My resume looks quite different from others who were career educators. My first job was in a private special needs school for boys and then I worked in 7 different school districts, in 2 states. In my second to last district, I had 3 different jobs, one in a middle school, and one in an elementary school, where I was able to make the transition from special ed to teaching Language Arts. I was in my last district for 8 years, my longest employment, ever. It actually was 8.5, since I went back for half a year, as a long term sub after I quit.
I am now in my first job in my new career as a therapist. I didn't count my 2 clinical internships, which, although they were not paid, they felt like real jobs, especially last year. I also didn't count my student teaching or my master's internship for my first grad. degree.
Only one of these job changes was because I was laid off (I was hired back, but already had another job). They were all because I had gone back to school, moved, or wanted a job closer to home/better in terms of support.
I also was a group exercise instructor at 3 different places in 2 states between 1986 and 1996, and I've been a bike trip leader (volunteer) for AMC since 2005.