Page 40 - SKILLS Workforce Development Guide 2021

For Job Seekers: Profiles of Career Changers
CHANGING PATHS
Career changes lead local residents to make greater impacts
BY JOE CESARANO
Our career is one of the most important choices we ever have to make. That said, it’s okay to take your time finding the right path, or to change your mind once you’re already on it — no matter your age.
In a 2019 survey by the career site Indeed.com, 49 percent of adults reported that they’ve engaged in a dramatic career switch since they started working. And the average age for those who switch careers is a surprising 39 years. The top reason for switching jobs, according to survey respondents, was unhappiness that they experienced in their first career choice — with higher pay and career flexibility tied for the second most popular reason.
We spoke to five career changers working or living in Westchester — who range in age from their 20s to their 60s — to find out what inspired them to switch careers and seek greener job pastures. Here’s what we found.
NYDRIANA TAYLOR
Nydriana Taylor is a 26-year-old Bronx resident who currently works as a calibration engineer at PTI Inspection Systems, a packaging manufacturing firm in Hawthorne. But her career path to Westchester has included stops in Brooklyn and Times Square, spanning roles in healthcare and retail along
the way.
While pursuing an associate’s
degree, Taylor took an internship with NADAP, a nonprofit that helps connect needy individuals with healthcare and other social services. The internship led to a full-time operations management role that allowed her to work coordinating schedules and workflows with multiple social workers and healthcare workers in the emergency department at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn.
After that project concluded, Taylor left NADAP and took a
job as a retail associate at the American Eagle flagship store
in Times Square — a challenging role in a chaotic environment that allowed her to sharpen her people skills. “I gained the ability to sell over a hundred dollars worth of products to somebody that you really don’t know,” Taylor explains. “I would try to get to know them, to understand who they are, and what they want to represent when they’re out in the world. It was
a very high-velocity environment. But it really shaped me into who I am now.”
She soon realized that she needed to leverage these skills in an environment that would allow her to grow and came across an online posting for the PTI job. “I was tired of the rat race [of retail], and ready to take my life and career seriously, and find something that would allow me to fit in and grow as a person and professionally as well,” Taylor recalls. “And I was very intrigued by the technology they developed in medical and food packaging.”
These days, Taylor taps into her retail training to connect with PTI’s customers, taking the time to learn more about their individual needs. She has even transitioned from sales to R&D at the company. “It is a demanding role, and it feels like
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