Career Success |

BAM! another cataclysmic change

Have you tried a free demo of Chat GPT?

Go ahead, ask it to do something for you, anything, even something as random as ‘Write a poem for a 25-year-old daughter who is a teacher doing a Master’s and going to PEI for a vacation this week.’ BAM! literally 2 seconds later I got a coherent rhyming poem of six stanzas with four sentences each!

Try typing in one of your core job duties (e.g. if you’re a teacher, ask it to create a lesson plan for a course you teach) …and you’ll see why many people are seeing this technology as a replacement for many jobs or parts of many jobs.

Most of us got up this morning, went to work, get our paycheque every two weeks, and live our lives in a predictable and lockstep manner through school, work, marriage, family, retirement.

Then BAM! something comes along—e.g. the financial sub-prime crisis of 2008, the pandemic of 2020—some event or technology, that percolates below the surface of everyday life only to erupt into cataclysmic change sending millions of people out of work.

Change is inevitable

What is abundantly clear, I think, is our inability to control and predict the future in an accurate and reliable manner. No change in your job is not an option. Your work circumstances will change! And you must change with them.

This means we, as individuals and as a community, need to learn about the nature of change. JobJoy is in the change business. Let us help you prepare for what is inevitable—career change—maybe not now, not this year…but it will happen. Career change is now a critical component of lifelong learning.

It is important to understand your past and how it has shaped your present in order to better prepare for your unpredictable future. As you know, I am a personal story analyst, one that puts much emphasis on identifying and defining your motivational pattern. When you understand your key success factors and how you work best, it is easier for you to adapt to the inevitability of change in your working circumstances.

You will lose your job, or have to change jobs, or move to another employer, or learn to work with different kinds of people, or replace a full-time income with a portfolio career.

Understanding who and what you are in terms of your right work will help you adapt to new conditions, to new technologies, to new workplace requirements. Being agile and productive is the key to career success!

Career Change – the practical side

When choosing or changing a career, it is best to align your core job duties with your natural strengths… so that what you do day in and day out energizes rather than drains you.

This is the core principle of my career practice because it leads to many career benefits—a topic I have explored and explained on many occasions in this blog.

Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge other factors. When advising clients, we often weigh their priorities and preferences.

Sometimes, we even use a chart that gives a number score to each factor, which helps them with their decision.

Money – what you need in the short term, what you want in the long term
Health & Dental benefits – especially important as we get older (or sicker)
Pension – a forced savings plan that is provides some security in an uncertain future
Vacation – what you need in the short term, what you want in the long term
Other benefits – e.g. stock options, tuition reimbursement, car allowance
Work/life balance – when hybrid work and flexibility for childcare is a high priority
Company culture – good relationship with your boss and colleagues
Stability – depends on your responsibilities and obligations, even your personality
Career advancement – opportunity to grow professionally
Timing – some factors we can’t control and we must react to circumstances

Simply listing each of these factors in terms of priority (e.g. 1=high, 2=moderate, 3=low) can help you separate reason from feelings when considering a career choice or change.

If you need help with your career decision-making, contact me to discuss.

Shame and Job Change

Shame. That’s what a recent client told me he felt about his current situation. His employer was not satisfied with his performance on the job. They gave him an ultimatum: submit to a performance appraisal with strict KPIs or face termination.

My client had been hired by this company for a corporate finance role but after undergoing some restructuring a few years ago, they changed the terms and conditions of his employment by assigning him as Senior Product Manager, even though he had no experience for such a role.

His employer provided no training, so my client did the best he could to bring himself up to speed by learning relevant skills and knowledge on his own. But, according to his employer, that was not good enough.

My client wants to go back to his previous work in corporate finance but do so with another company. He feels shame that he couldn’t master the Senior Product Manager role. His confidence has been undermined by this negative experience. He asked me to help him navigate this difficult situation and find suitable employment.

Legal help

How to make an exit from his current employer? There are pros and cons to being terminated vs resigning–in terms of risks and benefits related to unemployment insurance, severance, reputation, and so on.

I am not an employment lawyer so I recommended my client engage one to help him sort through the repercussions of an exit.

Help from friends

In terms of finding suitable employment, we focused on the aspects of his corporate finance jobs that were consistently enjoyable and particularly satisfying. We identified former colleagues and contacts who appreciated his work in the past.

However, he still felt cobbled by feelings of shame due to his “failing” and didn’t want to disclose the reasons that he was looking for work. As a test run, we developed a script that he could use when conversing with family and friends about his situation. We revised it according to their feedback and his comfort level.

When he was ready, he reached out to a few contacts and was very surprised and happy how receptive they were to re-connect with him, which bolstered his confidence. One of them was ready to hire him on the spot but couldn’t do so due to budget constraints.

However, this contact referred him to a large employment agency that specialized in corporate finance roles. After some research, my client signed an agreement with that agency and was soon working in his field. His long-term goal is to move from a contract position to a permanent job with one of the clients he serves.

Overcoming highly charged emotions, like shame, requires time and attention…and a little help from our friends and career coach.

When your job makes you sick

The founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford, once said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.”

What we think, what we believe, reveals our deepest values. When somebody tells me they really want to change careers but don’t think they can, what they often mean is that they can’t afford to… because they believe that changing careers means trading their current income for something much less.

Fair enough, I get it, money makes the world go round, so their current income is more important to them than anything else…until it isn’t.

For example, the one situation where money becomes much less important is when a person’s health is jeopardized by their job, i.e. when they become too sick, physically or mentally, to keep doing a job, especially if the job itself is making them sick.

After 30 years as a career counsellor, I have seen this scenario play out hundreds of times. Many of my clients were forced to change careers due to severe back pain, neck and shoulder pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, cancer, heart conditions, depression, crippling anxiety, addiction, and other common conditions.

Those with health benefits often go on long term disability which often only delays the inevitable eventuality of having to find other work. But serious pain usually forces many of these unlucky individuals into a career change.

Either way, hard choices are involved because lifestyles will change one way or another; maybe for better, maybe for worse.

Henry Ford filed for bankruptcy twice before he was able to succeed with his Ford Motor Company. Clearly, thinking positively is not enough to guarantee success.

Ford had to make a plan, take effective actions, make corrections when things didn’t work out, recruit help from others when necessary, and keep going with a clear goal in mind. But, surely, thinking that he could do it must have helped him through some difficulties!

Making a career change means making changes in your life. That’s a simple fact.

Getting sick only forces you to make them.

If you’re healthy now, use your time wisely to create the changes you want!

To be or not to be…who you are!

I had a client recently who is passionate about animal care…always has been, since childhood.

At least once a year, for the past 30 years, someone like her enters my practice. Sometimes young, or middle age, male or female—what they all have in common is this inner longing to take care of animals…for them a stronger desire than taking care of people.

And yet, none of them had been able to move beyond the care of their own pets. Most of them tried pet-sitting or dog-walking or some related low skill, low pay job but couldn’t make enough money to make ends meet.

Finding the right path

Like my client this week, they go into other careers, usually because they had no desire or inclination to be a vet or a vet’s assistant. As my client said, “I want to care for them, not kill them!” This is a typical rationale for such clients: when the most obvious option that society offers (e.g., be a vet) is not one that interests them, they give up on their heartfelt aspiration.

In her case, she worked as a cashier, custodian, martial arts instructor, and finally trained and worked as a Rehab Assistant, caring for individuals recovering from accidents…but she quit after two years because it didn’t meet her expectations.

She’s determined now to find a career working with animals, which is the only thing she really wants to do. I assured her that there were dozens of animal care jobs, including many she’d never of heard of, and many that don’t require a lot of education or training.

Choosing the right path

In general, jobs with animals fall into three categories: service (care & feeding), resource development and conservation.

I gave her a list of all the jobs related to animal care, everything from animal trainer to bison farmer to wildlife photographer. I gave her a list of education programs for Resource Development and Animal Conservation.
She loved the idea of wildlife rehabilitation but didn’t want to go back to school.

In the end, she decided to start with Kennel Attendant and work towards owning and operating her own kennel someday. She may even return to Rehab Assistant part-time, or on contract, to save money to buy some property for a kennel near Winnipeg.

She is finally accepting who she is in terms of her right work and taking responsibility for what she wants in life.

Living the right path

Very often our right work shows up early in life, but other values, priorities, advice, or circumstances get in the way of us following our instincts, intuition, or heartfelt desires.

We often get knocked off our right path early in life and end up surviving on another one…but not thriving.

It’s never too late to get back on it. Sure, it might not be ideal, but it will certainly be deeply satisfying and rewarding in ways that are often hard to explain to others who have different values or priorities.

Be who you are…you won’t regret it.

JobJoy Smile – Animal Puns

Q: What do you call a sleeping bull?
A: A bull-dozer.

Q: How do you fit more pigs on your farm?
A: Build a sty-scraper!

Q: What did the farmer call the cow that had no milk?
A: An udder failure.

Q: Why do gorillas have big nostrils?
A: Because they have big fingers!

Q: Why are teddy bears never hungry?
A: They are always stuffed!

Q: Why do fish live in salt water?
A: Because pepper makes them sneeze!

Q: What do you get from a pampered cow?
A: Spoiled milk.

Q: Where do polar bears vote?
A: The North Poll

Time to celebrate, time to plan

It’s the end of another calendar year and a new one is right around the corner.

For the past 10 years, I’ve developed the habit reviewing my Daytimer (yes, I still prefer the paper version), starting day by day in last January and writing down all my accomplishments and activities that I most enjoyed right up to mid-December.

Why Plan

Human nature is such that we focus on the negative events in our lives. For example, my mother passed away last June. But, by reviewing, the good things that I achieved in my work and life for the past year puts her death in a more positive perspective for me.

When you break it down, life is such a gift, and I’m grateful to my mother for giving me a chance at a life brimming with wonderful experiences, both professional and personal. Sure, we’re all going to die, but my annual review reminds me that there’s a lot of living to do before then. And, by living, I mean doing what I find to be important and satisfying.

That is why I usually spend some time early in the New Year to reflect on my annual list of enjoyable experiences and think about my priorities for the coming year.

What to Plan

For example, I just picked up a piece of paper and created columns with the following headings: Social, Family/Household, Mental, Physical/Health, Financial, Professional, Spiritual. I wrote Jan-June 2023 at the bottom of the paper.

During the next month, I will write down the things I plan to do in each of those categories for the first 6 months of the year. I plan to do SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely) things. I will write some actions in the Jan & Feb pages of my new Daytimer to move me closer to achieving those things.

When to Act

Every two months or so, I go back to my piece of paper to review my priorities and plans and ask myself: “Do I still really want to do that?” If, yes, I take another action. If not, I leave it for the time being. Sometimes I add or delete certain activities.

What matters most to you in your professional and personal life? Do you invest time and energy to achieve those things?

The Payoff

Having done this now for the past decade, I am delighted with how much I accomplish each year. It is so easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life and forget about what really matters to us. But the things that matter don’t happen by themselves; instead, they require our attention and action.

Plug them into your schedule and enjoy an annual review of your personal and professional achievements. End each year in celebration…then plan for the next!

3 Tips for making a career change without a pay cut

The biggest fear most people express is their belief that a career change means a big pay cut and, therefore, a poorer lifestyle. This belief is based on an assumption that a career change means starting over from scratch. Not so.

Fear of pay cut is a feeling not a fact.

The fact is that there are so many job opportunities in our current economy, up to 90,000 job titles and more being added each day with new and expanding industries. Plus, there is a shortage of workers in most sectors. Workers with skills and experience are in high demand, which means they are commanding higher salaries. It’s important to investigate a career change target for facts. Then develop a plan to optimize your chances of achieving a career change that results in no pay cut.

Focus on assets not liabilities.

Nobody is starting over. There is no substitute for work or life experience. In my 30 years as a career professional, I’ve found that most individuals underestimate their true market value, especially when it comes to the soft skills that they’ve acquired, such as problem-solving, creativity, adaptability, communication, and teamwork. Many of them have also acquired other transferable skills, such as knowledge or experience in administration, management, marketing, accounting, training, or finance. In most cases, any deficit they have in terms of subject matter expertise or technical skill can usually be overcome in relatively short order with on-the-job experience or a micro-credential because most career changers have learned how to learn, often quickly and easily.

Get support.

A career change requires a plan and support to execute that plan. Career changers need encouragement and emotional support, especially from family and friends. But they also benefit from professional help to guide them through the different stages of change:

how to reposition and repackage their value proposition;
how to navigate the job market;
how to communicate their value proposition in an interview with a hiring manager;
and, how to negotiate a better compensation package.

Get it straight from the horse’s mouth!

How to determine if a job is a good fit for you.

If you want to know what another career field is all about, how it really works—then get it straight from the horse’s mouth. This old saying refers to the old practice of opening a horse’s mouth to check its teeth to help a buyer determine its health—whether or not it will be a reliable and dependable investment over time–and therefore it’s actual value.

Talking to workers who have been in a particular field for 5 years or more will often give you a true picture of that field. Try and find somebody who is doing a job you would love to do. Here are some questions, you can ask anybody who is doing a job you think you might enjoy:

_ How did you get into your field? Is that still a good way?

_ What are the major responsibilities of your position?

_ What is a typical workday or week like for you?

_ What do you like and dislike about your position?

_ What are the critical skills and personal characteristics needed in this kind of work?

_ What are some of the major problems or issues that someone in your position faces?

_ What are the prospects for someone entering your field today?

_ What are the career paths of this profession? With experience in this field where can a person move?

If you get into a discussion about your background, you can ask:-

_ Given my background, what do you think I need to do to become competitive for a job in this field?

_ Can you suggest anyone else I might talk to?

JOBJOY SMILE

HORSE PUNS

You’ll stirrup trouble!

Quit foaling around.

He has a colt following.

It’s pasture bedtime.

You sound a little hoarse.

I’m waiting for the mane event.

He’s my mane man!

To be or not to be…that is the equestrian.

Don’t look, I’m neigh-kid.

Would you quit astrophysicist job to run a fireworks business?

Just this morning, one of my clients called to tell me that his two nephews—one a dentist, the other an astrophysicist—can’t stand going to work each day…so they are quitting their jobs to take over their father’s very successful fireworks business in Baltimore! I kid you not.

Now, if you were to go to their mother’s FaceBook page, you would get a very different impression, one of a proud mother singing the praises of her boys, and rightly so…it’s no small accomplishment to become a dentist or astrophysicist!

But the misery these boys feel is quite common. Psychology Today, the Menninger Clinic, The American Management Association, and other eminent organizations estimate as much as 90% of the working population is not in their right work. And we all know that depression is now the #1 workplace disability in North America.

If you’re in this situation, it is not your fault!

We tend to do things because that is the expected thing to do. We’ve been told to go to school to get good grades, in order to get into a good university and get a good degree in order to get a good job and live a good life. We follow this formula.

Sometimes it works, much of the time it doesn’t. Why? Studies show that most individuals are motivated by extrinsic drivers early in their lives, i.e. to get a secure job, get married, raise a family—do what is expected of us. Nothing wrong with it.

What is true for university is true for trade school, the family business or the military—we conform to the norms of societal expectations, rather than finding out how our personal priorities and our public contributions can be combined through work to create a meaningful life.

But then life smacks us between the eyes—job loss, aging, divorce, death of a loved one, new values, new aspirations—and we start to question our values and priorities.

It’s just normal adult development after the age of thirty to re-order our priorities around intrinsic drivers, such as our deepest values and highest aspirations.

My client has no idea if his nephews—as a dentist and astrophysicist–have any skills or motivation to run a fireworks business! And neither does his brother, the father of these two men. They could run it into the ground for all he knows! But it hurts him, as a father, to see his sons so unhappy in their chosen professions.

That’s why my client told his nephews to sign on to my JOBJOY FOR LIFE™ Course. He wants them to take the time to find out now what they each have as natural strengths and motivations when it comes to work. This will increase their chances of finding job satisfaction and success in a fireworks business…while sparing their parents the misery of seeing their sons unhappy once again.

Right Stuff for Starting a Business

To start your own business or not?

I recently worked with an MBA client employed in a Fortune 500 company who commutes 2 hours each way. He’s tired of it and wants out. He’s been exploring the option of buying a franchise business.

He thinks he’d be good at it but contacted me as a reality check, i.e. to make sure he’s not simply acting on a confirmation bias. Instead, he wants to know: “Do I have the right stuff to run my own business?”

He knows what to do. After all, he’s got an MBA so he knows how to design and implement business systems that work. What he really wants to know is whether or not running his own business aligns with his strengths and motivations.

Definition: an entrepreneur is a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.

He asked for a quick and easy assessment to help with his decision-making. He presented me with a matrix of job duties that he did and did not enjoy in previous jobs. Clearly, he has many financial, operational, and managerial skills that align with running a business.

But was he motivated to use those skills in the circumstances of starting a new business?

Clues

A natural entrepreneur has a knack for spotting opportunities and acting on them quickly. This talent usually shows up early in life, not just in work-related activities but in other circumstances too, such as school projects or volunteer activities. To uncover such events in a person’s life, I often ask simple questions.

– Tell me about a time when you felt strongly about something and were able to recruit others and lead the charge down a new path or new venture.

– Give me an example of where you motivated others to start up a group in order to bring about some kind of change.

– Tell me about any projects that you’ve started from scratch with others.

– Tell me about a business or hobby enterprise that was failing and you got excited about turning it around.

– What is easier for you—getting a project off the ground or maintaining it once it’s up and running?

– When you find yourself as part of a group or team and things get bogged down, how do you normally react? (Can you give me an example of when you took the ball yourself and ran with it?)

My client’s answers to these questions revealed no knack for taking the initiative or recruiting others to help him start projects. Instead, they revealed a strong inclination to be recruited by others and work on solving problems related to new business ventures. The challenge and variety of such problems brought out the best in him.

He often gravitated to roles in new ventures where he could operate as a Key Contributor, getting involved in activities that were crucial to the success of the project or business. Other team members valued him as a stabilizing influence in what were often very fluid, challenging situations. He was the kind of team player that may not always be noticed when he’s there but is very much missed when he isn’t.

New Path

When this pattern was pointed out to him, he realized that his entrepreneurial aspirations were really a reaction to his current job as a cog in a very large wheel of a Fortune 500 company’s with firmly established policies, procedures and practices. He was expected to do the same thing day in and day out, which was a direct conflict with his natural inclination to be involved with a variety of challenging problems related to new ventures.

Of course, he can start his own business, using determination and business skills…but over the long run he would probably be drained by such a venture and be unmotivated to continue, or find that recruiting others (as staff and customers) might be too stressful.

As we explore options together, he may find that a much better job fit for his combination of experience, education, strengths and preferences is to rebrand for a senior Manager role in a high-growth company or franchise where his knack or solving new venture problems would be recognized and rewarded.