Career Change -- Stage 1 Cashing in on experience

I have the feeling that many of you are in the process of a career change. In today's dynamic economy where whole industries are disappearing or going off shore, technology is replacing the human worker, retraining is becoming more and more expense for employee and employer in terms of both time and money, and most jobs are in the long run temporary, the challenge for older workers, as well the threat that change brings, can be frightening.

I have been asked by individuals faced with these problems, "How can I go about finding a new job? Should I change professions or careers? Should I get another degree or certificate?

What these questions tell me is, the individual is emotionally stressed by the prospect of a major change in their life situation and have not yet accepted the fact that this is the current reality. It also tells me that they have lost confidence in their own worth and have become fatalistic about the future. Such individuals are often in crisis and fail to see that crisis is a time of opportunity for those who are willing to exploit it.

My advice is a two stage approach: Stage 1:  Who are you, and Stage 2: Where do I fit?  We will look at Stage 1 in this essay and Stage 2 in the followup.

STAGE 1: Who are you?
I recommend that you take a serious look at your profile (resume). If necessary bring it up to date and expand it. In the academic world, we have a CV or curriculum vita that serves as our resume and is required when applying for an academic position.

The CV includes all of your accomplishments to date in the three areas important to an academic appointment: research, teaching and service. In the CV you show off the broad range of professional life experiences and interests you have achieved to date. It describes the tools chest that you own and that you can bring to the job. Degrees and certificates are only a part of the tool box - they are the starter hammer, screw driver, wrench, and tape measure. What is of real interest is what you have done with these and the choices you have made, based on your experience, to add to that tool box. You need to rethink your resume in terms of a CV or a tool box.

A carpenter's tool box maybe well organized or not depending on the carpenter. However, as an outsider, the picture one sees is also confusing and can and will be interpreted by others as something belonging to a person who lacks of focus or spends all of his/er time in the hardware store buying tools. I am not being negative here -- I have and still do fall into the same camp.Your CV will look like this if you have had kind of life.

Your goal, which we will address in Stage 2, is to prepare a resume (tool kit) that you can take to the job that meets the needs of the job, not to show off your tool collection. That means selecting the right tools for the job and leaving the rest at home. I have had to surrender some ego and recast myself into the mold that best fits my clients needs and perceptions in order to get a job or assignment. To do this successfully I find the following to be an effective strategy.

STEP 1:
The first task you face is to identify what it is is you want to do with this background. You can do this by answering the following a set of  functional questions.1. What problem(s) do you like to and want to solve? 2. For who do you want to solve them? 3. Who pays for such solutions?

STEP 2:
Once you have answered these for yourself, I would recommend looking at your interests and experience in terms of skill sets and NOT the statuses you have occupied which you usually list in your resume. Define yourself in terms of the skill set that best matched question 1 above, instead of who I worked for. I would look at these in terms of where and how I learned and practiced the skills.

STEP 3:
You must have a preference or two of who and where you'd like to work for or with. That is where you want to apply those skills, question 2. Look at who you have worked for or with and ask yourself what was the best and worst experiences I had in that organization or on that job? How would I maximize joy/pleasure and minimize my dissatisfaction in these cases?

STEP 4:
Finally and most important is question 3 -- who are you going to sell yourself to? This is the business model for your marketing and job/career search. Where are your ethical and moral parameters? Are they realistic in regard to your financial and career goals?

These are the beginning steps, especially for someone such as yourself who is in the process of a career change to making the right career choice. Once you have organized your needs (strengthens and weaknesses) you can then begin stage 2. Looking for a job, assignment, or position that fits your needs and desires.

Transition from Job to Career: Yes or NO

  I recently had a conversation with an individual I will call John Doe. John is facing doubts about his current job and where it is leading. The routine of the job has started to wear on him, and he is wondering if there is anything else. This is all too common at certain stages of your life.

John is a college professor who teaches anthropology (specifically archaeology) and is tenured. While most of the time he enjoys what he does, he is beginning to feel trapped. .

   Here is what I suggested. Maybe there is a message for you as well.

Dear John Doe,

  It seems like you are facing that great moment is life when the question "What if?', or What if only?" It is a matter of "the road less traveled" or "not traveled." This is the moment when we consider whether we want to be defined by who we are or by what we are. That is, by our job title(s) or by our career (accomplishments).

  You say that "Some of my difficulty is situational. I am extremely isolated where I am, at least in terms of my own professional development.." Let me ask, "who or what owns your life -- you or your profession?" You can develop your personal life so that the profession contributes to it, or you can let your profession dictate what kind of life you will have. That is, you can develop your individuality or you can be the status/role that your professions dictates that you will be allowed to achieve. Your description of your situation suggests to me that you are currently thinking like an "organization" man i.e. what the profession tells you to think ,rather than about your own self interest.

  Turn the question around. It is NOT what are the short coming of your profession relative to others -- it is what are the short comings of these other disciplines that "I as an archaeologically trained and experienced professional fill?" Note I said "archaeological training and experienced" this is a skill set NOT a job title, i.e. status nor a role.

  Now you say, "There are lots of lovely people to work with if I want to become a geologist, ecologist, criminologist, etc. but I am the only archaeologist for miles, ditto for people working my particular geographic region (Southern Andes)."

  In the business world, to have a monopoly on a product and a territory can be very profitable. If you are the only archaeologist around then I would ask who in addition to the college consumes archaeological services that could be my customer? If you are the only person in your area who is doing archaeology focused on the Southern Andes  I would ask, "Who in my area needs expertise the southern Andes?" This isolation that you feel, may actually be your greatest strength.

You say,

    " I have never been more in love with work that I do as an intellectual pursuit. I am enchanted with the cultures and places that I study and am enjoying thoroughly exploring these places and melt at the beauty, grandeur and mystery of the ancient heritage I find there. In my meeting and studying the people I encounter there, I am moved by the plight of the poor - both rural and urban -- and would like help  And I would hate to give this all up for just a desk job. Hence, my dilemma."

  What I see here is an excitement and enthusiasm.This person, who is speaking, is the real you.You are identifying your interests and these point to a potential solution to your concern. Here is where you should be looking for a solution to your personal desires. Your question is, How can I apply my archaeological training and experience, teaching experiences, and writing experience to create a new career for myself that address my real interests?

 One way is to disassemble your skill set from your title, your self imposed definition of who you think you are or have become. Then look at what the skills can be used for and, where you can find the joy and pleasure you find in your mastery and experience. Look there and weigh your options.

  For example, Writing popular articles about southern Andean archaeology and travel rather than worrying about the academic straight jacket of peer reviews. A blogging on the subject gives you editorial control, while writing for travel magazines will give you editorial feedback to help you get out of the academic writing mode. Or, become a guide for Elderhostel tours to the area where you have done field work, for example. You are an expert here. Or, write a novel based on your experiences and fantasies.The point is use your skills and knowledge to build a wider audience and broaden your outlook.

   One warning, before you make a move, I would strongly suggest that you review your current retirement and medical benefits. What would  the impact of changing employers or jobs be on your situation; and what flexibility do you have there in terms of the portability of your benefits?. You need to know and be aware of the risks you are taking in any change.

   I take exception to the advice you are getting about tenure and waiting until you retire. Tenure is the trap that you expressed in your initial feelings. If you wait to retire before you explore these other opportunities, it may be too late. Who knows what your health will be then, or even the reasons or conditions that might be forced your retirement. But if the security of tenure is most important to you then that is your decision.

  Finally point, what you are experiencing is normal and the experience of reflection is in itself a worthy one.

Good luck in whatever you decide!"

A Simple Truth about Image

Are you a valuable human resource or a self promoting celebrity?   A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Allison M. Vaillancourt reminds us that, as the sole proprietor of our own career, we need to focus on how we go about marketing ourselves. Vaillancourt makes 5 sound points that we all should consider.

  1.  First, do no harm. 
  2.  Be focused.
  3.  Share your ideas as much as possible
  4.  Be appropriately visible, but not perpetually available.
  5.  Let others promote you.

How do you promote your business?   Are you a resource or a self promoting celebrity?