Dead End Job? It’s Never Too Late for a Second Career
Put your hand in the air if you feel trapped in your job. Wow. That’s a lot of hands. And you’ve been doing that job how long? Really? You don’t say.
Well I have some good news for you. There’s life after that job. Heck, there are entire careers out there just waiting for you. Careers where you can once again be excited and fulfilled. The biggest obstacle is you taking the plunge and putting in the effort.
You folks know I don’t mince words. I’ve told you plenty of times to quit your job (like I did in this post where I also told you to stop complaining). If you look at your career and see a big “Dead End” sign and/or you hate driving to the office every day, perhaps it’s time you give a second career a second thought.
I know. It’s daunting. And I’m speaking from experience. I’ve changed roles/careers many times (left the Army, McKinsey, Capital One, and Scotts Miracle-Gro). All departures are hard. They’re scary and confusing. But there is life on the other side.
The most important questions to answer are:
– Should I stay or should I go?
– If yes, where and how?
Let’s figure these out, shall we?
Should you stay or should you go?
Stealing shamelessly from a prior post (mostly because it was awesome guidance when it was first given to me and it’s still awesome today), here’s a way to answer the Clash’s question:
– If you wake up one day and dread going to work, you have a bad meeting coming up.
– If you wake up for a week and dread it every day of that week, you’re on a dog of a project.
– If you wake up for a month and dread it every day of that month, you need to polish your resume.
– If you wake up for two months and dread it for those 60 consecutive days, what the hell are you thinking?!
For the purpose of this post, you also need to take a longer look at your potential growth curve. If it looks like the world before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, you need to consider departing.
We all want to grow. If the opportunities to do so aren’t present at your current gig and you think that situation won’t change anytime soon, you might want to consider bailing to find the next next.
Where to find the next next and how to get there
This is the easiest and hardest question of all. The easy way to handle it is:
What do you love to do? Okay. Go do that.
The hard part is finding “that” and in a manner that enables you to pay your mortgage.
My cousin loves to cook and brew his own beer. He’s (apparently) awesome at it (Matt – you owe me dinner and beer). We spoke a few months ago and he was wondering what to do with his life and where to take his career. I of course kicked him in the pants to go do what he loves.
Now he cooks at a Mexican restaurant (no, it’s not Taco Bell which would be sweet because then I’d get free extra baja sauce on my grilled stuft beef burrito). The thing is, while he’s there he’s learning how to open and run a restaurant. The location he’s at is brand new and the owner is a great mentor/coach. Matt is learning a ton and enjoying cooking while he’s at it. He understands there’s a financial trade-off for chasing his dream. He’s willing to do it and is paying his dues.
As you think about your next next, begin with a list of things you love to do. Interview and network with people. Ask them what they do for a living. Don’t get locked into stereotypes as you think about new opportunities. Really listen to them. When someone starts talking about a bunch of things on your list, you might have found your new home.
If you can’t find that place that enables you to do the things you love, perhaps you should start it yourself. It’s called entrepreneurship. And almost every entrepreneur I know shares one common trait: passion. We do what we love. We bend the world to our will to enable us to continue pursuing our passions. Yes, there’s risk involved but if you make it work, you’ll never work another day in your life because it’s not work when you love what you do.
As far as how to set off down the entrepreneurial path, you can do so with little risk. Seriously. Read this post to find out how.
I know I’m being flip about a weighty topic. The thing is, at some point you have to take action or succumb to inaction. My great-grandfather loved to say “you’re gonna be a long time dead.” That’s about the best motivation I can think of to go out and do what you love instead of being trapped in a job you hate.
If you're in this situation, seriously consider swallowing the fear and leaving of your own free will even without something lined up. I stayed to pay the mortgage and because it was comfortable. I was job hunting, sure, but not with the fervor I am now – after I was let go in part because of my disengagement. Yes, people notice.
I can't tell you how badly I wish I had the courageous setting out to change my career story to tell instead of the taking responsibility for my failure story. I keep trying to figure out the best way to tell it and to keep the focus on my future contribution. But the interviewer will always be weighing that I didn't leave on my own time schedule.
Thanks for the mention! This is great advice for anyone considering to make a switch. Just go for it. It took me a long time to make the decision I did. The pay cut was scary to think about, so I did build some savings just in case.
I've had no regrets about my decision. In addition, I'm really learning that if you're passionate about what you do, you can take your career a lot further. You just can't feign passion, and if you truly do have it, it will show in your work. When I started in my kitchen, I had the least amount of experience out of anyone on the line. Currently, I'm running the kitchen on the Sous Chef's days off.
You're so right, Mike!
Fear holds most people back–they think that where they are is "safer" than anywhere else when really, there is NO security except that which we each create.
I think there's a middle place (between a position you hate and entrepreneurship) that takes effort to find, but that provides security in the long term. It means knowing your own value, knowing what your # 1 customer–your organization–needs to be successful, aligning yourself with those strategies and being flexible in making this match over and over and over.
It means taking responsibility for providing constant value to your customer/employer–and doing so on a daily basis. Everyone can do this within their current organization…if they don't let fear and an employee mindset get in the way.
I call this Career Ownership, and my book Career Ownership: Creating 'Job Security' in Any Economy gives readers an approach that shows them how to do this. While many may look at this as a scary proposition, it's really less scary than going to work every day knowing that you'll be sucked dry before you head home.
The facts are over 55% of the workforce doesn't like what they do. People change careers 3 -5 times during their work life, this all a way of saying "you're not along" if you don't like what you do!
Not to post a shameless plug, but….
As a headhunter for 20+ years, I heard the dissatisfaction in people's voices virtually every day. Finally, I teamed with Dr. David Campbell (Strong – Campbell Interest Inventory, Campbell Interest and Skills Survey, and retired exec at the Center for Creative Leadership) and two, billion dollar industry leaders to form GoHow.
At GoHow.com, we help people change careers, not just their jobs in an easy to use, self paced environment at an affordable price. We help you discover what you’re most interested and best skilled at doing, then we help you go do it!
People spend most of their waking hours thinking about their love life and their career. We can’t help you with your love life, but to not wake up excited about the day ahead is a miserable way to go through life.
Great article!
Sincerely,
Ed Lando
Founder/CEO
GoHow
Well said. Good advice, too. In my previous career-before I left it for a career I love in tech, I would ask people what they'd do all day if hey had a million dollars.
Was a great way to get at folks passion without having to continually answer the question security.