If you would like personalized assistance, please contact the CDC for an individual appointment, or stop by during drop-in hours Monday through Friday between 2 P.M. and 4 P.M.
|
|
Alumni: Changing Careers
Are you thinking about making a change in how you approach work in your life? You are not alone! Changing one's career can mean a lot of things - from changing your career path (for example, from a technical to a management career track) to a radical career reversal (changing your career from accounting to counseling).
Changing careers is simply part of the natural progression of one's life. When researchers tell us that most people will have multiple careers throughout their lives, it makes perfect sense.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Ask yourself the following questions. Use your answers to guide your actions.
- Am I looking for a career or a job?
- Why am I moved to make a change now?
- How did I select this career originally? Did I make an intentional choice based on my abilities, interests, and research - or did I slide into it, maybe through default or someone else's influence?
- What is the major problem with my current career?
- Do I have enough information about myself and the world of work to make intelligent choices?
- Do I want to make a career change out of necessity or desire?
- Do I have control over other critical issues in my life - personal, financial, physical? Is it possible I am really faced with long-standing personal problems rather than career issues directly?
- Are my personal issues spilling into my career, or have I worked through any personal problems and have realized my old career was selected for a "previous self" that is no longer appropriate?
- Am I looking for a new career as part of the progression of where I am in my life (for example, to accommodate family needs, to prepare for retirement)?
- Do I expect a quick fix?
- Am I willing to devote real time and effort to the process of making a career change?
What to Expect
Work is more than just what we do to earn money - in our society work plays a crucial role in who we are. Work gives us a sense of order in our lives, and influences our identity and our self-esteem. The rewards we reap from work are more than monetary. Work provides us with a way to affiliate with others, to achieve status in society and groups, to establish a lifestyle for ourselves and our families. When you think about it, your career is one of the biggest personal and financial investments that you will ever make.
Most people who begin to think about career change find they have conflicting emotions. On the one hand, they are exhilarated at the prospects of new horizons, and the opportunity to fulfill goals that are important to them. On the other hand, even if they are happy at the prospect of a new career, they can feel sad, scared or even guilty at the prospect of leaving their former selves behind. When you consider all that work means to us, it is understandable that one might feel confused or even overwhelmed.
Who Changes Careers Anyway?
In today's world, each individual is in charge of his or her career. We must all be aware of our external and internal situations, and be prepared to modify our career direction when needed. Depending on age and situation, your career needs differ.
- Very Recent Graduates
First time career seekers need lots of information - on themselves and on the world of work. Time needs to be spent considering your skills, interests, needs and your motivations. For example, challenge and the chance to prove oneself are often strong motivators in one's first career. Long hours, frequent travel or relocation, and high intensity positions may acceptable and even desirable to very recent graduates. It can be a heady and exciting time. Within this context, you also need to do research and gain experience on the world of work and what choices are available to you based on your interests and skills. Identifying your initial goals and values can help point out potentially compatible fields.
- Young Adult, Early-Career
This age group often begins to question how they view the work they are in. Some people wonder if they are really in the career they want, or did they fall into it by default. Others want to know what other options might exist, and some conclude they dislike what they are doing and are anxious to find other choices. You will sometimes ask "Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life?" or "I don't want to do this forever, but I how to find something that will be fulfilling?" As this age group begins to shift its focus to family issues, career issues for men and women can become even more muddy.
- Mid-life, Mid-Career
This age group begins to realize that there are certain things you do well and prefer to do, and while there may be other options, one does not always pursue them for a variety of reasons. If you have achieved many of your career goals, your career issues may take on a more personal slant - "How can I do something worthwhile with my remaining career?" Those who have not achieved some degree of career satisfaction may seek a significant career shift to get more of what they need from their work life. Sometimes there is no particular focus or future direction - but there is a strong need to escape your present situation.
- Later-Career
As people progress to their later 40s and 50s, they may begin to merge their work and their personal interest needs. For example, they want to use a piece of their education that they never fully developed, or they seek to incorporate a volunteer aspect of their lives into paid work. "Early out" retirement plans are often attractive to this group, particularly when you want to change your career direction. As this group's children complete college and are on their own, they sometimes find more freedom in their career choices, or choose to increase their risk-taking in their career choices.
- Retirees
Today's retirees typically no longer retire from their jobs - they retire to something new. Not working is often neither financially nor emotionally attractive. As the baby-boomer generation moves toward retirement, we can expect a metamorphosis in what we consider to be "typical" retiree behaviors. Many retirees will need to continue to earn money to augment their savings, and working full or part-time in a career you choose for your own reasons - and yours alone - may be the best prescription for happiness and longevity.
How Long Will This Take?
Undergraduate students have occasionally popped into this career advisor's office and said "I only have 10 minutes before my class but I have a really quick question - what should I do with the rest of my life?" You probably chuckled when you read that sentence - but how much time do you think it take to make an intentional career change? The answer is - it depends. Career change is a lot like redecorating your home: are you painting the walls or are you putting on an addition? Sometimes there are unforeseen challenges - plumbing or wiring behind walls that must be rerouted or upgraded. The Questions to Ask Yourself section reflects this variability; the Web Resources section includes several surveys that also will help you identify the factors prompting your career change, which in turn will help you gauge the level of effort you will need to apply to your change. "The Career Chase" by Helen Harkness identifies five levels of career change, which are described below. Take some time to consider which one/s would be helpful in addressing your motivating reasons for a career change:
- Radical Career Reversal
A total career overhaul. Usually means retraining and reeducation because additional skills and content are needed. Although the retraining sounds like the hardest part - often the switch in environment and culture can be the trickiest aspect. Even when the new career is a good fit, coming to terms with the changes in status, affiliation and activities requires time and thought. Examples include moving from law to teaching; accounting to psychologist, sales to career advising.
- Changing Specialties Within a Field
This is staying in the same general career but making a significant shift that changes your career within your occupation. For example, a lawyer who moves from patent law to mediation; a teacher who moves into administration; a financial officer who moves into corporate communications. The key aspect of this change is that the overall environment stays the same (business) but the role changes (from finance to marketing).
- Changing Environments
This change involves radical environmental change while maintaining the same technical skills. For example, a public school teacher who goes into corporate training; an independent consultant who takes a position as an employee in the same field. Changing your surroundings is sometimes to key to resolving your career unrest.
- Becoming An Entrepreneur
This means starting your own business. It can also mean becoming an independent contractor or consultant. Many "early out" and "retirees" do this when they buy a franchise to run for a "final" career.
- Changing Your Career Path
This could be vertical or lateral moves within your organization. Sometimes it includes redefining the job - adding or removing tasks, modifying how it is done. This can include realigning what you do - maybe moving down a notch to achieve a particular goal, or changing jobs within your company to get to a different kind of work setting. Sometimes when people analyze their career unrest, they realize they don't need a new career, they need to change the nature of their job. This kind of career "tweaking" often helps to resolve career angst.
The time it takes to make your career change will vary depending on your personal situation and the kind of career change that you choose to make. It is safe to say you won't complete it in two weeks (We recall the client who said --- "I'm leaving to move to California in two weeks so that's how long I have to decide on a new career.") Each person's path is different. You will never be done unless you begin. We invite you to get started.
What to Do
Don't Just Do Something - Sit There!
Today life moves faster than ever before. We are socialized by email, internet, phone and fax to identify immediate issues and take immediate action. You may be feeling that you should redo your resume and start sending out print and electronic copies right away. We urge you instead to take some time to get your internal bearings before you start taking external action. The "ready, fire, aim" approach may feel good in the short term, but usually doesn't pay off over the long haul. As one client, who jumped to a new career without a lot of thought, said later: "I realize now that I was just running away from where I was instead of running toward what I wanted."
Sometimes in a time of downsizing, you may not have the luxury to think through the "ideal" position you'd like to find. However, it is important to think about why you wish to change your present career or position or what you might do if unforeseen change is thrust upon you. Before you begin the career change process, take some time to consider your underlying reasons for wanting a change, address and personal, physical or financial issues that may impede your ability to successfully take on a career change.
What are the Steps in Career Change?
There are four primary stages in planning and executing a career change. Check the books, web resources, and advising sections for more in-depth information on doing these steps. The stages are:
- Self-Exploration
This critical step looks inward to discover your values, your goals, your interests, skills and experience. Taking the time to complete this step will help you develop the criteria you will use to select your new career, and give you insight on what you want to offer that you enjoy doing and do well. Most of us want to go directly to the part where you write a resume - but in our view 70% of the important work of career change is done in this step.
- Career Exploration
Did you know that most people pick their careers based on what their relatives do and - we are not making this up - TV? What a way to pick a life. This step builds on self-exploration by researching and identifying career fields and occupations that match your values, goals, and offered skills and experiences. Taking the time to research 4-7 possible careers or even more using print, internet and in-person interviews is an important step in getting the real picture of what you can expect from a new career field in terms of content, environment, compensation, future trends and potential for fulfillment. (What - you mean all law firms are not like Ally McBeal?)
- Career Focus
In this stage, you evaluate the data you have collected on yourself and on the world of work and come to some conclusions. Clients typically chart a long-term life plan which includes career elements, a personal mission, and achieve greater understanding of the options they have available.
- Strategy and Action Plan
This is the phase you wanted to jump to before you had any idea of what you would do for a new career! Based on your life plan and the personal and career information you have researched, in this stage you create your career and job search strategies, then develop and implement your action plan to achieve your future vision, your personal mission and your new career direction.
Many people have embarked on their new career journey with no more help than some handouts or a book. Many people prefer to have a career advisor to serve as a sounding board or "trail guide" along the way.
Books
This section includes a selection of books on job searches, Please let us know your suggestions to add to our recommended list. In addition to your local bookstore or Internet site, your public library or neighboring college may also have resources you can use for these or other books related to finding a job.
- Career Change: Everything You Need to Know to Meet New Challenges and Take Control of Your Career by David P. Helfand.
- The Career Chase: Taking Creative Control in a Chaotic Age by Helen Harkness.
- Change Your Job, Change Your Life: High Impact Strategies for Finding Great Jobs in the Decade Ahead (Change Your Job Change Your Life, 7th Ed) by Ronald L. Krannich.
- Do What You Are by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger.
- From Work to Retirement by Marion E. Haynes.
- I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was by Barbara Sher.
- It's Only Too Late If You Don't Start Now : How to Create Your Second Life at Any Age by Barbara Sher.
- The Lawyer's Career Change Handbook: More Than 300 Things You Can Do With a Law Degree by Hindi Greenberg.
- The Pathfinder: How To Choose or Change Your Career For a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success by Nicholas Lore.
- Starting Out, Starting Over by Linda Peterson.
- What Can You Do With a Law Degree?: A Lawyers' Guide to Career Alternatives Inside, Outside & Around the Law by Deborah Arron.
- Work With Passion by Nancy Anderson.
Web Resources
This section includes weblinks specifically oriented toward the job search. Do you have sites that have been helpful to you?
* Special thanks to University of Virginia Alumni Association for allowing us to reference their work.
|
|
