Museum job a dream for a nonlinear thinker
Each month ``Transitions" profiles an individual who has made significant changes in her or his work life and highlights the techniques used to make the changes.
WORCESTER -- When Betsy Loring shows up for work at 7:30 each morning at the 60-acre EcoTarium campus in Worcester, she knows she's in the right place.
``This is absolutely the dream," Loring said. ``I get to do research, writing, model-making, drawing, drilling, painting, buying -- you name it. It's impossible to get bored," she said. ``Exhausted, yes, but never bored."
As manager of exhibits and collections for EcoTarium, the nation's second-oldest natural science museum and Worcester's main science center, Loring oversees the development of exhibits.
She thrives on the variety of the work and what it requires of her. ``I am not a linear thinker," Loring said, ``something that is finally an asset at my work."
But finding her dream job was not an easy road for Loring, who spent years searching for work that tapped into her unique array of intellectual assets.
Signs of Loring's unusual blend of attributes go back to her childhood. When her uneven record in school led her to be tested, she scored low on standard logic components but extremely high on visualization and mechanical skills. Feeling that her talents were not being properly recognized, her family moved her out of public high school to Concord Academy.
After graduating, Loring headed west to Stanford University, where she earned her degree in human biology, a program she loved because of its multidisciplinary approach. ``We approached problems from a variety of angles," Loring recalled.
Loring also recalled being interested in animals -- she ``wanted to be Jane Goodall," the famous primate scientist. She even took a ``lowly scut job" at college to help care for some of Goodall's chimps housed nearby .
After graduation, she hired on at a San Diego firm in solid waste management that was attracted by her cross-disciplinary program at Stanford. Loring stuck with the field when she moved back east to Massachusetts, becoming recycling director for the state. She later moved to coordinate composting programs for the state of Rhode Island.
Along the way, Loring was married and had two children. After 10 years in the full-time workforce, she dropped out to spend more time with her young family. But she did not stop working . During that time she made jewelry and other handcrafts, which she sold at craft shows and out of her home. ``I needed to support my bead habit," Loring recalled.
But like many mothers, as her children grew older, she considered resuming work full time. But, what to do, and how to do it?
Returning to her former field did not appeal to Loring. Though it had both educational and environmental components, there was ``no creativity in it," she said. ``Without the creative end, there had always been something vaguely not satisfying in my work."
Her interest in making things with her hands was also apparent. In addition to jewelry, for years she had drawn raves for her innovative children's Halloween costumes, sending out one child dressed as the kitchen sink one year, the ocean the next.
Other parents always commented on them, Loring said. ``Yeah, thanks. But how do I get paid for that?" she'd say .
When Loring consulted a career counselor during this period, she rated very highly in three areas of the strong-interest survey: creativity, science, and education. ``It was helpful to see this reflected back to me," she said.
While mulling her options, Loring saw a friend's name in the paper in connection with the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Boston Nature Center.
``I had always had an interest in the informal end of education, not being in front of a classroom of 25 kids," Loring said. She made contact with the center and landed a volunteer position. Within a short time Loring had worked her way up to outreach and volunteer coordinator. ``I have a tendency to show up at places and volunteer, part-time, and it often blossoms into something," Loring said.
But it was there, working with an exhibit designer and seeing what he did to bring exhibits to life, that Loring had her epiphany. ``I want your job," she said to the designer. ``How do I get it?"
With museum exhibit work set firmly in her sights, Loring set about forging a path to her goal. She researched graduate programs in museum management but decided against them -- too costly, too much time, and not ``real-world" enough -- and instead plunked down $200 on books on the museum profession.
She also joined a local organization for museum professionals, the Visitors Studies Association, to learn more and to meet individuals who worked in the field.
It was a good move. She soon learned of an internship at the Museum of Science on a project for a new permanent exhibit on birds. She jumped at the opportunity, again taking an unpaid position with a larger goal in mind.
``Internships are the cheapest grad school," Loring said. ``They are both resume items and experience builders."
She moved to the EcoTarium in 2003 on a grant-funded research project, which later turned into her full-time position .
Loring loves the project-oriented nature of her work. ``My career issue is that I am always attracted to projects, not jobs," she observed. ``I am very much a start-up person. I want to be part of the team that builds the engine, not runs it."
Her income is about the same as her last full-time post in waste management, in the low-$30,000 range. Loring, who divorced around the time she received the job, said she also receives child support from her former husband that is critical.
Loring feels that her work finally pulls all the pieces together. ``If you look back at my career, I was always looking for an entry point to the right field," she said.``I finally found it in my 40s."
If you have a career transition story you would be willing to share, please send e-mail to transitions@bostonworks.com. Please include your name, phone number, and a brief description of your career change. 
