Fear and Career Change Part 2
This blog is an extension of the last blog that I wrote dealing with how some guests on the show have overcome the fear of doing a career change.
My Interview with Scott Muchowski https://www.thecareerguy.ca/episodes/a-life-change-finance-to-civil-engineering-and-loving-it is the extreme case where Scott did a complete 180-degree turnaround later in life. He spent a good part of his life working in finance in the oil and gas sector. As he explains he had an array of positions with a multitude of companies within this sector, and because of this he was very well-experienced. Upon being laid off in 2010 he stopped and took a hard look at his life. He took some time away, five years, and worked on the family farm and did some other odd jobs. During this time, he thought about things and in doing so he discovered that when he was young, he liked to build things such as roads and buildings which finally led him to look at civil engineering. In doing so he took the leap of faith and went back to college to get a technical diploma in Civil Engineering.
As he points out he loves what he does now, the risk was worth it, however, there was some soul-searching for him during his five years off from the corporate sector. This can be uncomfortable telling yourself that what you have been doing is not working anymore. This is because the next hard question that comes up is, what is next? And when we do figure it out, am I capable of learning something new? Scott admits it was not easy going back as an adult learner. It is scary but it is doable. As pointed out in the previous blog taking small steps helps, which is why Scott pursued a technical diploma. Time commitment is less. As he has completed his technical diploma, he now has plans to follow through with a degree.
Amy Stanley realized early in her career that being a veterinarian is not what she wanted to do as she explains in her interview with me https://www.thecareerguy.ca/episodes/blog-post-title-two-gtmae. Amy loved science and animals finishing her degree in animal sciences she started to work with veterinarians because this is what she wanted to do. This is a good idea to work in the field to see if a person likes it before they commit more time and money to pursue a particular career path. In Amy’s case, it proved to be a good move as she discovered veterinarians deal a lot with people that own the animals, and they can be very possessive. It was clear to her then that this was not a career for her as dealing with controlling animal owners was something that she was not going to be good at and did not want to do as well.
As in Scott’s case, she had to admit to herself that she needed something different and this was hard as she loved animals and because of that, she wanted to be a veterinarian. Keeping an open mind something that she stresses helped her as she came across an opportunity in the local college that entailed a combination of teaching a course in animal science and also working on the local college dairy farm. This was a one-year contract with no obligations. Within this one year, she came to realize that teaching was her passion, which she now does full-time and enjoys.
Teresa Mitchell became a chef because she loved family dinners that her grandmother used to make as she explains in her interview with me https://www.thecareerguy.ca/episodes/a-renaissance-women-from-chef-to-financial-planner-to-a-coaching-services-and-a-podcaster. She worked in many facets of the hospitality industry including owning and operating a restaurant in San Francisco. It was an array of circumstances such as the earthquake in the valley that initiated the sale of her restaurant, and the burnout that she was facing working as a chef that she knew that she needed a change. Her father’s passing led her to assist her mother in dealing with the family finances which opened the idea of working in the finance world which she did pursue.
For Teresa, it was faith as the opportunity presented to her in helping her mother with her finances that initiated her to ask what if I did this as a career? She explained that it was not easy, however, small steps helped her, she started in a financial firm as a receptionist and in doing so she was always willing to do a little more to learn more about the industry, this built her confidence which finally, led her to go back to school (part-time) to become a certified financial planner.
In conclusion, there are common elements to consider from the examples talked about. All the guests above were no longer happy in their careers they did not love it anymore. They knew they needed something different. And this is good because it is the adversity that initiated them to look elsewhere. In doing so they became more aware of their surroundings in other words they were more in sync with the people that they were meeting and their circumstances and this became prevalent to them. In doing so when opportunities became apparent, they all pondered the what if? The other point that is worth addressing is that they did not seem to sweat that they were not sure of what was next even though they knew they were due for a change. They knew something else was coming to them. And even with that said there is always that one-something or that one event that will make a person move, in essence, it happens fast. So maybe knowing is just preparing them and is what minimizes or eliminates the fear.
Above all career change is hard for everyone and that is because we are leaving something that is a sure thing to the unknown, there is a risk. With the examples that I have given in the last two blogs, there is not one person that regrets doing what they did, however, it does take courage though and this is something that is overlooked. I hope if anything that these blogs have inspired people as with the interviews. Thanks for reading and I hope this blog helps.