Take your next career for a test drive while on vacation

Wonder what it would be like to trade your laptop for a storefront with your name on it? No more carpal tunnel, but can you handle bitchy customers, crazy retail hours and late deliveries?

Now you can check out that dream job without actually jumping headfirst into unknown territory. Thanks to an VocationVaction NoticeOregon Company, VocationVacations, you can get an insider peek at another career while on vacation from your current one.

Brian Kurth, 41, founded VocationVacations in 2003, when a pink slip left him without a job and no idea what to do with the rest of his life. Unsure what direction to turn next, he started to talking to everyone he knew. He asked them about their career hopes, regrets, frustrations.

"I found lots of well-off people who were embarrassed about their careers," he said in a CNN interview. "Scratch the surface, and you'd get the real story: 'I'm a lawyer, but I've always wanted to be X' -- invariably, it was some passion left over from childhood."

VocationVacations boasts more than 300 mentor companies who take job-shadowers under their wings for a few days at a time. Mentorships run the gamut from animal therapists to music producers to race car pit driver and cost anywhere from $600 to $2,000 for the experience. Lodging, food and travel expenses are extra but coaching and career assessment are included.

Kurth says only a quarter of "vocationers" actually make a career switch. But finding out your dream job was a pipe dream can be a good thing and help you realistically refocus your career goals.

"We're not anti-corporate America," he said. "We're pro-taking your life back, and that means considering those intangible payoffs that are about lifestyle, not money. Work shouldn't be a four-letter word."

Job got you down? Ready for a vacation? Maybe it's time to stop spinning your wheels and find something fun to do with the rest of your life.

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