Back to School

My job at D&B is ending on January 18, 2012. The company was nice enough to extend my end date from December 31 to January 18, allowing me to reach my 30 year anniversary. It'll be a sad day, but I'm okay with everything that's happened. I've had a wonderful career there and I'm leaving with a positive feeling about the company.

As much as I loved publishing, I know my skills developed at D&B aren't really transferable to another publishing company; therefore, I'm going back to the industry I first wanted to work in when I graduated from high school: healthcare. My goal is to earn a job as a medical coding and billing specialist.

I'll be taking classes at Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School. My schedule keeps me in classes from January until September, but I only take one class at a time and my classes are at night.

01/17/12 through 03/08/12 -- Medical Terminology (Tues/Thurs, 6-9pm)
03/19/12 through 05/30/12 -- Medical Office Administration (Mon/Wed, 6-9pm)
06/06/12 through 09/26/12 -- Medical Billing and Coding (Wed, 6-9pm)

I'll lose part of my severance if I get a job before the end of June. Right now, I'm planning to not start looking for a new job until then. My hope is to be employed at St Luke's Hospital, so I plan to apply to work there as a volunteer during the time of my severance. Even if I don't eventually end up being employed there, it will benefit me both as work experience for my resume and as a way to keep busy during my unemployment.

I might also apply to be a volunteer at the Animal Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley. I'd like to do something to help animal charities since I may not be able to donate as much money in 2012.

Having a plan, even if the plan changes along the way, is a big mental boost for me. I hope I can avoid the depression that hits so many people when they lose their jobs.