So you have been in a specific career for many years and it's been good to you, but now, in the worst recession since the 1930's, you find your "stable" job or career is no longer stable. What should you do?You could ride it out and hope for the best or take an alternate path and jump ship from your current career to a new one. You say, sure no problem! I'll just go apply for a job that requires education and/or experience that I don't possess and they will hire me on the spot, right? Well...no, I wish it worked that way but it does not.
So, what can you do to facilitate such a bold move? For starters, let's be clear, you can't jump from a Store Manager to a Doctor without significant investment of time and expenses in a grueling education. I am referring to making smaller investment that will yield large results in career, job and personal satisfaction and maybe better pay...that sounds pretty good to me! Making a small investment but yielding large results will provide greater increase in what I term, "Career Profit".
Career Profit is the following equation: career/personal/pay satisfaction - education/training/experience expenses = Career Profit.
This low-risk, smaller investment will yield a much larger Career Profit percentage than making a higher-risk, larger investment. Let's stay with the retail manager to doctor example. If the manager decides to be a doctor, then they must dedicate years of their life to education and residency not to mention the sizable debt incurred once schooling is done. Ok, this is large investment, but why is it high-risk? It takes about 12 years total to become a doctor, which includes premed, med school, internship and residency...12 years is a long time. During this 12 year stint you could tire of the effort, get bored, lose financial support, lose significant other support, health issues, family issues, etc. etc., any of which could derail your plains of becoming a doctor...high-risk. I would never dissuade anyone from such a noble profession, but my point is, for most of us mere mortals, that is a lot to ask.
So I am advocating a low-risk, smaller investment approach. This means instead of going from retail manager to doctor, you go from retail manager to consultant, marketing analyst, software developer or some other area of IT. Basically, we are looking for "extensions" from your current job and parlay them into a new career...get it?
To make this type of jump you will most likely require additional education or training in the form of certifications or other class work, but not nearly as much as our doctor example, plus the risk is much lower, so if you get derailed, you are no more worse the wear compared to the doctor example. You have various avenues to obtain additional knowledge which include but not limited to, training, certifications, volunteer work, internships and don't forget the good old Internet where you can forum and blog your way to new information in your new field. Remember, knowledge is the most valuable commodity!
Following are common "extensions" that people can parlay from their current/previous job into a new career:
- IT Tech Support - Generally seen as the bottom of IT, but the most accessible to newcomers into IT. Most of us use a PC and home and at work, so we have inherent experience in this area and you didn't even know it! Another reason this is available is that tech support has turnover...once people get the experience after a couple of years they go to a better paying job...which would be part of your plan.
- IT Webmaster, Web Designer or Software Developer- This would involve learning html, java, php, C+ or other such coding languages, but can be very rewarding for that closet creative person just waiting to bust out onto the Internet. Again there many inexpensive classes that can be taken as well as certifications. Also, the beauty of this area is that you can set up your own development environment for free on your home PC using Open Source tools to practice!
- Consulting - If there is an industry then there is corresponding consulting for that industry. Many consultants move from industry to consulting. To be a consultant you must have in-depth knowledge about the industry to which you are consulting to...so who better than a person from that industry! On the upside, consulting usually garners higher pay than a comparable position back in industry, downside it usually requires travel...back to the upside is the client pays for everything
...sweet. - Not My Job- How about the work you did on that extra project or maybe participate in a pilot and become the de facto expert? Depending on the work these can be turned into full-time careers instead of a part-time pet project from the boss. So take a closer look at that project...is what you are doing marketable? Is there an industry for what you are doing? Can you get paid more money by doing this other thing full-time for someone else instead of with your current employer? Maybe so...it is worth a look.
These examples should get you started and thinking about other marketable skills you currently possess that parlay into a new career. Important note is to take stock of everything you have done in your current/previous job, get on the Internet and start poking around. You may find yourself a new niche market to develop as the next Bill Gates.
