By Piya Khanna
An even more important reason to be selfish in following your heart’s desire is that if you don’t, you will eventually end up being miserable and resenting the people and reasons that you allowed to talk you out of doing what you want. It’s a strange aspect of being human – we are brought up to please others and not hurt their feelings, so often we don’t say no to others and then hurt ourselves in the process. The question I invite you to consider is, is it worth it? More
By Sab on 31 August 2010 at 12:11 in Careershifters Blog
Throughout this process of trying out career areas it’s really important to give yourself credit for taking these trials and testing things out. Every new experience is a lesson and something to build on, even if you’ve tried something and it felt like a complete waste of time - it never is, there’s always a lesson to be learnt.
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By Sonia Lakshman
Here’s a question….when you think about your career so far, do you look ahead or behind you? One of the things that really can weigh people down is regretting their choices. Make no mistake regret can be hugely destructive. It takes up such a huge amount of energy and is so unconstructive that it cuts us off completely from the MANY things we may turn to NOW. More
By Marianne Cantwell
A life where you’re no longer putting your dreams on hold seems far away when you have bills to pay, and a CV that doesn’t fit the things you’d love to do. Maybe it’s far away because you’re looking in the wrong place. A single off-the-shelf ‘job’ might not be the answer – relying on an employer to see your potential in a new field might just keep you paralysed in a career dilemma forever. If you love a lot of things, you like variety, and don’t want to be trapped in a boring career, then CREATING a bespoke free range career opens up new possibilities. More
By Simon North
Is economic motivation and need really enough by itself to keep us in our current careers? The scales are tipped heavily in favour of employers who have used economic reward as the primary lever for ensuring employee retention. This money-orientated approach, though, is at odds with the basic human needs of many. Research has proven time and again that human needs are not based solely on economic motivation. Read more to find out what really drives us... More
By Sab on 12 August 2010 at 16:55 in Careershifters Blog
In day to day life, we're not so often aware about how we put a spin on every circumstance that happens to us (or that we make happen). We don't sit around and debate what 'spin' we're gonna put on eg a job loss or our spouse relocating for work.
But the 'spin' or 'take' that we put on these things (often big, life changing things) is crucial as to an extent it determines our emotions and feelings to these happenings, which in turn will determine our actions. And this is also true of when we start to think about potential careers that we might like to do in the future.
Read on!
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By Sab on 4 August 2010 at 16:37 in Careershifters Blog
Simon from Position Ignition recently wrote an article for us about graduates who go straight into professional careers with a lot of specific training (such as accountants, lawyers, doctors) and find after a few years that they really don't enjoy their line of work.
I have some friends who are in this situation and I think it will become very very common for graduates in these areas to leave the profession earlier, rather than spend forty years doing work they don't enjoy. You can read my take on the issues and ideas that come up in this blog post!
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By Simon North
Sab asked me for my thoughts on graduates who’ve gone into traditional professional areas, such as the City or law, and want to quit that profession after 2 to 4 years,. If you’re in this position, you might be thinking what a waste it’s been; to work and train to be a certain type of professional for five years only to now ‘throw it down the drain’ because it’s not what you want to do. In truth, nothing we do in the world of work is wasted. More
By Sab on 2 August 2010 at 13:53 in Careershifters Blog
For a while now i've been picking up a free magazine each Wednesday when I pass through tube stations here in London called 'Stylist' magazine. It has a couple of full page features every week that are relevent for career changers, male or female! I always find them interesting to read, and may help you consider jobs you might not have before, as well as stories of people who have their own businesses.
I believe you can get it in main cities in the UK, at central London tube and rail stations, in some French Connection shops, and better yet it's now available online here
Relevant pages are: 'Work Life' (around page 13) and 'Sixty Second Therapist' (the last content page in the magazine)
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By Sab on 28 July 2010 at 17:24 in Careershifters Blog
I’ve been thinking about dream career changes – and actually, a lot of the time when I let my mind wander to what could be, it becomes more than just the job itself. Often a ‘career change’ can be more like a life change – it can mean relocating, working in a different way (eg freelance rather than employed by a company), focusing more on friends/family/hobbies, and creating a different way of living your life. Not only can the job itself be an important part of the change, but how about how you get to work? To have no more long hours of commuting on tubes and crowded suburban trains is a huge lifestyle change. Or, if you relocate to another place, your commute could be windsurfing to work (oh yes, there is a guy in Brighton who does this!)
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