zumba to be my first new class. I'm looking into schedules and will report back here.

Contacts, contacts, contacts

So, I thought a good way to continue the movement toward my goal without being able to get into classes yet is to contact as many working professional registered dietitians as possible and ask them lots and lots of questions.

Where did they get their education?
What degree (degrees) do they hold?
What does their current job entail?
Have they held other positions? What did they entail?
Approximate salary (I don't always expect to get an answer for that question)
How long have they been working?
Do they LIKE/LOVE their job???

I am really hoping to be able to have an open conversation regarding these topics.
That is if any one of them ever gets back to me.

Is it not feasible to expect someone may be willing to take some time to chat with someone who would like to be in the field? I know if I was approached by someone who wanted to go into music, or into teaching, I would be more than happy to sit down with them, have a cuppa and chat.

Granted, I have just started contacting people. But I have not received one response as of yet. Not even a "no".
So, I will persevere. Keep trying, and keep mapping out my plan. Right now, the plan is to start with good old Biology at gateway over the winter interim. An accelerated course. This could be great, or it could be bad, bad news for the girl who hasn't gone near a bunson burner since junior year of high school. We'll see.