I recently spent a month traveling abroad, and this, along with dissatisfaction with my unrewarding job, caused me to quit in order to travel for the next year. I plan on leaving in a month, but an ex-boss just told me that this would make me look irresponsible to potential employers. Do you think this is true or will employers view this as a growth experience? I have a strong educational background, but have not stayed at any company for more than two years in the past.

Traveling can be a wonderful experience for the young, old, college students, and people looking to explore and learn. It can also be an escape for people who are not responsible, don't really want to be, and find it difficult to figure out what they want to do with their lives, or what kind of work brings them satisfaction.

How is it that travel caused you to quit an unsatisfying and unrewarding job? I don't hear you saying you have to explore new cultures, languages, archeological digs, and art. Instead, you're saying, ''I don't want to be here anymore, and maybe being somewhere else will be better." Could this mindset be why you've had serial jobs?

You have a great opportunity to make the most of your time off and work on discovering what will provide high satisfaction for you on the job. You have a strong educational background -- let's develop a new career course for you. It all starts with self-assessment. What is it you love about travel? What is it you hated about the jobs you left? What lured you to the new opportunity?

There are many books -- new and old -- designed to help you find career bliss. ''What Color Is Your Parachute?" by Richard Bolles is the old standby, and I find ''Love Your Job: Loving the Job You Have, Finding a Job You Love" by Dr. Paul Powers, a fun, motivational read. Add these books to your backpack, along with a laptop to access the many websites devoted to career development.

Of course, I am biased about the value of working with an expert career consultant. You can contact the Association of Career Professionals International (www.acpinternational.org) to be referred to a practitioner in your area. The global organization has members in more than 30 countries who provide lifelong career related services. You could also call your college or university alumni office about career consulting services it offers. Whether or not you look irresponsible or not isn't really the issue at this point. Take the time now to figure out what you really want to do and what makes you happy in work or you may find yourself writing this letter again in a few more years.

Create a plan to help realize dream career

I am a certified elementary school teacher who chose to stay at home with children, who are now 12 and 13. I have completed master-level courses and have four to finish for a master's degree in reading. For the past several years as a single parent, I have worked in various school systems as a special needs aide. My certification expired in 2004 and money is tight. How can I finish my degree while supporting myself and children? Should I abandon my dream career and pursue a sales position?

Abandoning a dream career doesn't sound like a great idea. What does sound like a good idea is creating a very detailed financial, educational, and career plan geared to incorporate what you must do with what you want to do.

Investigate the status of your certification with the state. What do you need to do to get re-certified? Speak with co-workers and administrators at the schools where you have held positions. These will be the people assessing your qualifications for hire. Ask their advice regarding your next steps. Should you recertify in elementary education, or will the master's level course work in reading help you become certified in that specialty area?

The faculty members where you are completing your degree can be a great resource. Are you meeting with them to secure career advice? Have you asked them how to maximize your education and experience for the career goals you have? Have you asked them their advice on pursuing paid positions to enhance your employability when the course work is complete? As a student, you would be wise to seek the expertise of faculty members because they are often called by those looking to hire. Smart hiring managers go to the source, and great faculty members develop these relationships by introducing strong candidates for these jobs.

As far as pursuing a position in sales -- sales is not an afterthought career. If you are a great sales person, and want to use that skill to earn enough money to get you to another career, that might be a good plan. However, sales jobs are not easy to get, succeed at, or keep. If you don't have the skills or drive to succeed, this is not such a good plan. If you are a great sales person, you might think about how to combine your educational credentials with your sales skills, and sell to, or for, educational organizations. Career choices are seldom an either/or decision. The best decisions are almost always a blend of skills, values, and interests.

Be honest in interviews about stuttering

Can you please help a stuttering job hunter? I have three graduate degrees, an impressive background, and a speech impediment. It doesn't show when I am relaxed, but when I am nervous, I stutter. When I am interviewing, should I pretend nothing has happened? Should I mention it? I try to get around it with all the usual strategies (substitution, slowing down, etc.) and I don't have nervous ticks, but it's embarrassing. I am told I am very articulate, so stuttering stands out even more! I am not hampered in my job duties at my present employer, where almost all of my work is carried out by phone. But you can imagine that I'd do anything in the world to avoid phone interviews where people don't know me. And I am awfully glad I get to send this via e-mail rather than on a call-in job-hunting show.

Tiger Woods, Carly Simon, James Earl Jones, and Winston Churchill, in addition to many other talented, high-profile people can relate to your situation. All have dealt with stuttering at different times in their lives.

According to the Stuttering Foundation of America, a job interview is perhaps the single most difficult speaking situation people who stutter will encounter. Stuttering in the interview is also not indicative of how that person would speak on the job. But you know that. Stuttering is a communications disorder that interferes with fluency, with many contributing causes and many successful approaches for treatment.

Getting accurate information to people who stutter, their families, and employers is part of the mission of the foundation, and it offers a brochure, ''Answers for Employers," in addition to referral resources. You can visit the foundation website at www.stutteringhelp.org or call the US hotline at 800-992-9392.

As a job seeker, the foundation advises you to be honest with employers and potential employers about your speaking abilities. When interviewing in person, or over the phone, pretending nothing has happened hinders the open communication needed to find the right job, the right role, and to make sure both employer and employee know what is needed for excellent job performance.

Unfortunately, there may be risks to raising the issue of stuttering and its potential effect on the job. But many people who stutter say the pressure of trying to hide their stuttering is way worse than admitting the situation. Jane H. Fraser, the president of the Stuttering Foundation, advises job seekers to acknowledge the situation as early as possible in the interviewing portion of the job search.

Many have told her that, ''as soon as I tell my listener that I stutter, my stuttering is lessened and we are both more prepared to focus on the content of the conversation, not the speech pattern itself." Fraser also suggests candidates bring a copy of the Answers for Employers brochure, which may help to make the interviewer more at ease with a person who stutters. Anything the candidate can do to put the listener at ease can benefit both participants.

Using members of your network to introduce you, with a very supportive statement about your stuttering, and the fact that there was no effect on your excellent performance, can also make initial conversations easier for all involved.

E-mail questions to jobdoc@globe.com or mail to Job Doc, The Boston Globe, P.O. Box 55819, Boston, MA 02205-5819. Elaine Varelas has more than 20 years of career development and consulting experience and is managing partner at Keystone Partners, a career management firm headquartered in Boston.