Wanting a Career Change with No Direction

I get this email over the weekend from a friend who is trying to change careers. And I really want to help the person, but I am reminded of how often I get these emails. People are looking for a career change and they are searching for someone to connect them with someone who will give them a job or an opportunity. I’ll tell you right now, if I recommend you to one of my contacts, chances are you’re going to get a job because I have a reputation of the people I connect. I also can tell you, that I’m not perfect and I have been called before from my contacts and they’ve been quick to say, “Who the hell did you send my way?! This person is a hot mess.” So for that reason I am very careful who I recommend.

I think that we all have desires to better in our life, but sometimes we are quick to ask for that “hook up” before we think logically about what we are doing. Epiphanies are great, I understand that. But you know what really speaks volumes, a well organized presentation. PERFECT EXAMPLE, I don’t know if many of you watch Entourage, but Turtle goes to Ari with a business proposition. The conversation they have is profound. Ari tells Turtle that before he introduces him to investors, he has to prove that his idea is a good one. And that takes effort and time. You have to sit down and figure out a plan for how things are going to work out.

So if you are a government worker, who works as an administrative aide, do not send me an email telling me you have determined that you passion is in event planning and would like to me to connect you with people in my network. A better approach would be to first start off by asking me what advice I can give you. And to be honest with you, I’m probably going to send you to one of my contacts then. But, I will preface your interaction with them as advisory only. A person seeking to change careers wants advice on how to transition into that career. That advice may be as simple as you need to get some education, or it may be jobs on a smaller level that you can take to build that experience. However, I will still insist that you sit down and really think about what you want to do, what is your end goal and what you think it will take you to get there. Are you willing to do all that will be required of you? Do you have a realistic idea of what you want to do? Are you willing to grind hard to enjoy the sandy beaches and summers off?

Just my thoughts.

With Respect, Dr. J