St.Louis Business Journal
NEW CAREERS MORE LIKELY TO COME FROM WHO YOU ARE THAN FROM YOUR PAST OCCUPATION

By Anna Navarro

January 2009  

Examples in this column are fictionalized to protect privacy and told with permission.



Trying to find a new job in a shrinking field, or re-tread your most recent occupation into something related, can be very difficult in the current economic environment. The volume of candidates simply exceeds the openings. People in this situation are often better served by developing a new career direction based on their unique strengths and personal preferences rather than their prior work history.

Ann and Franklin were both commercial lending officers in banks. They lost their jobs when the companies they were working for imploded and were taken over by other financial institutions. The new careers they embarked on were radically different.

Franklin had been drawn into banking by his father-in-law who was a well-established figure in the industry. Though he had succeeded and been promoted several times, he found the competition with his co-workers for loan volume stressful.

As we analyzed his history, what surfaced was his strength in math, a subject in which he had excelled throughout his education. He was great at calculus and statistics, and enjoyed working with computers. He had an undergraduate degree in Economics. His favorite part of being a loan officer was the financial analysis.

Ann’s profile was very different from Franklin’s though she too had been a very successful commercial loan officer prior to the industry’s troubles.

Ann’s greatest strength was making presentations and handling tough questions. She had won many speech contests in college, and the part of her work as a commercial loan officer that she liked best was making presentations to potential clients. Unlike Franklin, she really disliked the financial analysis part of the work. She had a great sense of humor, and had found that making people laugh was a great way to break the ice.

Franklin liked working for large organizations, and preferred a work situation where there were parameters and clearly defined operating procedures. Ann, on the other hand, was most comfortable as a solo operator, making up her own rules.

After coming to terms with what was important to him in a career, Franklin brainstormed several potential career directions. Then he systematically explored the careers that were most appealing to him by doing research on the internet and in the library, and by talking to people who were in those fields. After eliminating several possibilities, he decided to pursue becoming an actuary.

The field requires a strong foundation in math, statistics and general business as well as a series of certifications based on exams given by professional associations. But it doesn’t require a formal degree, which was ideal.

Even better, Franklin learned that promising candidates are often hired before certification, and that many employers pay the certification fees and allow time for new hires to study for licensure on the job.

Once he had a clear direction, it didn’t take long for Franklin to find a job in the insurance industry as an actuary. He’s just getting started, but is very excited about his future.

An interesting issue that surfaced for Ann as we explored her passions was spectator sports. She understood the ins and outs of baseball, basketball and football, including the strategies, the players and the history.

Among the ideas that we brainstormed and that she investigated was being a professional public speaker. She talked to people in the field and became an active member of the National Speakers Association, a professional group that is very helpful in aiding it’s members to launch and sustain successful professional speaking careers.

She’s now planning to launch a new career as a professional public speaker. She’s starting with humorous after dinner talks focussed on sports. While there are several prominent male speakers who use sports as the jumping off point for their talks, her research showed she would be the only woman with this as her theme. As of this writing, she has already booked several appearances, and her business plan is moving along as projected.

Franklin and Ann -- two successful commercial lending officers with very different strengths and personal needs -- re-invented themselves in very different ways. But both embarked on new careers that are very promising.

If you've been working in a career like banking or real estate or others that have experienced major shrinkage recently, and are out of work, you might do well to consider the possibility that your next position is more likely to come from who you are as an individual, than from your past occupation.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that works with clients on an individual basis to help them find more satisfaction and fulfillment in their work-lives. She can be reached by phone at (314) 367-0008 and her e-mail address is email@worktransitions.com. For more information visit the worktransitions.com website.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.