I get a number of emails from people unsure about their career choices. For example, recently I received a letter from someone who said:
“I am a Business Consultant in IT on a decent income and final salary pension, with 10 weeks off a year through working part time. I am tired of commuting and want a career which uses my favourite transferable skills (Advising/coaching/counselling/mentoring; Imagining/Inventing/creating or designing new ideas; Teaching, training or designing educational events) applied to my favourite fields of interest (Neuro Linguistic Programming/ Life work Planning) and is an easy journey from my home.
I have been working through What Color is Your Parachute?
I have been wondering whether it’s feasible to really make a career transition, while maintaining income and terms and conditions to help support my family.
I have a MBA and recently have become a certified Master Practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming.
Have coached others at work, and enjoy it much more than the ‘day job’”
To many people you are probably seen as having a great job – good holidays, index linked pension, but you want to use more of the skills you want to rather than the ones you use in your current consultancy role.
Making a career change is certainly possible and I’ve worked with clients who have gained up to a 50% increase in salary, although that is where there is a close relation to the work they have previously done.
To make a change of career people sometimes need to take a step back, salary wise, but a lot depends on how well you can convince companies of the relevance of what you have done before.
With what you have described, looking for an alternative career path in your current or similar career would look like a good route to take.
Have you explored options within your company – I don’t mean just waiting to see jobs advertised but raising your profile on what you want to do and being proactive to introduce a new role. I’ve helped some of my clients find the job they want within their company when they had no idea this was possible.
A lot of what you describe sounds like working for a consultancy company or even working for yourself. For the consultancy route you could identify companies to contact and do a self marketing campaign.”
