Tired of 80-hour work weeks during financial planning season and ready for a family-friendly career after a stint as a stay-at-home mom, Julia Moak set out to become a public school teacher.

But she soon discovered that what sounded easy was anything but in the real world of red-tape bureaucracy. Moak signed up for master's-level courses for certification, took a job as an elementary school aide and tutor and began rounds of job interviews -- but a full-time job remained out of reach.

''I was stumped on how to do it, how to get all the training,'' said Moak, 44, a former financial director for major insurance and healthcare firms.

Then, in early 2005, she learned of Miami Teaching Fellows, the local version of a national program that helps professionals like Moak switch careers and become public school teachers, often in the neediest communities.

Moak applied, survived the rigorous screening and became one of Miami Teaching Fellows' inaugural class of 50 this past school year.

A second-grade special education teacher at Miami Heights Elementary, Moak was part of an eclectic group that included a doctor, an international banker, a police officer, a recent college graduate and a volunteer in Colombian orphanages. They shared at least one thing: little or no formal classroom experience but ''a call to do something purposeful,'' Moak said.

''These teaching fellows want to make a difference,'' said program manager Christina Counselman. ``Many of them are from the area, and they want to give back to their community.''

Miami Teaching Fellows is one of more than 40 programs set up by the New Teacher Project, a 9-year-old national nonprofit that has partnered with school districts to recruit, certify and help place some 20,000 new teachers.

Like other New Teacher Project programs, Miami Teaching Fellows fashions itself as something of a bridge, helping professionals cross the certification and training barriers that can deter qualified community members from attempting to become educators.

But just having work experience is no guarantee, and Miami Teaching Fellows uses rounds of interviews to weed out applicants who want to teach because they believe it's a cushy job, Counselman said.

The program accepted fewer than 5 percent of applicants last year; going into its second year, it has received 1,389 applications -- of which it will select just 50.

''We look for that extra something -- the dedication to be a teacher,'' Counselman said.

Such aggressive recruiting and screening is central to Miami Teaching Fellows' goal: to place high-quality teachers in local public schools -- and retain them. ''We really want to find people who will stay here for years to come,'' Counselman said.

Retention begins with proper training. The summer before they start, the teaching fellows are put through five weeks of intensive training, including stints teaching summer school.

Then they assume jobs -- for which they have applied on their own -- in English, math, science, special education and elementary education. Their pay and benefits packages match those of other new teachers in the Miami-Dade school system, but even for professionals taking a pay cut to teach, ''it's really not about the money in the end,'' Counselman said.

Said Moak, mother of a 6- and 4-year-old: ``It's a better balance. You make less money, but what good is a [high-paying job] if you don't have time to spend it?''

William Cortezia, 31, walked away from a lucrative job in international banking to find fulfillment in education. A member of Miami Teaching Fellows' inaugural class, he teaches special ed at Thomas Jefferson Middle.

While pursuing a master's degree at Central Michigan University, he wanted to apply the academic theories in a practical setting. Public school teaching seemed the right fit, even while friends shook their heads and said, ``Are you sure you want to do that?''

He did. ''We chose to be teachers,'' he said of the teaching fellows. ``We understand that, and I think that brings a different look. We're mixing the best of both worlds.''

As an international banker, Cortezia would move millions of dollars around the world -- but most transactions were reversible if he made a mistake. ''If you make a mistake with a child,'' he said, ``there's no do-over.''