One of the easiest ways to make a career change is to study further,
through a relevant post-graduate qualification which can build on your previous
career. Alternatively, one can be fortunate to find an employer who is
open-minded in their definition of skill, and thus in their talent
identification process they allow themselves to have a broad definition of what
is a relevant skill in their business. However, not everyone has the luxury to
wait for such a qualification or is fortunate enough to find such an employer.
We face these challenging questions daily and the solution may not always lie
with such a qualification or finding this elusive employer.
I have often found that we tend to confuse either a job or a
specialisation with the character and core competence of that individual. We
thus describe ourselves through our qualifications and/or qualifications, such
as saying I am an accountant, engineer, doctor, lawyer etc. The fundamental
flaw with such an approach is that it does not tell us anything about the
person. Having narrowed one's description of self to these technical
definitions, then it should not be a surprise if we battle to see ourselves
surviving except in these technical fields. This becomes even more difficult if
we feel social pressures to live out these definitions, either from friends or
family, because that is the only way they see or value us.
In my mentorship discussions I always get people to focus on their
character, core strengths and competencies. Essentially, what is it about them
that made them successfully complete whatever qualification, as that will get
them thinking more about their strengths? If they have actually worked in this
profession that may no longer energise them, what did they achieve and what was
a distinguishing character that either clients or their superiors valued? What
are the key things they have done which other people in the same field have not
done? These are a family of questions that go to the heart of what makes for a
good career thinking process: through answering them, the individual is able to
accentuate the positive about themselves, rather than spending too much energy
in focusing on the negative.
This requires a lot of thinking, which may not be easy to do alone. It
will help to get a mentor or thinking partner to tease out the answers, or at
least someone to whom one can verbalise their
observations to. For many people, the answer to what they can do in life lies
deeply in their understanding of self, rather than in focusing on what they are
doing as a job or what they have studied. That can only be a proxy of their
capabilities, but not a true definition of the person.
Once one has a true understanding of self, including using the
qualifications or experience they have, then one is able to see the
possibilities in life for a person with such strengths. It requires that we
have a wider view of the world, and not one predefined according to very narrow
technical prescriptions. And then what we need to do is generate various
options, that are directly linked to the person we have come to understand. We
are effectively starting from a new slate, but paradoxically we are using an
existing understanding based on qualifications and experience.
When we are in this space, we are no longer prisoners of our past,
suffering from the demon of self- hatred.
We are also not immobilised by the twin demon of fear that makes us to
be worried about the future. We get in a mode of generating options based on an
understanding of who we are, at that moment, which is about the present. We are
neither guilty of the past no fearful of the future. It is in exercising what
we seems the best of the options we have generated that we create the future
that is not constrained by guilt or fear. We move from being unhappy to being
masters of our destiny, utilising the best of what the past offers, to a future
that we have created. This future may involve studying further, finding the
right employer or starting a new initiative.
This is the basic framework I guide others to use when thinking about
life-changing career decisions. It is possible, and I used it when I had to
make similar decisions. I have made three major career changes throughout the
years, and when I look back, the basis for my relative success has included an
understanding of my character and capabilities, drawing the best from my
previous experience, having a wide view of the world, and being fearless about
the future.
If you are sitting with a career dilemma or being worried whether this
change is possible, I encourage focusing first on self as a basis of generating
options. It is easier than you think.
