Hello Mustachians! I am looking for comments and advice on two subjects: (1) Have you been stuck in underemployment, and if so, how long/how did you get out? and (2) Should I go back to school for a passion? If so, should I finance it through a student loan or just keep trying for a job in my current field?
UNDEREMPLOYMENT & MY FALLBACK:
I have been stuck in retail (occasionally supplemented by seasonal or temp jobs in my field) since I graduated in Dec. 2013 with a Bachelors in Accounting, 6 semester hours away from being able to sit for the CPA exam in Tennessee. It's been difficult to piecemeal together experience like that, not to mention my income is very low (I filed taxes this year with an AGI of less than $14,000, which was a combination of seasonal and retail income).
My current job is tax prep. through an H&R Block franchise that will turn into bookkeeping throughout the year. My payrate is $12/hr and I'm guaranteed 30 hours until April 15th, after which they don't guarantee my hours.
MY PASSION:
Originally, I wanted to go into counseling/therapy and helping people (psychology/social work), but I was discouraged by a lot of people about my job prospects, so I went into something I felt would be a good career so that I could pay my way through the education I needed for the field I wanted and have the experience for a good fallback, but so far, it's been a lot of unanswered applications and just seasonal work. I'm the first one in my family to go to college and I don't really have any mentors to go to.
I feel like I'm jumping through a lot of hoops for a prize that someone else said was better than the one I wanted to go for in the first place (don't mistake this for my attitude in the workplace; I am a very naturally upbeat person and I try my best to do a good job and be especially friendly whether I'm shoveling shit or cashiering, which anyone in retail can tell you, isn't always mutually exclusive ;) ).
Part of me honestly wants to just go back to school and get into what I wanted in the first place because, at the very least, I'd be working my ass off toward a passion rather than a fallback. (My only student loan is less than $8,300; I got by on merit scholarships, pell grants, and extreme poverty).
What do you guys think? Advice, experience, face-punches?