“My dad never sat me down and said ‘I want you to be a nurse,’ ” said Stephen Palmer, R.N., the coordinator of Lehigh Valley Hospital ’s MI Alert Program, which provides rapid treatment of serious heart attacks.

But careers that you or your parents never imagined may be just those that turn out to be the most satisfying. Five panelists in careers non-traditional for their gender (25% or fewer participants) described sometimes indirect but nonetheless fortuitous paths to jobs they love.

Palmer (pictured left) had an associate degree in business administration and had worked in sales for ten years when he realized he was discontented. He knew that what he really wanted to do was help people and that there was a nursing shortage. Beginning with an associate degree in nursing from NCC, he went on to care for patients at Lehigh Valley Hospital, an affiliation he holds to this day. In the blue hospital scrubs he wears to work, Palmer described a rewarding career, from emergency rooms to cardiac catheterization labs to his present heart-saving position.

Becoming an air traffic controller never crossed Patricia Stanton’s mind, when she was young; no one among her family, friends or teachers ever thought of it. Then, after working for twenty-five years for the federal government, she discovered an opportunity to take the air traffic controller test. “You may never get this chance again,” her mother said. Stanton recognized that she didn’t want to go through life wondering “what if?” Now, twenty years later, she enjoys using her knowledge of radio, weather and air traffic regulations to keep aircraft on safe journeys.

Donna Posivak’s mother instilled a drive for education. Chief technology officer for Northampton Community College, Posivak grew up hearing her mother stress the importance of being able to take care of herself. Her father encouraged engineering, but Posivak found data processing irresistible. Step by step, she completed associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Sharon Sheirer (pictured left), senior vice-president/project manager of Bucks Development Company, had her family’s hopes invested in her as the family’s first member to attend college. She earned a bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation education from Kutztown University and a master’s degree in counseling from Kutztown University. At every stage of her career, however, the thinking skills she learned in college, counted for more than any specific major. Later, when she entered her family’s business, her broad education proved indispensable.

For Natalie Sobrinski (pictured right), an engineer at Lehigh Valley Engineering, admittance to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst was foremost. Thinking to bolster her chances, she enrolled in a non-traditional field, engineering. Not long out of school, she thoroughly enjoys her profession. “Engineering offers so many opportunities,” she said. “You can have a fast-paced job or one that is more relaxed. It is a very broad field.”

Did the panelists encounter career obstacles based on their gender? Stanton credited the women who came before, who coped with harassment and skepticism, as paving an easier way for her and other female air traffic controllers. Still, it isn’t always simple. “As women, we feel we have to be better,” Stanton says. “But it is good for you professionally to have that higher bar to work at.”

To Palmer, there were no obstacles, just a sense of being different from his mostly female counterparts. “We [male nurses] felt we were under a different microscope, that we had to try harder at first,” he said. The media, he feels, sometimes stereotypes male nurses. “In the movie Meet the Parents, the main character, a male nurse, only received validation when he revealed he had passed his medical school entrance exams,” Palmer said.

Sobrinski said she has never received unequal treatment.

Posivak noted that the persisting perception of females as primary caregivers makes career progression difficult for women. Unlike women, men are not expected to take a hiatus to raise children or to juggle child-rearing, education and careers. And men tend to get heard more often.

When they are heard, they are frequently misunderstood, Scheirer said. As a human resources manager, Scheirer found herself described as “too aggressive,” a depiction rarely applied to a man.

How can a non-traditional career-seeker win a respected place in their profession? The panelists offered tips. Posivak said success depends on inner confidence. “You must have a sense of well-being and know what you want.” Scheirer never pretends she knows something when she doesn’t. Asking questions of her co-workers has earned her their esteem.

Likewise, Sobrinski is comfortable in her own skin. “When I walk onto a bus full of men going to a conference, I project the self-assurance that I deserve to be there,” Sobrinski said.

All the panelists recommended finding supportive networks, be it through professional associations, co-workers or mentors you actively seek.

All find joy in their careers and encouraged their listeners to pursue occupations that make them happy.

The event was sponsored by the College’s New Choices/New Options program. The program offers classes for homemakers reentering the job market, single parents and adults interested in non-traditional careers.