• Jea Park walked away from her tech career at 32 to pursue a job in the trades.
• She said she no longer enjoyed working in tech, as AI has become more embedded in daily workflows.
• Her biggest challenge is finding an apprenticeship, but she is excited about the change.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jae Park, a 32-year-old based in Las Vegas. It's been edited for length and clarity.

About a decade ago, I took a furniture-building class on a whim, and I loved it so much.

I considered going into carpentry at the time, but after leaving college with six-figure debt, I gave up on the idea of having my work tied to something I was actually passionate about. Instead, I wanted to pursue a path that could let me make more money.

Over the past year, as my tech job pushed me to incorporate AI into every aspect of my workflow, I wanted out. It felt like I was on a giant cruise ship with the company trying to make a U-turn as quickly as possible, and everyone was falling off the ship. So, I left in March.

After I left my tech job, I walked into the trade union office with the plan of becoming a carpentry apprentice at 32, but finding an apprenticeship has proven to be difficult. Still, I'm so overjoyed with my decision.

I worked with a union rep to learn about apprenticeships

I always aspired to work in tech for its stability, pay, and benefits. Once I got in as a sales enablement ops strategist, however, I felt very disconnected from my work output and realized there wasn't much I enjoyed about the industry.

One time, I was listening to a podcast where the hosts briefly talked about a push for women entering the trades, and I thought, "You know what? Let's give this a shot."

On my first visit to the trade union office, the union rep walked me through the compensation packages, benefits, and four-year carpentry apprenticeship programs. I'm in a lucky position where I don't have kids or own a home, so I started to feel really great about this opportunity.

I had to provide documents to the trade union and complete a 10-hour construction course on the OSHA website that cost $60.

Finding an apprenticeship has been the trickiest part

To get sponsored for an apprenticeship, I was instructed by the rep to visit active construction sites listed by the trade union and speak with the foremen.

It made me really nervous, but I went to seven construction sites in one week. It was confusing, at times, because there was no real direction. Sometimes, there would be an address of an entire casino, but no information about where the construction site was. It took a lot of problem-solving, but the nice thing is that the union has a lot of people to talk to, and they can give tips and tricks.

A lot of times, the foreman was really busy, so I had to use my people skills to find the right time to jump in and give them a quick pitch.

I'd take about 30 seconds to introduce myself as a new apprentice and see if they had any opportunities. I thought I had an opportunity, but it turned out their program hours weren't compatible with the union's, so I'm back to showing up at job sites.

It's been almost a month, and I'm still not sponsored

I'm interested in millwork, but it seems to be in a slow period right now. To make sure I get an apprenticeship, I'm taking down the foremen's phone numbers and setting reminders for myself to call them later this year when more jobs pop up.

I can technically look for work in specific scopes outside of millwork, and it would count toward my apprenticeship. However, I'm not pinched for cash immediately, and I'd really prefer to land a millwork job to start.

I'm glad I'm getting into the trades in my 30s

When I finally decided to join carpentry, I was bummed out, thinking, I wish I had joined when I was younger. In hindsight, I'm glad I'm bringing all of my life experiences with me.

The trades are male-dominated, and it's hard work. I think I had to spend over 10 years in my professional career to understand my boundaries, know when to push back, and stand up for myself. If I had joined the trades when I was 18, I don't think I would've made it.

I also now know that the corporate route is 100% not for me. If I had gone into the trades first, part of me would have always wondered if I should've tried corporate.

I'm confident in my decision to leave tech

I'm so overjoyed about my decision to pursue carpentry. Even though I know unions aren't perfect, I'm looking forward to being a part of a system of employment that's worker-first.

I went to my first union meeting, which was the biggest culture shock. It's so cool to have dedicated time for people from different organizations to talk, share experiences, and offer support. I almost cried during that meeting. I was like, "I've never felt so supported."

I've only just begun this journey, so we'll see how it goes, but I'm so excited.

Do you have a story to share about joining the trades? If so, please reach out to the reporter at tmartinelli@businessinsider.com.

• Some of the most common career advice doesn't always hold up.
• You don't necessarily need to find your passion or ascend the corporate ladder to like what you do.
• Because finding a job can be tough, it's important to think about which pieces of advice to follow.

Your boss might prefer a version of you that isn't entirely authentic.

One of the many pieces of career advice that emerged years ago — when the market was far friendlier — is the idea that we should bring our whole selves to work.

That doesn't always work, and it's starting to look a bit threadbare with age, especially because in many industries, employers are being more selective in their hiring.

"If you love wearing tight little leather outfits that are strapped on, I don't want to see that," said Margie Warrell, a leadership consultant and author of the book "The Courage Gap."

"That's not appropriate," she told Business Insider.

The whole-self idea is just one example of bumper-sticker wisdom meant to guide us through our careers, but that often doesn't hold up.

Here are six bits of trite work advice — and what to think about instead:

Find your passion

The impulse to align your work with what you love makes sense. Yet, feeling like you have to "find your passion" can also set you up to fail.

"That's probably as vague as it gets," said Jochen Menges, a professor of human resource management and leadership at the University of Zurich. "It's not an actionable goal."

He told Business Insider that a better approach would be to set goals centered on the emotion you want to feel in your work, such as pride, even though you might not experience it every day.

"If I align my emotional needs more with what I do — with my career prospects — then I'm a lot better off," he said. That, in turn, will accelerate your career, Menges said.

Make it a numbers game

When you're looking for a job, it can be tempting to click apply as many times as possible to increase your chances.

It's an understandable impulse. It feels good to do something tangible when so much of the search process is out of your control.

In a recent survey by the hiring software maker Greenhouse, 53% of recruiters said they review fewer than half of the applications they receive. The survey involved more than 600 recruiters and hiring managers.

While the spray-and-pray approach is tempting, it's generally not the best move. Networking to make connections inside an employer can often be more effective, recruiters say.

If you have a list of places you're targeting, you should network before the job gets posted, career coach Laura Labovich told Business Insider. That's because once a job listing is live, recruiters and hiring managers aren't likely to do more than point you to it.

Climb the ladder

The idea of ascending a corporate hierarchy has become outdated for some workers, said Christian Tröster, an Academy of Management scholar and a professor of leadership and organizational behavior at Germany's Kühne Logistics University.

Instead, he said, people might want to consider what he called a "protean" career — one that changes shape over time.

Tröster said that rather than ascending a ladder, a better aim for many workers would be to become "psychologically successful."

"The ultimate goal of your career is feeling proud and accomplished," he said.

One reason you might not want to scale the ladder is that a push by some leaders for "flatter" organizational structures — and the elimination of middle management — can mean there aren't as many rungs for ambitious workers to grab hold of.

"Careers today are no longer linear," Warrell said. Instead, workers might opt for a lateral move, a side gig, or a so-called portfolio career, where you take on multiple jobs to earn a living while maintaining flexibility.

Warrell said that workers who chart their own paths are often more fulfilled than those who try to grind their way up an org chart.

Don't jump around

Career advice once often included the suggestion that workers avoid changing jobs for at least a year to avoid appearing uncommitted to an organization.

While a string of frequent job changes can raise concerns among prospective employers, Warrell said prohibitions on job-hopping have often softened.

She said "smart" job changes — even in relatively quick succession — that indicate you're taking on extra responsibility and developing new skills can add polish, not tarnish, to a résumé.

"It can be seen as a sign of ambition, adaptability — not instability," Warrell said.

Focus on hard skills

Technical mastery — especially in hot areas like artificial intelligence — can take you far and leave you with your pick of jobs. Yet it's not the only route to career success.

AI is already taking on some of what software engineers do, for example. In surveys, employers often say they're after so-called soft skills, like communication and teamwork.

Menges said one reason soft skills are important is that humans will still be needed to evaluate what AI produces.

To help do that, he said, workers will need to rely in part on emotion for guidance. Menges said that in the 20th century, workers were often told to suppress their feelings at work.

"Now, you've got to bring those emotions back, because whatever AI does needs evaluation, and that evaluation comes down to how we feel about what appears on our screens," he said.

Bring your whole self to your job

While it might have been well-intentioned, critics have long found the idea of showing up at work as the unvarnished version of yourself to be problematic.

Ella F. Washington, a professor of practice at Georgetown University, previously told Business Insider that a better way to think about the idea is to bring your whole professional self to work.

That might mean working with people you might not like. Or, Warrell said, it could mean pushing through a bad mood.

"If one part of your whole self is that you're short-tempered and grumpy in the morning, don't bring that self to work," she said.

An earlier version of this story appeared on March 3, 2025.

• Valerie Lockhart has struggled to find work since being laid off by Morgan Stanley in March 2025.
• Despite applying to more than 500 jobs and landing some interviews, she's still waiting for an offer.
• She said the search has taken a financial toll on her family, and she had to start a GoFundMe campaign.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Valerie Lockhart, a job seeker in her 40s based in Georgia. She was previously a vice president at Morgan Stanley until she was laid off last year. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

One day last March, I was working from the office when I was asked to have a meeting with my manager's boss.

It didn't feel out of the ordinary at first because I'd met with them before, and our last meeting had been canceled, so I assumed we were just making it up. But when I walked into the conference room and saw an HR representative sitting there, I realized something was wrong.

I learned I was being laid off, and later found out many others were, too — including several people I knew personally.

This set me on an ongoing search for a stable, full-time role — one that has been deeply discouraging and has significantly strained my finances.

I took some time to process the layoff before searching for jobs

The layoff came as a complete surprise, and I don't know exactly why I was selected. However, I think being based in Georgia may have worked against me. My manager at Morgan Stanley was in New York, along with many of my colleagues and the company's leadership, so there weren't many people who saw my contributions in person. I think the distance may have also created some communication challenges.

While I was laid off in March, I appreciated that I was kept on the payroll through May, which meant I still had healthcare coverage. I also received one month of severance. It wasn't much since it was based on my tenure with the company, and I had only started there in late 2023.

The extra months gave me a little time to process everything instead of immediately diving into a job search. By mid-April, though, I was actively looking for work — and I've been searching ever since.

I applied to over 500 jobs, but still struggled to land one

Before I started submitting applications, I updated my LinkedIn and analyzed my résumé to make sure the ATS systems that screen résumés these days would actually read it.

Then I started applying to roles online and reaching out to my network about opportunities, with a focus on governance, risk, and compliance roles at larger companies.

I consider myself fairly organized, so I created a spreadsheet to track every job I've applied to. By November, I had applied to more than 550 jobs. The hundreds of roles I applied for weren't random applications. They were positions I carefully selected.

Out of those, I heard back — beyond a basic "no thank you" email — from about 25 of them.

I made it to the final round multiple times, but none of those interviews led to an offer. At the last stage, something always seems to flip, and it doesn't work out.

My search has taken a financial toll

My job search has had a significant impact on my finances, as I'm the primary earner for my family — my spouse, my son, and me. We've relied on general savings, retirement accounts, and unemployment benefits. It's affected every aspect of our financial life.

Paying our mortgage has been the biggest challenge. We've tried to cut back wherever we can, including canceling some entertainment services. Every bit of savings helps, but it doesn't change the reality that housing is expensive.

Unexpected expenses have only made things harder. One day last September, we came home to find the right side of our garage — where we stored some valuable items — flooded. There were thousands of dollars' worth of damaged property.

We later learned that a pipe leak under the house was to blame. While our home insurance would help cover some of the damage, we were responsible for thousands of dollars in plumbing repairs. Paying that bill would've meant using money we needed to stay afloat and put food on the table.

So we delayed the repair, knowing that until it was fixed, we wouldn't have hot water. It felt like our own "Little House on the Prairie" moment.

To try to raise money for the repair, we started a GoFundMe campaign that, after some hesitation, I shared on LinkedIn. We raised a few hundred dollars, but it wasn't enough to cover the full cost.

Some companies seem to be looking for unicorn candidates

Eventually, I had a bit of luck. In January 2026 — about seven months after I began looking for work — I started a temporary, full-time contract role. I was finally able to save enough money to repair the hot water.

Because the position is temporary, I haven't stopped looking for work.

While my connections have helped me land some interviews, I've had to broaden my search beyond the companies where I have strong ties. At times, it feels like I'm either underqualified or overqualified for the roles I apply to. Some companies seem to be looking for unicorn candidates and would rather leave positions empty than hire someone.

I'm still applying and hoping something works out. At this point, I just need one opportunity.

Do you have a story to share about struggling to find work? Fill out this form, or contact this reporter via email at jzinkula@businessinsider.com, or via Signal at jzinkula.29.