Career Change Clinic: How to reconnect with your passion and bring it into your career

Careershifter Question: I’ve had an extremely successful career as a performing musician but had very little work for the past 5 years due to a decrease in session work. I tried various volunteer placements and completed a few courses in teaching but not really enjoyed them.

Because I’ve spent the last 15 years working towards a music career I think I should do something in this area but realised that teaching is not my thing. I’ve ended up specialising in fundraising by accident after various temp admin and data entry jobs I had to do to pay the bills. I’m a bit stuck now as my CV is just full of fundraising jobs.

I enjoy working with people and recently completed a counselling course but the fees are extremely high which put me off a bit. Do you have any tips on how I can get out of my current position and discover what I really want to do?”

Here is my answer…

The first step is to get clear about what it is you would really love to do. This may or may not be related to music, it seems clear that teaching is not for you.

Brainstorm work options that relate to your core passion or interest area

Are there other areas of music that you might be interested other than being a musician? For example working in a recording studio/production, or working in live events as a sound technician or stage manager? This isn’t to say ‘give up’ on being a musician, rather making your income from something you will enjoy whilst you pursue music outside of paid work.

Get clear on your niche

How much did you enjoy the counselling course? If your heart isn’t really in it then that’s fine, but if you think it is what you want to do then perhaps find the niche that you might like to work with. This will motivate you to pursue it further. For example you might want to work exclusively with people who work in the entertainment/arts industries as you can relate to them (I know of a woman who does this).

Set up dates to do activities that make you come alive

If you’re really not feeling terribly inspired by much at the moment, then doing activities that will lift your spirits is actually an effective and useful start. For some career changers, when they start doing things for the pleasure of it they can turn into their new career route. Are there any activities, hobbies, projects you would like to try simply for the joy of it? Are there any old interests you used to have that you might want to re-engage with? In what situations do you feel the most alive? What could you plan for next week that would really make you excited and look forward to?

Make a list of all the times you have been feeling very alive, happy, content, excited, in your flow. What were you doing, where were you, with who? Not just at work, but across all areas of your life. See if you can find a common thread. It may be 'being amongst creative people', 'being outdoors', physical activity etc. These clues can help you start to define what you need in your next career.

These Careershifters articles might help:

• How To Create Your New Career Direction
• Getting Happy First

The Careershifters Guide has a comprehensive number of exercises you can do to establish your values, skills, preferred working environment.

Try to take some time to get in touch with what really makes you happy, inspired, and come alive, rather than try to 'fit' yourself into jobs. When you get clear on who you are and what you want, you'll find it easier to find or create the kind of work that is right for you.
 

Do you have a career change question you would like answered? Email me at sab@careershifters.org. I will answer as many as I can and your question may be used anonymously on the site.