ARE YOU READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE?
If you’re fed up with your job or have a professional dream you want to pursue, here’s advice on how to make the shift
SHE studied graphic design because she loves art and being creative but Gisela Harck’s other passion is baking. As far back as she could remember she’d loved being in the kitchen and she’d even raised funds for an overseas trip by making and selling gingerbread houses.
While working full-time as a graphic designer she carried on baking biscuits for weekend markets. Over the years the idea of a bakery specialising in gingerbread houses and ginger biscuits simmered in the back of her mind.
Then three years ago, after nine years in the graphic design field, Gisela (now 36) decided it was time to make her dream a reality.
Demand for her gingerbread products – made using her German grandmother’s recipes – had grown and she figured it was “time to stop making excuses and actively start doing”.
She didn’t quit her job right away but spent time in the evenings and on weekends creating a brand identity for her products, all the while baking on the side.
She eventually quit her graphic design job in August last year and today she has a shop in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape called Harck & Heart. She also sells her cookies in supermarkets and delis in the rest of the province and in Gauteng.
“Seeing my dream unfold has been incredibly exciting and rewarding,” Gisela says. “But let’s not sugarcoat it – it’s also been extremely hard work and very stressful. I think you must love what you do, otherwise you’re going to struggle.
‘A toxic workplace doesn’t necessarily mean you need a career change – maybe you just need a different job’
“I’m crazy about my product and my business. Even so, I still felt like I wanted to quit sometimes.”
Whether you think you’ve chosen the wrong profession and want an entirely different career, or have a hobby you’re so passionate about that you want to make it your career, it’s a major life change that requires careful planning.
We asked experts for advice on how to make the big shift.
Start with why
“If you hate your job, feel demotivated or feel you can apply your skills better in another environment, it could be a sign you need a new career path,” says Yasmeen Engelbrecht, a psychologist and career consultant from Johannesburg.
The first step is to be clear about why you’re unhappy in your job. Before you head for new horizons you need to be sure the fault lies with your line of work and not a difficult boss or colleagues.
“A toxic workplace doesn’t necessarily mean you need a career change – maybe you just need a different job,” says James Sturdee, a counsellor from Durban.
“Differentiate between pressure and attraction,” Engelbrecht adds. “Attraction makes you long for a new direction and inspires you. Pressure pushes you away from your current field of work.
“If you’re attracted to something it will continue attracting you even if things get better at work.”
To help you figure out exactly why you’re unhappy, ask yourself what you dislike about what you’re doing now.
Is it a demanding or overly critical boss, or colleagues you don’t get along with? If that’s the case, it’s your job that’s the problem, not your career.
But if it’s that you don’t find the work stimulating or interesting at all, it’s more likely that your career isn’t a good fit for you.
You should also ask yourself how you think your new career will make your life better.
If you feel it will make you happier even if you earned less money, that’s a sure-fire sign that you need a career change.
If you’re considering changing your career completely an expert’s advice might be useful, says Loren Parmeggiani, a Johannesburg-based industrial psychologist and managing director of Evolva Consulting. “You need to understand exactly what’s making you unhappy because perhaps it’s a simple problem that can be easily solved by chatting to someone in your company’s human resources department.”
A professional can also do psychometric tests to see how well suited you are to your current career as well as to the one you’re considering.