Recent teacher shortages have led teacher preparation programs to more actively recruit postbaccalaureate students into teaching. The purpose of this exploratory study was to gain useful recruitment information by investigating why postbaccalaureate students are interested in teaching as a new career. A survey was constructed based on interview data obtained from two focus group discussions. Survey results indicated that low salary and concerns about their ability to teach were reasons the participants did not originally pursue teaching. Prospective elementary and secondary respondents indicated a desire to make a difference in children's lives as the reason for wanting to teach. Prospective secondary teachers indicated that working with their content specialty was an important consideration in pursuing teacher certification. This exploratory study has potential implications for recruiting undergraduate and graduate students into teacher education and how to better serve postbaccalaureate students seeking teaching licensure. (Contains 4 tables.)