Searching for a career change? 3 reasons to get off Google
I left school with zero ideas about what I wanted to do (as was so often asked) or 'be' when I grew up. As the end of senior school loomed, I spent stressful, solitary hours in 'the careers room' rifling through tiny drawers stuffed with job profiles. This exercise in futility and frustration just fuelled my anxiety about not having my career plan done and dusted. Why was I so clueless?
I did a degree in Biology because it had been my favourite subject at school but it didn’t feel that way at uni.
Falling into my first career
To this day, I'm still not sure how I 'fell' into my first short-lived career in 'Relocation.'
Despite having just moved to London myself, I was helping business people relocating to London to find a house and get established. After a longish nanosecond, I realised that despite being good at getting clients sorted and settled, relocation wasn't for me. Once again, panic gripped my chest, and career anxiety flooded my brain.
While I could no longer retreat to the career room, I now had Google.
A marketing misadventure
After some marathon moaning and brainstorming sessions with housemates, someone keen to help suggested 'market research’. I'd done a smattering of research as a student. But I'd never 'done' marketing or spoken to anyone who worked in anything remotely resembling this industry.
In short, I knew nothing about market research and felt no buzz at all when I thought about it. However, every long and winding lead I chased down on Google led me to believe 'I could do this.'
Besides, I was desperate to jump the 'relocation' ship, so I did.
Sadly, the job I landed didn't match my virtually fuelled vision of life as a market researcher. Interminable desk-bound hours checking mountains of data on women's shaving habits just wasn't the career move I was seeking.
While my early careers in relocation and market research weren’t wildly successful, I learned some solid career change lessons.
Lesson 1 – Don't fall for a cyber inspired career change
An internet assessment can tell you some cool things about a potential career. But leaping into that career based on your virtual research probably won't pay off.
Ten years on from my first shaky foray into market research, I felt my next significant career change looming.
I'd built a successful career in marketing and project management in the charity and not-for-profit sectors, but I needed to do things differently.
This time around, I set a firm quota for virtual career change searches. Because no matter how much I loved doing online tests and reading books and articles, they could only take me so far.
I needed to reduce the 'frying pan to fire' risk of swapping one unsatisfying career for another. How could I explore where I might fit and where I might find purposeful, fulfilling work?
How could I test out a career before I decided to do it?
I knew I wasn't going to figure this out by trying to figure it out! The answer wasn't in my head or on Google.
Lesson 2 –Real-world research yields quick results
I knew I couldn't change careers from my virtual or real-time comfort zones. Although it felt like I was 'doing something,' hours of Google time didn't help me calculate my career change risks. To do that, I had to get up from my desk and out into the real world.
While I'd long ago learned that I wasn't a marketer, I still wondered if I was a researcher. Would researching social issues to help brilliant charities have a greater impact meet my need to make a difference?
So, I spoke to a researcher working in this area, and soon after, I found a volunteering opportunity with a social enterprise. Very quickly, I learned that research still wasn't for me. Question answered. Research career crossed off the list.
Lesson 3 – Humans are hardwired to help
My shiniest gems of insight and information came from planned and random conversations with generous humans. Loads of kind, capable people took time to tell me about their jobs' charms and challenges. They put me in touch with others I could talk to, recommended organisations, courses, books, and articles they thought might help.
I learned about the day-to-day reality of dozens of different careers. These career change conversations led me to two volunteering roles, shadowing a workshop, several short courses, and finally, a short-term contract while I set up my coaching business.
When I launched Jo Green Coaching, conversations and contacts found me office space and some of my first coaching clients.
Lost in a career change internet maze? I know the way out. Get in touch.
By Jo Green, Career Change Coach
I help people who don’t like their job to figure out what to do instead! I can help you explore what meaningful work is for you. I’ll work with you to lessen the stress of changing careers.
Drop me a note to organise a free 20 minute consultation to chat about your career change and how coaching could help.
