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By Jane
By Selina Barker
1. what it is about fundraising, community, events and exhibitions that really gets you buzzing - both the subject matter and the activities involved.
2. what is it really like to be an events manager - find as many events managers and exhibition coordinators etc to speak to. Make sure that the reality meets your expectations.
With regards to pay cut - you might have to take a paycut in the short term, but maybe not. See what's out there.
And as to combining events with your experience in the health industry - seems like a great idea - brining that expertise to a role that requires it could make up for lack of pure events experience.
My suggestion to you know would be to go out there and talk to as many people as possible with the kind of job that you want.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Selina
Content Director, Careershifters
By Lostinspace
By Selina Barker
5 key questions to ask yourself are:
- What activities do you enjoy?
- What subjects do you love most?
- What environments do you thrive in?
- What are you naturally good at?
- What's really important to you?
Once you have answers to these questions (and give it time - it won't happen over night) you'll be able to start exploring and identifying the careers that will give you that buzz that you're looking for.
I would recommend you consider buying The Careershifters Guide and membership to the Shift Club Online to help you with your career change. http://www.careershifters.org/the-careershifters-guide-and-shift-club-online
By natters
By skuft
By Selina Barker
By Kaycareerscoach
By Jane
By markmccluretoday
By Selina Barker
Hi Pinkwontons! I would stop trying to work things out by THINKING things over. If the exercises aren't getting you any closer to finding a path forward then I suggest that what might work for you is ACTION.
You want to write for a women's magazine? How about writing an article on a subject that inspires and excites you and seeing if you can get it published. Tell you what, I'd happily publish it on the Careershifters site for starters...
You want to open a cafe? Go and help out in a cafe for a weekend, or at a food market stall. I had the same 'cafe dream' and now get my fix by working on my friends' mobile food vans every now and then. I love it.
Careershifting isn't always about changing your job, it's as much about bringing into your life activities that energise you and interests that stimulate you. As you do that you never know how these activities and interests might grow, eventually taking over as the career in your life.
Hope that helps
x Selina
By skuft
Hey Pinkwontons I would second Selina's recommendation. You can be paralysed by thinking yourself into a corner. A friend of mine had the same problem - he ended up "giving up" on finding his dream career and ended up helping his mates renovate a flat and got into property development. Not everyone's cup of tea of course, but the point is, you don't always know the destination, but by doing *something*, you'll begin to find out what it might look like... good luck!
By Jane
By jbjacksons
By feefee
By Selina Barker
I know just the guy for you to contact - Jack Butler at Future Foundations - he's doing just what you're talking about - check it out http://www.thegraduatecourse.co.uk/ or http://www.future-foundations.co.uk/
Jack is a friend of the Careershifters team : )
By Kaycareerscoach
Hi Sylvia,
You do not have to stay in the same stressful, unfulfilling job till you retire. It is now time for you to take stock and make the decision to put all your efforts into finding a job that will not leave you either stressed out or bored silly.
1) The first step of the process is to take a good look at yourself and your life to present, from a personal and professional perspective. Get some paper and write on one side your lifes pleasures and delights and on the opposite side list all the pressures and disappointments. Include anything that you think is relevant such as interests, hobbies or any dreams or career aspirations that you had as a child or young adult. From this can you identify any themes or issues that need to be addressed?
2) Ask yourself what barriers or beliefs are preventing you from finding a more ideal job. For example, "I think I'm too old" or "I can't afford to take a pay cut. " Write these down on the bottom of the same piece of paper. The barriers and blocks that most people put up are fears, the fear of failure.
3) Now think about what you would do if you were free from any financial or practical limtiations. Be as creative and imaginative as possible. Remember the sky's the limit, realism does not come into it! What would be your dream scenario?
Do you believe anything is possible? Question your fears. Is it possible to overcome them? Do they really matter? How will you feel in 5 years time if you are in the same position and your fears and blocks have kept you from taking action?
Good luck, and don't forget to enjoy the journey.
www.kayholdsworth.com
By Sylvia
By markmccluretoday
By Selina Barker
Hi Sylvia,
I've heard a lot of stories of people who have made a successful career change after years in the same company. It IS possible!
One of our Shift Doctors, Jessica, replied to a shifter in a very similar position to you a few months ago. Check out the advice she offered - it's got some great practical exercises: http://www.careershifters.org/node/426
There are also a number of ShiftStories by people who made changes later on in their career.
Start with some inspiration and practical exercises and see what comes of that.
Let us know how it goes!
By Kaycareerscoach
By frosty
By willt
By Kaycareerscoach
By lostlady
By Squirrel
By willt
By Squirrel
By sarah1
By Selina Barker
Hi Sarah,
Seems to me you're a lady with a lot of interests. Me too. And it's great to have so many passions and intersts but can get overwhelming when you attempt to juggle them all AND earn a comfortable living at the same time.
I left a secure job in marketing two years ago and had a brilliant time earning a living doing the things that I loved - I made jewelry, taught Spanish, travelled to Europe and even the US working on events, worked at festivals, sold icecreams, joined a friend of mine on his burrito van. I looked into retraining as a homeopath, a councellor, even a mid-wife at one point...all this and I was working with the Careershifters team running workshops and building this website.
I had a great time but I was living on the breadline and eventually I had to admit that it wasn't a sustainable way of living and my emotional well-being for lack of security (and lack of money to buy food!) was suffering.
My love of advising people on their careers led me to recruitment, specialising in marketing - I'm doing something I love everyday AND earning a reasonable income.
But that doesn't mean I have had to cut out my other interests from my life: I'm still working on Careershifters, still selling icecreams and burritos and working at festivals every now and then. I'm planning to take up photography again, hatching a plan for a Careershifters book (that will raise some eyebrows in the team!) and more.
The point is, when you have so many interests you can't squeeze them all into your career. Career is only one portion of your life. So what I would suggest is that you start making a list of all the activities and interests you want to pursue in your life and then look at the whole of your life and where they can all slot in. And remember you don't have to do it all TODAY.
Have a look at what income you need - could you go down to working 4 days a week, giving yourself that extra day to follow your other interests?
It seems to me that for you it is both a matter of considering a career change AND working on your work-life balance.
I remember meeting a lawyer at one of our Careershifters workshops. She thought she wanted a career change, but realised in the workshop that she wanted a life back. I bumped into her a few weeks later (selling her an icecream!) and she said she was much happier in her job now that she was filling her life outside of work with the activities and interests that she loved.
Give it some thought and let us know how it goes.
Hope that's of some help.
All the best,
Selina
By Sam
By Selina Barker
How much painting and sculpture do you do in your spare time? Often people's frustration in their work is massively amplified when they've stopped doing the things they love in their free time.
If you have a passion inside you for art, how about starting by really expressing that passion outside of work - get back into painting and sculpture in your free time. Take evening classes or weekend classes. Many people find a new career grows out of a hobby that suddenly flourishes. Give that hobby the space and time to grow and see where it takes you.
If you did then decide that you wanted to spend more time on your art work you could look at doing part time work.
When I left my job 2 years ago to change career I decided I wanted to paint and write for a living. By starting to do it seriously in my spare time I realised that actually I enjoyed it most when I could do it as a hobby - doing it to make a living took the fun out of it. The point is, you never know until you try.
By Flambee
By Sam
By taylor
By Selina Barker
Careershifters coach, John Williams, is our resident expert when it comes to making a good living creatively. Plug 'John Williams' into the search box at the top of this page and read through the articles and shift surgeries he's answered on this subject. Also visit his website www.freestylesuccess.com.
By Selina Barker
People always get stuck in a pile of options. It's like we try to jump a few steps ahead of ourselves when wanting to make a career change.
The only way to get clear on what path to take is to go back to basics and work out what you want from your job - what activities you want to be doing, what subjects you're most passionate about, what your strengths, skills and values are. There are loads of articles and exercises on this site to help you with that. Put 'getting started' into the search box and all the relevant expert advice will come up.
Once you're clear on what you want to fill your days with it'll be a lot easier to see what jobs will ofer that.
Try some of the exercises and let us know how it goes.
By Jam99
By catshorty
By Selina Barker
Notice how you say you've 'lost all enthusiasm'. It suggests that you might have once enjoyed the work you do and something has changed.
It's important to remember, when you start getting fed up and jaded by the work you do, that maybe the job in and of itself isn't the problem. Don't immediately think that you have to make a dramatic change. A total career change isn't always the answer and it's important that here at Careershifters we make that clear.
We've had people come to us thinking they want a total change, only to realise that they had forgotten to enjoy life outside of work. They weren't just bored of life - they were bored of life.
Some of them found the solution was to start new hobbies or revive old hobbies. I knew a lawyer who started writing a novel in her spare time - went to creative writing evening classes - and her life transformed and she started to enjoy her job as a lawyer again.
Start by going out there and enjoying life - try new things, make time for the things you love. You'll either start enjoying your work more or will be inspired as to what else you can do. It's a win-win situation.
By Selina Barker
Hi Vicki,
You sound like you're pretty clear on what want and don't want and what your skills and strengths are. That's brilliant.
You're at the exciting stage of exploring your options and looking at what jobs match your criteria.
But you're making the classic mistake of having a good idea and immediately discounting it with an 'I don't think it's possible'.
If the National Trust is something that appeals then get in touch with them. Check out their website - http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk - they have lots of volunteering opportunities which is a great way to first get involved. You'll be able to explore what you enjoy doing and will meet the right people to help you find out what paid opportunities there are.
So my recommendation is to get in touch with them this week and let us know how it goes!
Good luck.
Selina
By vicki
By sk1982
By Selina Barker
Don't worry, you're not alone - this kind of confusion is very common! I certainly went through it - I was overwhelmed by all the choice out there, not to mention everyone's different opinions.
First of all, I would suspect that the reason you're not getting much love from agencies or employers is that you're still not clear on what you want. They can't make up your mind for you.
Employers and agencies are looking for people that are clear and committed on what they want - otherwise how do they know you won't change your mind and leave the job 3 months down the line.
It sounds like you've been doing plenty of thinking - for a year a half! Which is good - you need to spend time mulling your options over. But it's not getting you closer to any kind of resolution. What I would suggest is that you get back to basics.
Rather than thinking in terms of job titles, get back to working out what activities you enjoy on a day to day basis, what kinds of people you like to hang out with, what working environments you thrive in, what your passions and values are. There are lots of articles and exercises in the 'Getting Started' section of the site that will help you with this.
I'd also suggest booking in a few sessions with a coach - they are great at guiding you out of the confusion and into clarity.
By Selina Barker
Hi Deedee,
Actually most people, when they get fed up with their job, like you have NO IDEA what they want to do. I certainly didn't when I decided to make a career change at 26. Check out my Shiftlog on this site and you'll see how I went about working out what I wanted to do.
If you love travelling chances are that, like me, you love new experiences and love exploring. I took that spirit of adventure and applied it to my career change.
I started trying out new activities, sought out opportunities for new experiences and made an effort to do things that I had once enjoyed or had always dreamed of doing.
As I did this I made a conscious note of the activities and environments that really made me buzz and began to get a clear picture of what were the 'must-haves' for me to be fulfilled at work.
I helped friends on their stalls at festivals, I got involved in projects - offering my services for free, I enrolled in a ceramics course to design my own jewelry, ran a Spanish workshop once a week in the evening and more.
I did this for two years before choosing a new career to settle into and it was every bit as exciting as my days of travelling.
So, what I would suggest, is get into action - get out there and start discovering what activities and environments make you buzz. And check out the expert advice for exercises that will help you at this early stage of your career shift.
Good luck!
Selina
By Deedee
By riskee1
By Selina Barker
Have you read the expert advice and exercises written by career coaches in the 'Getting Started' section? (type 'Getting Started' into the search bar and they'll all come up). You'll find exercises that will help you get clear on what's important to you, what activities you enjoy and what work environments you thrive in so that you can begin to visualise a picture of what a fulfilling work day would look like to you.
And don't worry about people thinking you're crazy about making a career change - most career shifters report that. I found that it was the people that ALSO wished they had a different job but were too afraid to make the change themselves that were the most negative about me making a change.
You're lucky to have the support of your husband.
Let us know how you do with the exercises.
Best wishes,
Selina
By Grezza
By Selina Barker
Hi Grezza,
First of all you're not alone - anyone who has made a career change has gone through that initial phase of 'what am I going to do?!' panic. I had plenty of noise and blurred thoughts going on when I went through my career change - just check out my shiftlogs! Great news is that you DO know what you enjoy - 'being out and about intercating with people and facing daily challenges.' And it's true that this could be found in many places, which on one hand can seem overwhelming, but look at it positively - how lucky that there are so many options out there. Sonia, one of our career coaches always says to remember that there isn't ONE right career for each of us. There are lots to chose from that will bring us fulfilment.
What I would suggest is that you start by making a list of jobs that involve being out and about and interacting with people. I also enjoy that and i found that a job in recruitment offers me all of that. Mind you so did working on a burrito van - ultimately one was a little more lucrative than the other!
I'd also suggest you browse through the 'Getting Started' articles and exercises on this site written by top career coaches. They are brilliant at helping you get further clarity on what's important to you in a job.
Anytime you get stuck post a comment and one of us will always answer.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Selina