Try it out

Always wanted to be a TV producer or work with horses? An Oregon-based company helps people live their dream jobs

By Jimmy Mincin, jmincin@altoonamirror.com
Most everybody’s had a workday miserable enough to warrant reflection on a different career path. Now there’s something they can do about it.

Vocation Vacations, a 4-year-old company based in Portland, Ore., gives people 18 and older the opportunity to test-drive new jobs. Creating temporary mentor/apprenticeship experiences, it enlists professionals from a variety of fields — from winemakers and dude ranch owners to architects and song composers — and pairs them with people who fantasize about leaving their jobs and spending a few days in a profession they thought was beyond their reach.

‘‘I think a lot of baby boomers retiring might be attracted to something like this,’’ Joe Hurd, executive director at Blair County Chamber of Commerce, said. ‘‘They may be looking back over their shoulders at professions they’ve always been attracted to — dreams they used to have.’’

Other options when exploring careers is to speak with people who work in different professions, retired business people, college career placement offices and alumni associations, according to area professionals.

When Sandy Huddle’s father passed away, she dropped out of college and worked as a claims representative at an insurance company. During the next 20 years, she found room for advancement at the company, but the more she heard about its dreams and goals, the more she reflected on her own dream of being a TV producer.

‘‘For me, (VocationVacations) was a life-altering event — it reignited my passion,” she said. ‘‘It’s what I would’ve done had circumstances been different in my life.”

Huddle, 45, of Philadelphia discovered VocationVacations in September 2005 through a TV advertisement, she said. After a few days of hesitation, she made the call and booked the trip.

The company sent Huddle to Brave Street Productions in New York City, where she received hands-on training as a TV producer. During a two-day period, she reviewed casting tapes, attended production meetings and watched the production company pitch an organic chef to a network.

‘‘I wasn’t expecting it to change my life, but at the end of the two days, it was like putting the period at the end of a sentence — I could say, ‘I’ve done it,’” she said. ‘‘It gave me an opportunity to make an informed decision about my future without having to uproot my life.”

Huddle, still a full-time claims representative, continues to pursue her dream job by attending the Art Institute of Philadel-phia. She is one of about 500 people who’ve sampled dream jobs at VocationVacations since the company opened in 2004.

Founder and president, Brian Kurth, cites Americans’ growing disenchantment with their jobs as a major reason why they are sampling dream jobs.

‘‘They really are pursuing a better sense of happiness,” he said. ‘‘They’re fed up working in a cubicle, and working so many hours. The theater of the unknown is starting to look less fearsome, and their current state of unhappiness has become greater than that fear.”

And unhappiness was what inspired Kurth, 41, of Oregon to start Voca-tionVacations in the first place. He said the idea came to him in 1999 when he was stuck in traffic on Chicago’s Kennedy Express-way. He was working at former regional phone company Ameritech as director of product management and feeling, as he said, like the comic strip cubicle dweller Dilbert.

‘‘I wanted to be my own customer,” he said. ‘‘I wanted to see what it would be like to be a dog trainer or a wine maker. I did some research, found there wasn’t a company that could help with that, and so I said, ‘Why not create one?’’’

Kurth’s privately held company offers about 200 career ‘‘experiences’’ across the U.S. and United Kingdom lasting from one to several days, with career coaching sessions before and after, he said.

Prices start at about $400 (transportation and lodging are extra), and range up to three days with a top Los Angeles wedding planner ($1,999) and two days with Gwen Stefani’s music-video choreographer ($1,399). The most popular choices are entertainment, sports, culinary, fashion and animal-related occupations.

Although there is no typical age for Vocationers, Kurth said most are between 35 and 60.

‘‘Something like this could help people realize they are happy with what they have, or that they are too discontented to continue and need to break out of their bubble,’’ said Bobbi Dixon, regional manager at Advantage Resource Group, Altoona. ‘‘Either way, it can be a positive experience. It’s an opportunity to reach for your dreams — or you may regret it the rest of your life.’’

To date, VocationVacations has doubled its number of expert mentors to 500, according to its official Web site, www.vocationvacation.com. There are another 40 to 50 new dream job possibilities in the works such as a Broadway producer, meteorologist, and zookeeper.

And for some, it makes perfect sense.

‘‘My guess is that (VocationVacations) is for people like me who are looking at their lives and realizing that something’s amiss — and seeing that it may be tied in to the work we do,î Huddle said. ‘‘It’s the more logical perspective to quitting your job, moving off to Tahiti and selling umbrellas.’’

Mirror staff writer Jimmy Mincin is at 946-7460.