The Cost of Hiring MistakesPrelude To The Transition
Over the years, I have had many discussions with individuals on the issue of career change and certain patterns have emerged from these observations. When I taught a course in Career Guidance some years ago, I asked each participant to chart their own career development, beginning with the first idea they ever had about a career or a job. Next, they were asked to note the first job they had held, and then to chart the changes and the reasons they had held the variety of jobs they had, culminating in their current position. They were asked to analyze the information, to look at the processes that brought about the various shifts they had made in their careers. One factor was dominant; many attributed most of the changes to ‘forces beyond their control’.

I have also had conversations with many individuals who had reached the end of the road with their careers. Many had entered careers for reasons that they were no longer comfortable with.  Some due to pressure from parents, others due to expectations they had had about a job/vacation before they actually got into it. Whatever the reason, they had come to a point were they needed to make some new decisions. Many of these people were very successful financially yet extremely unfulfilled. The nights were getting shorter and the days were getting longer. They were no longer excited about going to work each day.  

The End of The Road
I remember one woman who had taken every available course in banking. She had done very well and had occupied many senior positions. However, she was at the point were she no longer wanted to take 2 briefcases home with her every night. She yearned for the option to go home and watch television and eat dinner with her husband like normal people. She indicated that after taking all the various banking courses, the only other courses that she wanted to take were to learn to make drapes and to cook Chinese food.

Then there was the case of the gentleman who was very successful in the financial sector, next role - Vice President. But he felt that this was not what he really wanted to do. However, he did not know how to go about making the shift. Even more complicated - how do you walk away from a very good salary? How do you explain to your friends that after all these years you believe that this is not ‘it’?

These situations are far more common than many would expect. The fact is that many people are not brave enough to come to grips with this reality. Career planning is a life-long process. Regrettably, it often begins with the individual choosing an occupation, often based on fantasy and/or insufficient information. Once the person lands that first job and starts to grow in the post or industry, they realize that there a variety of more satisfying options and they have to start thinking about changing careers.

In the past, when many people reached this point, they would just concede and say this is all I can do. The options/choices were just not there, and the cost of starting over was much too great. So they just suffered in silence for the rest of their lives. Today, we are seeing less of this. We are seeing more people who are willing to take the risk, who are willing to try new things and to move into areas that would give them satisfaction.

How do we help people to make this transition with as little pain as possible? We begin by helping them understand that we can divide life into 3 stages.

• Stage 1 – The Learning Stage - Birth to 30 years old. Most people acquire the skills, talent and experience to start to shape their career.
• Stage 2 - This is 30 to 60 years old for most people, employment is the dominant feature here.
• Stage 3 – Self-Employment because life expectancy goes well beyond what is considered the average age of retirement. In future columns we will deal with this as a separate issue as preparing for retirement needs very serious consideration.

Next week we will look at the steps required to successfully change your career.

Dr. Semaj is a frequent facilitator for Strategic Planning Retreats, Cultural alignment and Organizational Restructuring. He conducts Staff Selection and Development Programmes for different business sectors across the Caribbean.

RELATED ARTICLE: How to Change Your Career – Part Two