From Women in Nontraditional Careers: An Introduction :
     Copyright © Jocelyn Riley

“All across the country there are programs which assist women to explore and enter nontraditional occupations. 
. . . Usually there are also some sort of support networking groups, so you get to know lots of other women who do these occupations for a living. . . And it’s a big self-esteem builder.”

“I think the benefits for women going into nontraditional careers are mainly in their personal satisfaction with their jobs.“

“You may have started out on one path in life and then suddenly find yourself at a point where this is no longer an appropriate career. It’s maybe not satisfying, it’s maybe not providing the economic support that you need, but usually it’s that you’re just in the wrong field and you’re not comfortable there.”

“The beauty around a lot of nontraditional is there’s built-in career ladders in the occupation. And that’s not really true for a lot of traditional women’s jobs.”

“Many women find they have transferable skills. They find that the work that they have done in the past will now apply to a new job. I’ve had several women that have been cosmetologists as their first job and end up in the welding program. And I used to think about what’s the connection between cosmetology and welding. And at first I didn’t see any. But as I thought about it, each of these jobs has an end product. So it’s actually almost a piece of art that you are working with. You may be doing hair or you may be putting a finish weld on, but you’re going to get a final product that you can see. It’s very hands-on.”