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OT – How to find the second career (and repackage the existing skills)

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

This thread is for those who have changed profession, want to and know how, want to but don't know how, don't want to but need to... basically anyone who can in any way share thoughts and experiences about starting over.

I've felt deep need for a change for a couple of years now and want to do something different in my life. Essentially, I am not particularly happy with the type of work I do, although I can and do find many positives in what I do. But, I don't jump out of bed any more to go to work and it's not only down to the bad market or workplace situation. I owe it to myself to try something else at some point. The easy way around it would be to at least change the type of industry I work in and that decision is final, but I really want to do something completely different in the long run.

The thing is, however, that I need to completely change my mindset and probably start almost from the scratch. Even though my entire education and qualifications were always very focused on leading me to the career I now have, that is not a problem as such, but I am looking for a few more clues and guidelines.

Firstly, I have a number of skills that are very transferable, however I need to find and learn the best way to repackage them so they are suitable for whatever my next career might be. I need to see the same things through slightly different glasses. More generic ones too.

Second option is to retrain. That is not a problem either, but requires commitment over up to 3 years if I decide to go ahead with one of the options. I still don't have those 3 years uninterrupted ahead of me at this point in my life, so cannot take that route yet.

What I'd also like to try is do some career consulting, but don't know where to start from. As vast as internet is, I am somehow uncomfortable with ringing up someone whose details I found but don't know much more about. Has anyone used any of those services? Or you maybe know which tests can be taken and how I can get hold of them? Some books to recommend? If yes, do you have any advice how to look for the right consultant/coach and what to pay attention to when actually taking that consultation.

We currently have some shake-ups in our lives (thankfully they are good) which also put many things on hold, but I just want to be ready for action once we're in the more stable waters again.

Essentially, if anything I wrote rings any bells with you, I would be very grateful to hear about that.

General

20 replies

Latest reply was from rosee

rae

(website)

Veteran

I don't have any advice -- I am still looking for a first career! -- but I just wanted to empathize. As someone who has never felt *excited* about much of anything, school or work-wise, I know it can be pretty hard to nail down a direction to take. :T I will be watching this thread with interest - I am sure that whatever you decide to do, you will be a great success.

Isabel

Veteran

I have been a SAHM for 9 years. I am feeling that it is time to do something. Things that I would really enjoy would also take 3-4 years of training...and my kids are little, I help out my disabled sister and mom, so I can't see that happening. I hear you !!!

I have been looking at certificate programs on-line ( not the most prestigious ) but it gives you SOME thing. I also recommend getting out and networking. So if there is a meeting or conference or even a booking reading at a local library or university or anything like that, go !!! You never know who you will meet. Also, read books or magazines or sites that are for the area you would like to move into..that way you will have the "vocabulary" to communicate well in that realm !

Good luck !!

Patty

Veteran

I had a job--tho hugely stressful was still a job I couldn't believe I got paid for. I worked with animation artists for something like 15 yrs in the old school method of production. Then when when I went out to have kids they brought in the computers so now I am obsolete LOL. I know nothing of their pipeline systems. I have the gist of the whole thing but I am computer illiterate making me pretty much out of it unless I get some computer training and I could get hired unspecialized in a studio.
We used to live to work but now we need to work to live with a family--that sure changes things!
Hope you can find your dream job Ornela and Rae--what a great feeling to do what you love in a job!

Lynne

Veteran

Hi, All, I can recommend the short Strengths Finder on martin seligmans positive pscychology website
http://www.authentichappiness......fault.aspx

It won't point you to a career, but it does help to understand why the things that are important to you are important, and you can incorporate aspects of whichever job you are in to use those strengths. Hope this makes sense - read the blurb and do the questionnaire and it might make more sense :)!

Louise

Veteran

Pop along to a careers advice centre. BF has been a mechanic for 20 years and has recently been signed off sick, he's now decided this isn' the job for him and is using his enforced worklessness to look at other careers. He did a career aptitude test type thing at the careers advice centre and is now looking at his options x

rae

(website)

Veteran

Hm, what is a careers advice centre, and how did your BF find one?

Louise

Veteran

I think he was put in touch with them through the Job centre? You know what men are like, I get more sense out of the cats!!!! x

chouette22

Veteran

Ornela, I really hope you'll find answers to your quest. I am always so very conscious of the fact that I absolutely love my job/career, and I am very thankful for it. I stayed home for 6 six years when my kids were little which was wonderful, of course. However, I was also always aware that no one out there was necessarily waiting for me to make a comeback. I feel blessed that I was able to reenter my career full-time.

This is something I have always admired in the US: people recycle their talents all the time and reinvent themselves (even before it became a necessity due to the economy). When I came over I saw so many older people getting Masters and Ph. D. degrees (slowly but surely while still working full-time or part-time), something I had not seen in Europe at all. It has changed in Europe now too and this is very good. It used to be (and still is in places) that you were pretty much stuck with the career you had chosen in your 20s and even frowned upon when trying to change into something else.
I keep my fingers crossed for you!!

Melissa

I want to think about this some more, but my initial reactions are:

Good for you for taking steps toward what you want! It always helps to be mentally prepared so you're ready for a positive change that might come your way.

Look inside and out for clues about what you'd enjoy doing. Inside, it might help to do some of the types of tests/counseling recommended above. It might also help to do a retreat somewhere you'd feel peaceful and able to do some soul searching, like a meditation center, or camping in the woods, or at a swanky hotel, wherever your own personal juju would get flowing. Take some time away by yourself to get in touch with where your heart is and what it wants to do.

Also look outside yourself. If you have some close friends, especially ones who've known you a long time, talk with them in an open way about what strengths and joys they see in you. You might be surprised by what they come up with that you might not otherwise consider.

Wishing you happiness during your transitions.

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

I think it's also good to try to go on informational interviews so you can get to know what types of careers exist and what they're really like! I second Melissa's idea to not only think deeply about what really gives you energy (so you can recognize the right career for you when you are interviewing people) but also ask others. I got three reviews from colleagues lately that praised my ability to understand various groups of people and act as a mediator. Now I'm wondering if I missed a big opportunity to get a certificate in mediation in college (my thesis advisor taught the courses however by the time I found out about it I had only 1 year left which wasn't enough time to complete the program). I could always go back...but since I just finished an MBA I think I'll use the skills in a less formal way. But it did help put into perspective some of the things I should be looking for in my next role.

Polly (thunalata)

Veteran

Rae - the UK has job centres, where you can find information about getting work and changing direction.

When my mother was about my age (37) she wanted to go back into work but had never had a career as such. She went to a Citizens Advice Bureau (this is quite a time ago now) and they advised her with her qualifications and situation to go into teaching. She never looked back.

Ornela - will childcare be an issue? Or at least being around for the children (although yours are a bit older than mine I think?).

Sally

Veteran

I saw a careers counsellor and found it really helpful. She was quite expensive and I made the contact because she did a seminar for my husband's work and he approached her because I was always moaning about my job. The irony is that I didn't leave teaching(except for a short time when my son was little) but she was able to pinpoint where I should work and where my strengths lay.
I think there should be cheaper government run places like others have mentioned. The big thing about these counselling times etc is the amount self reflection you need to do and that is what is important. I have always found contract work and temping to be good to open up options too.

Katiepea

(website)

Veteran

(*Confession!* I've been a bit naughty and haven't read anybody elses reply, However....)

Have you completed the good old "list" suggestion yet? You know, answer the following types of questions:

"What are my best attributes? What are my weaknesses?"

"What are my key motivators that I need in the workplace in order to be happy and successful?" (ie: high income; prestige; helping others; influencing change etc etc etc)

"Do I like to be the employee or do I like to be the boss?"

"Do I prefer work that can be appled across a general, broad range of issues, or do I prefer to be an expert in one specific area?"

"What things do I value in a workplace? What do I detest?"

"How far am I prepared to travel to work? How long am I prepared to retrain?"

"Where do I want to be in 12 months time? In 5 years? In 10 years?"

I'd strongly suggest that you think over these questions and can answer them truthfully.

My husband has also recently switched career paths (although he did retrain post-grad studies whilst working full-time).

He obtained the new position through a recruitment company who looked at his skills set and then referred him to relevant vacancies. It did help him to sit down and answer these type of questions first - that way he went about his change with his eyes wide open.

Best of luck - may all your career aspirations come true!

Kristen

(website)

Veteran

I am on my 6th career since graduating from college 20 years ago, and each one has been totally different from the one before. I have been a food service manager, a Weight Watchers leader/store manager, an IT recruiter, a retail salesperson, and have done 3 separate stints as a software system manager/report writer.

Every single opportunity I got was through networking.

When you are making drastic changes in your career path, you will never get hired through the want ads or a recruiter. They are only looking for people who have that specific skill set. But someone who knows you, who maybe worked with you before, volunteered with you on a community project, has watched you organize something, etc, can vouch for your softer, transferable skills, and will give you an in that a stranger off the street will never get.

Networking is not about cold-calling people you barely know and setting up non-interviews, like they claim in the manuals. It is about making positive impressions on everyone around you: co-workers, people on projects, friends, people from church, your kid's school functions, etc. Showing them in deeds what you are capable of.

If needed, you can also draw your friends and family word-pictures of the job you want to have, so when they hear about an opening like that they would think of you doing it. It's about talking about your job aspirations regularly to everyone, being very clear about the type of job you want, not asking then what they think you should do. So your first order of business is to decide what field you would like to get into, or what kind of job do you want. The people above gave you some great advice about that.

The other thing to do is figure out what your transferable skills are. Are you problem-solver? Organized? Computer savvy? Are you the one everyone asks to fix the printer, or for directions somewhere, or how to write an article? Are you the one everyone turns to when they need an original idea? Etc. If you can't show people those through projects or volunteer efforts, talk those up too, to get people to think of you for a role.

For me, it helped that I had such a gregarious personality; people tend to remember my big laugh and jokes, and how quickly and effortlessly I helped them with their purchases or problems. At WW, when word went out that the store managers were being laid off, I had two separate people approach me with opportunities that same day, one that I worked with and one who was a customer. Because they had seen what I was capable of, and they needed it in their company.

That's the kind of networking I mean. It really, really, REALLY works. I am living proof.

MsMary

Veteran

Wow, Kristen! That's, like, the best post evah!! So full of practical information!!

O, I don't have any practical advice, but I will tell you that I'm on the third phase of my legal career and I have a ton of friends who have reinvented themselves multiple times in the 20-plus years since we all graduated from law school. My only little sound bite is that life is long and it keeps giving us lots of chances, so keep looking and exploring and you never know when the perfect thing will show up!

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

You guys are not great, you are s-p-e-c-t-a-c-u-l-a-r!

This is such a read and I'm overwhelmed by your responses, so please excuse me for not replying to them immeditally - I literally only have 10 minutes to have a peek at the forum.

And by all means please keep contributing. I find your experiences and insights more valuable than you can possibly imagine.

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

@Rae, I think it's important to realize that about yourself. Once you're aware you need more direction, I'm sure you'll be better equipped to act on the opportunities and signs that do seem like they can take you somewhere. That's, among other things, why I started this thread - to help me (and others) in searching for clues, signs and direction.

@Isabel, I love meeting people. Thanks for the advice about reading the right literature, btw, it is very useful and something I wouldn't have thought of at this stage of my search for sure.

@Patty, I am pretty sure that you have the skills you can re-package. 15 years of experience in one line of work is a massive achievement. There was once TV program here where they were helping out SAHMs to get back to the job market. These women never thought of the obvious skills they had like organizing (family life) or budgeting (life on one income) or planning (just about everything) as anything worthwhile in the job market. That program really made me think about my own skills I take for granted.

@Lynne, this is my sort of thing, thank you. I'll be studying it thoroughly. I am not looking for "do this, it's perfect for you", I actually have fairly good idea of what I want, and definitely a good idea about what I don't want, but I need to focus more on those skills that are transferrable and like I said to Patty that I take for granted.

@Louise, thanks for the advice. I'll take that route too.

@little cabbage 22, how wonderful to read about your experience and the fact you are thankful for doing what you love. My husband has that luck and I see first hand what it's like to do what you're meant to do.
I am European and when I said I needed to change my mindset I meant exactly what you were referring to - I don't have to be stuck in one career my whole life.

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

@Melissa, thank you for so many helpful and useful ideas, but most of all for the one to talk to my friends about my strengths! (I hope I stay friends with them after the experiment, lol.)

@Jenava, I am not sure I understand what you mean by 'informal interview'. If you stop by, I'd like to hear about it.
I think it's great your skills got recognized. I am pretty sure the life experience between the Uni and now make them even more defined and refined, and it would/will be completely different to get adequate degree from the more mature perspective. I found that my age and the experience, in and out of the workplace, that major contributor to how I feel about changing career, not current bad climate at work as it may seem. Or are those early signs of mid-life crisis, I wonder...

@Polly, childcare will be a concern (or at least school hours), I have 4 year old son and no matter what I do in the future work-wise, being with him will be a major factor in deciding what will happen. I think there's time to catch up with everything in life except with the years when our little ones grow up.

@Sally, another great point - self reflection. I find temping an attractive option and might give it a thought.

@Katiepea, thank you for this. As obvious as it seems, I never did it as thoroughly as I will using this sample questionnaire. Ties in with self-reflection so nicely.

@Kristen, wow, shame this post is buried in the thread - it's worth getting its own traffic. You hit the nail on the head with pretty much every aspect you touched on. Your words will be in my thoughts - a LOT.

@MaryK, I love your outlook on things and since this is style website I am happy to say I 'read' this exact sort of optimism and attitude from every single life-energy-infused outfit you put together. Yes, I'll keep looking and exploring for sure

THANKS again everyone for taking time to read and write about the subject.

Laurie

Veteran

This is a great thread and much on my mind these days, too. I find myself having conversations more and more often that turn into the "what next..." discussion.

Great advice on here this thread particularly the suggestion to have informational/informal interviews with people who are doing things you think you might like to do.

There are so many impressive women on this board, that I am sure you can find lots of good ideas as you narrow down your options.

Here is what I'm thinking about for my next phase as my kids are now both teenagers, and will be off to college in the coming few years -- take my 20 years in software sales, and find a way to combine it with my international MBA which I didn't really fully use. My Portuguese is buried down there, time to pull it out and improve it - Brazil is booming -- how can I put this all together? I'm talking to everyone who will listen about this!

Good luck!

rosee

Veteran

WOW!!! (stealing your line, Ornela, but that's what I feel). What an impressive thread!!! Great advice -- I think I shall "heart" this one for future reference.
In a career lull (medical issues) right now myself, so I have no advice to offer. But I could definitely use the above advice for my future work prospects.