Career paths... what happens when a crises hits yours?

From Redundancy to Rehire? Make your choice your own!

When I was a twenty something, I scoffed at the idea that when you reach your thirties, you could get kicked to the curb for being too expensive to retain as an employee! Little did I know that it is a fact of business life! Many businesses actively seek to employ a cost centric approach to talent retention thus seeking to shed expensive employees they do not consider “critical” to their business and those unlucky enough to be considered expendable are let go normally through the redundancy process.

So, what to do? How do we navigate career breaks especially when spurned by either redundancy or indeed a ‘mid life crises’ where one becomes unbearably unhappy in their career?

Acceptance is key. Without a clear understanding of yourself, your work life satisfaction and your current position of being made redundant or needing a new career to save your sanity, you will not be successful in any change effort.

Passion lost is passion waiting to be found. Steve Job’s once said “don’t settle, follow your heart” and when you are at a mid career cross roads; you need to think about what makes you happy. Find that occupation, which stirs your passion for work and you will find your direction in life.

Planning is essential. Don’t assume you will get a job in a month, curtail all unnecessary expenditure immediately and make your personal budgetary plans viable but ridged as to support your plans for the future in a realistic manner.

Research the market to understand how it works, what is effective and what tools are effective such as social media for job searching and show casing skills and expertise through blogging and social media engagement.

Research your career of choice; do not assume any 3^rd party will do it for you. It’s your life and your success depends on you more then you think. Bad circumstances only get good through persistence, intelligent thought leadership and planned actions. Be sure those efforts are driving you on the road you want to be on, rather then the road you find yourself on.

Don’t assume, verify. It’s nothing short of a tragedy when a seasoned professional assumes its too costly or risky to become X when you were Y for so long. Change your outlook to “how can I make this happen”? This will allow thinking outside of the box, maybe downsizing personal expenses and taking a lower level role in Y, which can free you up to study and enact a transition plan to X? It will not be possible if you assume it cannot be done!

Beware of a stale mind! For those unhappy in their careers, plan your career change in your job and don’t throw in your resignation until you have a transition plan that is financially and operationally viable. For those unluckily made redundant, you are at risk over time of slowing up mentally, so why not temporarily replace your work routines/actions with new actions to create a daily and weekly mental routine.  We ignore our minds at our peril so when risk is elevated in unemployment, why not try to pear the mental pencil by doing mental exercises (IQ workout tests) which are available on Mensa’s official website at http://www.mensa.org/workout.php and on an independent website at http://www.mensa-test.com. This along with keeping fit, relaxation exercises like yoga and/or meditation will complete a mental sharpness package that should address the issue of stale mind keeping you ready to ‘hit the ground running’ in a new job.

Plan in stages. The only easy day in a career change is yesterday, so plan your educational and work strategies in a manner flexible enough to cover what’s needed in skills, employability and certification, yet be responsive to opportunities that you uncover in your search for a new career and job. Good planning will always see a critical path logically assembled in stages giving you the ability to complete tasks necessary for the completion of follow on tasks to advance your overall career change strategy. In tandem to these critical path tasks, have contingency plans ready should a job arise in your experienced field rather then your desired “new field” of work. Are your educational plans flexible enough to accommodate such an opportunity?

With the right plan and commitment, all career changes are possible; from a current job to the long-term unemployment register, you can bring happiness back into real time focus. Where there is life, there is hope… never give up on your dream, which is ultimately to be happy!

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