Switching Careers: Starting over again by helping others

The employment picture may be brightening. The Department of Labor recently reported that job openings rose in January. Indeed.com, a jobs search engine, is seeing a similar rise, with job postings increasing in certain industries.

"Of the 12 major industries that we track, 10 of those had more jobs in February than a year ago," Indeed co-founder and chief technology officer Rony Kahan tells WalletPop. "Hospitality stands out with 44% more jobs advertised in February than a year ago. Other strong industries are real estate and retail, both of which have bounced back. Compared to other industries, health care never did badly. It is less cyclical and didn't turn down in the ways many of the other industries did. These numbers are a leading indicator of what we are going to see from broader sources of data."

Health care's recession-proof reputation is what drew Karla Anderson, pictured at right, to retrain after years of being a massage therapist. Angelique LeDoux left journalism to become a retailer of green children's toys. Both share their stories of re-inventing themselves this month.