Looking Before You Leap Into New Field Can Result in a Better Job Match
Finding a fulfilling new career can be a long process that has to begin with serious self-examination. Then it demands extensive research, and patience.
Kathy Williams, 44, is just finding this out. For the last 10 years, she’s been doing administrative and legal work.
Though she’s proven her competence, she knows there’s something that would bring her more happiness: a job that would better utilize her writing skills. Some possibilities she’s considering are freelance journalism, marketing, public relations and event planning. But each one seems to have a drawback.
Freelancing would mean an unpredictable income and a loss of benefits. And doing marketing or public relations might require Williams to operate in a highly stressed and politicized environment.
For guidance, the Costa Mesa resident turned to Marti Smye, a Toronto-based organizational change expert, and the author of “Is It Too Late to Run Away and Join the Circus? A Guide for Your Second Life” (Macmillan, 1998).
Smye reviewed Williams’ resume and autobiographical material.
“You’re extremely talented,” Smye said. “You have writing skills, technical skills and execution skills. Your ‘Just do it’ attitude is incredible. And you seem to be a team player.”
But Smye said that Williams appeared to have a “low risk-taking orientation,” a reluctance to explore the unknown.
Her resume needed some retooling too. In the document, Williams had undersold herself, Smye said. She hadn’t highlighted skills that could be applied to other lines of work. Instead, she had focused on her administrative duties.
In describing her current job, for example, Williams had only two lines: “Support two executives at an insurance claims management company” and “Production of proposals and other related responsibilities.”
After some discussion, Williams focused on her most pressing goal: to inspire, educate and motivate people through her writing and personal experiences.
Smye asked Williams to stay open-minded about venues for her pursuit. Williams shouldn’t rule out marketing and public relations work, for not all firms or departments have highly charged, tense environments, Smye said.
In her book, Smye encourages individuals like Williams to employ corporate-change management techniques in their own lives. One such technique is “compatibility assessment.”
Rather than simply match skills and abilities to new vocations, job seekers should determine whether prospective employers share their values and have missions that they’re eager to follow, Smye said.
“Matching belief systems is more important than matching skills,” she writes.
Smye pointed out a second common career-hunting mistake: moving too quickly into a dream vocation.
“People are tempted to rush through the planning stage when the pain of the present has become so insistent that any alternative at all seems better than staying the same,” Smye writes. “This is usually the route to bankruptcy in business and unhappiness in personal life.”
Smye explained that such emotional pain typically arises when an individual’s growth is obstructed by people and things. Impediments can include unpleasant bosses, co-workers, customers and spouses. Or they can take the form of overwhelming job responsibilities, low pay, oppressive corporate cultures or depressing physical work environments.
Before taking any action, individuals like Williams must become clear about their motivations, Smye said. Like corporations, they should methodically plan their transitions.
If they remain oblivious to their underlying needs or impetuously flee their unhappy work conditions, their problems are likely to resurface.
Some workers, after languishing in dysfunctional corporate settings, opt to telecommute or set up home-based businesses.
They convince themselves they need a radical change of scenery. But many soon return to the workplace after failing in the new settings.
They discover that home-based operations can be distracting, technologically limiting, unstructured and isolating.
“Don’t make the mistake of assuming that, because you hate your office environment, you will hate all office environments or that, because you hate the meetings you attend, you therefore will hate all meetings,” Smye writes.
During Williams’ hunt for a new vocation, she should consider appointing a “board of directors”--acquaintances who can coach, motivate and mentor her, Smye said. But she should steer clear of any “basset buddies.”
“Like the low-slung dog of the same name, they droop, seem perpetually sad and move slowly, if at all,” Smye said. “Bassets can infect you with contact melancholia.”
Lastly, Williams should become an ardent researcher.
She can learn about her numerous career options by subscribing to relevant trade magazines, reading books on the subjects, visiting Web sites, watching videos, taking courses, learning about companies in the industry and interviewing retirees.
In the weeks since Williams consulted with Smye, she has carried out several of Smye’s suggestions. She created a purpose statement, drew up a list of people she could interview about writing-related careers and looked into marketing and event planning jobs.
Williams had expressed disappointment that she had neglected to get career counseling years ago in college.
But Smye assured her she had “loads of time left” to find on-the-job fulfillment.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Time for a Change
Name: Kathy Williams
Occupation: Administrative assistant
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Desired occupation: A writing-related job
Quote: “I have concluded that I was not meant to be an administrative assistant. It is too restrictive and limiting.”
Meet the Coach
Marti Smye is the author of “Is It Too Late to Run Away and Join the Circus? A Guide for Your Second Life” (Macmillan, 1998). She is an organizational-change expert based in Toronto.