Thinking of changing careers? Here’s the D-E-A-L
Over 40 percent of American workers say they would like to change careers. That’s a lot of unhappy campers. is one of them. “I’m a software salesperson by day. When I get home, I shift to my alter ego — a carpenter. I love to build things. I make cabinets, desks and tables, and have remodeled my kitchen and bathroom. I make good money selling software, but my passion is woodworking. What should I do to make a career change?”
People thinking about a career change should follow the formula: — Desire, — Earnings, — Ability, — Long-term opportunity.
This isn’t about what you think you’d like to do. It’s about what you believe you must do — work that uses your natural strengths; work consistent with your personality, not your behavior. Knowing your personality type will help determine what you need from your job.
A great book on this topic is “Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type” by Paul D. Tieger, Barbara Barron and Kelly Tieger (Little Brown and Company, $19). It contains a number of self-evaluation exercises that provide a personality profile based on Myers-Briggs tests. There are numerous realpeople examples showing where personality intersects with career path.
If you want to take a four-question personality evaluation to start thinking about possibilities, head for personalitytype.com, Paul Tieger’s website. The quiz covers internal energy (introvert or extrovert), how you process information (sensor or intuitive), how you make decisions (thinker or feeler) and working conditions (structured or unstructured work environment).
You’ll likely pay an economic price when you change careers. It’s unlikely you’ll match your current income in an entry-level position in a new career. This is particularly true for workers well-established in a job. Financial changes will bring lifestyle changes. Adjusting lifestyle can be stressful. Career changers must have a financial plan in place to address earnings gaps.
To gauge a new career’s initial financial impact, do some research. Start at salary.com; its data show ranges for a wide variety of positions. You also should gather information from professional associations, look at job postings in the newspaper and major job websites and network with people in your new profession.
If financial implications are too drastic, consider doing something outside of work to fill your fulfillment gap. I know quite a few people whose passions are hobbies and whose day jobs pay for those hobbies. They’re happy campers.
It takes more than passion to succeed. It takes talent and schooling. If your career choice doesn’t play to your strengths, you’ll have little chance of success. Also, it may take time to fully develop new employability skills.
When gauging your talent, look for and listen to outsiders’ opinions. Talk with your closest friends and family about your strengths. Tap your network, too; you may find people who know about your prospective field, or they may know people who are successful in it. Successful people can tell you what it takes to make it.
One cannot expect a career to last a lifetime. Professions have ebbs and flows. There are many unemployed web developers and programmers who were making big bucks a few years back. Nurses are in short supply today; fifteen years ago, there was a surplus. Outsourcing jobs to cheaper labor markets will continue to affect jobs, too.
Think as long term as possible. See dol.gov for information about the outlook for your new profession and forecasts about fast-growing professions.