Reinvent Your Career: Transition Tips for a Fresh Start

I am not scared to share that I am now middle aged - I have accomplished a lot in my 46 turns around the sun, including a 25-year career as a strategic HR professional.  An interesting part of my story is how I ended up becoming a business owner and consultant in the first place.  For years, I focused on progressing my career as a strategic HR leader at national and global firms. I loved being able to work with and support senior managers and executives in leading their workforce priorities.  I had secure, stable employment working within established and renowned HR teams.  So why did I make a change?  To use a well worn cliché, I had midlife ‘career’ crisis. 

It all started three or four years ago when I noticed feeling bored and at times frustrated with my work.  Anyone who has been employed long enough can tell you that there are regular patterns to any profession or trade.  For me instead of these routines feeling reassuring and enjoyable, I found myself dreading the cycles that came with regular HR business partnering.  I was surprised when I spoke to my spouse, my friends, my neighbours, and people in my network, I realized I was not alone.  So many of my peers were in the same boat as me.  I now regularly meet career professionals who after 10, 15, 20 plus years of doing the same or similar work are feeling bored, burnt out, under appreciated, and are finding their career as just means to an end.  

I realized for myself that life is too short to be unhappy, and that simply waiting for retirement to finally be content is a risky gamble.  For one, with all the uncertainty in the world, retirement may look dramatically different by the time we hit 2050. For two, personal health and other matters may result in a change of priorities and timelines. For three, another 20 years doing something I no longer liked was going to negatively impact my marriage and was going to effect my relationship with my kids, friends, and family members.

I knew I wanted to be my best professional self in order to be my best personal self...but changing careers felt like daunting. Like many, I didn’t know what tasks I actually liked (although I knew what I didn’t like), I didn't have the financial resources to invest in a multi year training program, I was busy and didn't have the time to research career opportunities. So where do you even start?  Hiring an expert HR consultant to manage your professional growth can ensure that the second half of your career is the best half.

Madsen HR Consulting is uniquely set up to help you with career transition planning. Below are my tips on how to reinvent your career:

1.      Think of it as career 'pivot' rather than a career 'change'.  It’s a lot easier to visualize doing something that harnesses your current background and experience rather than learning an entirely different profession. For me, it was the shift to consulting rather than being an internal HR business partner that made all of the difference - I am doing a lot of the same work, but in a different way. Plus, with networking an essential part of owning a business, I am flexing a new ‘muscle’ that I hadn’t had to use before.

2.      If your current employer has benefit plans - use them!  Some of my friends are so burnt out that I have had to ask them if they are feeling anxious or depressed.  If that sounds like you, take advantage of the short or long term disability benefits offered by your employer and go on a leave of absence to focus on your mental and physical health.  This can give you the space to really think about what it is you want to do with your life.

3.      Connect with a career coach. Many employers offer Employee and Family Assistance Programs (EFAP) which offer free counselling (including career counselling!).  Take advantage of this under utilized service and speak to a professional who can help you really think about what it is you are passionate about.

4.      Speaking of passions, listen and watch talks by thought leaders who have spent their career learning about this stuff. One that I particularly recommend is Markus Buckingham.  Markus' organiztion helps people harness their motivations into an inspired career.  He has a great tool on his website called the Standout Strengths Assessment.  Take the assessment to get a sense of what motivates you so that you can find a role that focuses on them.

5.     Take advantage of financial unicorns. Does your employer offer you a defined benefit pension plan? This is a rare advantage that you can leverage - you may be closer to a unreduced pension sooner that you think. You can even consider taking a reduced pesion now and help fund establishing yourself in a new career. Speak to your financial planner to see how double dipping may make you wealthier...and happier.

6.      Look next door for inspiration. Think about customers, vendors, or other stakeholders you interact with in your current role, and consider how your skills and knowledge may be a benefit them.  One of my clients manages the delivery department at a retail company and recently I suggested he investigate roles in procurement at one of his suppliers as a career move. His experiences coordinating and managing logistics could be a benefit to an employer with a large purchasing department.

7.      Find a profession that has a short training requirement.  You would be surprised how many there are!  If you already have a strong professional background, investing in a diploma or certificate program can be all that is needed for you to start your new career path. Here are just a few well paid professional roles that require less than a six month educational investment:

• Property Management – with most new builds being multi unit residential housing there is a high demand for qualified property managers to support strata and rental properties.  Each province has different licencing criteria, but most courses can be taken virtually and can be completed in 6 months or less

• Flight Attendants: Do you love to travel, and do you speak more than one language?  Like many industries, airlines are desperate to fill roles and becoming a flight attendant is usually a three-to-six-week full time program followed by on the job training.

• Transportation- Both long/short haul trucking and transit driving pay exceptionally well and again are in industries high in demand for qualified workers.

• First Responders such as fire fighting, paramedic and law enforcement are in high demand with many workers retiring or moving on from the profession. Most training programs are about six months long and some agencies many even provide you with pay while you are completing the training. 

• Professional accredations such as HR, Project Management, Web Design, IT Tech Support, and Database Management can often be completed online and within a few months.  In conjunction with your professional background, getting a designation from a recognized institution can set you up for a great new career.

  
  

My mid-career transiton came from an idea planted by several close friends and finalized by a fateful phone call.  I needed a change that would invigorate me, but that was founded on my professional HR knowledge and training.  It took me two months of dedicated energy to set up my consulting practice and this investment has been completely worth it for me. 

Don’t let yourself remain frozen in an unhappy career- Consider what it is that you want to do and find a way to do it.  Call Madsen HR Consulting and turning your career transition into a reality.