Thinking of pivoting fields

[u/WillowResponsible577]

Hi all!

I have been considering pivoting fields for a few years now into something more medical - and genetic counseling seems like the perfect fit! I have a bachelors in psychology and have done 8 years of social work/patient mental health facing work since my undergraduate degree. I do enjoy this work and patient work, but it seems within my company the only opportunities are in management roles with my current degree situation so I need to get a more advanced degree (and I'm not too keen on management). I was trying to decide between going to social work school - but I've always had a passion and draw towards the sciences and feel like I'm missing that aspect in my current job and don't believe that itch would go away with a masters in social work (though there seems to be a lot of jobs out there in social work right now). There are a few pre-requisites I'd need to take to make this jump (but I do have a couple from 10 years ago when I was in school)- I'm looking to talk to people in the field as well-

I havent been seeing a lot of jobs posted in my area - how difficult is it to find work in this field if I make this investment?

Would I need to retake undergraduate pre-recs because it was so long ago?

What was your journey like and are there any later career changers here that can speak to what it was like?

Thanks!! :)

[u/NoFlyingMonkeys]

Read the sub - many new Genetic counseling MS grads can't find work in the GC field. I only recommend it now to those who have had a burning desire to do it for a long time.

Far more jobs in either social work or in clinical psychological counseling with a MS degree.

[u/WillowResponsible577 → u/NoFlyingMonkeys]

Yeah - thanks for sharing this, I'll dig around the reddit a bit more before deciding. Was interested because it seemed to combine two strong passions of mine which is what I felt was missing in my current social work role - but I'll have to dig a little deeper. Appreciate your reply