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Is your goal to make "X" amount of money? Is your goal to work closer to home? To have a job with more responsibilities? To learn this or that element that might help you enter another field? To have a positive impact on your community? To make the transition from the nonprofit sector to commercial business? To use a special talent that you have?

And you can't answer "yes" to ALL the above.

Pick one. Prioritize the others but focus on your number one long term goal.

Your present low income can be a job search advantage and can truly help you work your plan. Your strategy is to make a move without losing money--at least until you establish yourself in your new setting. The first move, from where you are now, is RUNG # 1 on the ladder to where you decide you are going.

Helping you think through these issues and coming up with a plan is the specialty of Career Centers and career counselors. There are books that will help you begin, too. Some of Electra's favorites are:

For learning more about what you want to do:

• What Color is Your Parachute? Richard Bolles. Ten Speed Press. (Now features a new chapter on job hunting on the Internet.)
• I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was. Barbara Sher. Dell Trade Paperback.

• The Slam and the Scream: And Other Powerful Strategies for Secretaries, Assistants, and Anyone Else who has had Enough. Carole Fungaroli. Noonday Press.
  [Electra loved this book--couldn't put it down. Gritty, in your face career advice for the under-appreciated and over-talented...which includes almost everyone, doesn't it?]
• From Secretary to Fast Track: The Get Ahead Guide for Administrative Assistants, Secretaries, Office Managers, Receptionists and Everyone who Wants More. Ken Lizotte and Barbara Litwak. AMACOM.

Here are some job ad sites on the World Wide Web that contain administrative, clerical, secretarial jobs. As you look at the ads, take notes about "what turns you on" (even if you don't have the skills or experience, even if the job is 2 hours drive away.) Once you know where you want to BE, you're halfway to getting there: you simply have to plan how to do it.

• Northern California Job Banks
  Los Angeles Area Job Banks
  San Diego Area Job Banks
  Sacramento Area Job Banks

• Northern California Newspapers with Online Classifieds
  Los Angeles Area Newspapers with Online Classifieds
  San Diego Area Newspapers with Online Classifieds
  Sacramento Area Newspapers with Online Classifieds

  Search newspaper classifieds by keyword. Be creative! Search for the name of a software program you're a whiz at. Or, if you like making travel arrangements, search for "travel" to find job ads that include those duties. If you want to work for a company vice-president, search for "vice president." Be prepared to spend some time and look in all the nooks & crannies.

• If you want to stay in the nonprofit sector, check out Opportunity Knocks, a MAJOR source of nonprofit job ads in Northern California and Sacramento.

• Explore some of the Mega-Sites for Job Listings
  These job ads come from all over the US (and sometimes the planet.) But you might spot a title, employer or setting that either "fits" or that "turns you on" so you know more about what to look for in California.

• Start making a list of companies that appeal to you. Find their WWW home page (where job openings may be listed) or their Job Hotline. Check the home page or the hotline on a regular basis.