Debunking a Few Career Myths
Who says you have to be young, quit your current job or make a radical shift when changing careers? Get the facts on switching from one field to another.
November 16, 2005
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MYTH: Most career changers know which direction they'll take.
FACT: It isn't a straight-line process, like getting a job. There's a lot to explore, and a variety of options to test before taking the plunge.
MYTH: A career change is a radical shift.
FACT: Who says it has to be a 180-degree shift? For some, it is a seamless transition, with a new career based on a previous one and little or no additional training required. To illustrate, the engineer who works as a sales engineer continues to use technical know-how.
MYTH: Success in changing careers requires youth.
FACT: It's relatively easy to change careers before age 30. Little is lost because so little time has been spent in the workplace. Age complicates things. Skilled workers in their 30s point out that they have too many personal and family responsibilities to consider switching. And workers age 40 to 49 often note that they're too old to learn a new skill. Consider this: Why delay changing careers at age 40 because you think you're too old? In four years, you'll be 44 whether you switch careers or not.
MYTH: Changing careers means starting with a clean slate.
FACT: Nothing is further from the truth. Like it or not, the work you've done in the past leaves indelible traces on a new career. Jennie Keatts is a hotel and travel marketer turned jewelry designer. Her past marketing skills influence how she promotes her line of jewelry.
MYTH: The first step is to quit working, and then prepare for a career change.
FACT: Who says the transition needs to be so drastic? While medical schools typically require a full-time academic schedule, many professional and graduate schools and community colleges conduct evening and weekend classes. Hands-on skills as a chef or carpenter can be learned by moonlighting. There's little reason that co-workers or a boss need know that you're considering a new career. This way you learn while you're still a paid employee.
MYTH: Career changes can be made within a company.
FACT: According to career coach Bill Stanley of Ridgewood, N.J., the concept of the corporate generalist is disappearing in larger organizations, and when it exists, only a relatively few up-and-comers are picked as intracompany career changers. We live in an age of specialization. Companies are not interested in turning marketing types into purchasing agents. They'd rather hire purchasing agents. As a result, companies that are downsizing employees in one sector are hiring workers for another part of the operation. There are two main exceptions to this phenomenon: In smaller companies, managers and professionals are still expected to handle multiple assignments, and the military continues to move personnel into different types of jobs and leadership positions as part of its officer-leadership training.
MYTH: Central corporate offices are passé.
FACT: In some ways work has become decentralized. It is being done at home by telecommuters, part-timers, and contract employees. Employees like the arrangement; they work on their own turf yet maintain corporate relationships and benefits. It's a cottage-industry environment with "Fortune 500" guidelines. As you consider changing careers or work arrangements, don't disparage the future of centralized offices, however. New and even larger corporate headquarters are being built both downtown and in suburbia. When climbing the management ladder is a career goal, telecommuters need to accept the idea that with new corporate responsibility comes an obligation to work in an office.
From Switching Careers, by Robert K. Otterbourg, Kiplinger Books, 2001