By far the biggest
mistake clients make when trying to change careers is to delay taking the first
step until they have settled on a destination. This error is so undermining
because we all learn about ourselves by doing, by testing concrete
possibilities. It is useful to identify - with as much clarity and certainty as
possible, often with the help of standardized questionnaires and assessments -
our temperament, needs, competencies and core values. It is also helpful to work
on goal-setting, box-checking and list-making exercises. These are
tried-and-true techniques for landing a job under normal circumstances.
Career change requires this, and much more. It is not just
a theoretical exercise. We learn who we are by testing reality as well as
looking inside. Career changers usually discover the true possibilities by doing
- trying out new activities, reaching out to new groups, finding new roles
model.
What you want clarifies with experience and validation from
others along the way. You interpret and incorporate new information, adding
colors and contours, tinting and shading and shaping, as your choices help you
create the portrait of who you are becoming. To launch yourself anew, you need
to get out of your head. You need to take action, to experiment, to give
yourself permission to make mistakes.
A few do change
careers from one day to the next but most don't leap into the unknown. Instead,
most of our clients successfully build a new working identity by developing
extracurricular ventures that allow them to test possible selves without
compromising their current jobs.
There are many ways to set up experiments that work. It is
not just a means of exploring known possibilities but also a way of creating
unforeseen ones. It is not a one-shot deal but a method of enquiry you can use
to confirm or disconfirm your hunches about what options are feasible or
appealing.
