Skip to main content

Career Move


I read an interesting career question today and it got me thinking, what role do leaders play in the careers of their people? You may even think about a leader making a career change. I received this article in an email from Career News, it was abridged from the Boston Globe.

BOSTON, MA -- Q. I am 35 years old and have been in sales since college. I don't feel any satisfaction from my current role and am considering a change to the creative side of marketing. People say I'm too old to make such a big change. Your thoughts?

A. You have 15 years invested in a career that is no longer fulfilling, and you have at least 30 more years to work. Working 30 more years in a field that doesn't bring you enjoyment will be much harder than a job search you start today.

You are absolutely not too old to make a career change, and changing roles, functions or industries is just another type of career plan. Your career plan needs to chart a course toward a new role. People make all sorts of big and small career changes at a variety of ages. People go to law school, get MBA's or MSW's regardless of what their previous careers are. They decide to teach or to quit teaching. They transfer to a new role within their current employer. They change industries. What they know is that they'll get older regardless of whether they pursue a new career or not. So develop your plan. Don't assume this will be a one-step career move. It may be, but it may take 2-3 career moves to help you make the transition you are hoping for.

Here are some things leaders can do to help those who are interested in career changes after many years in the same role or the same type of job.

·         Leaders should encourage their people to follow their passion.

·         The leader should find ways in the jobs of their people to utilize their talent and help them to grow that passion.

·         The leader should help find opportunities within the organization to help that person expand their talents and passion.

·         It is never fun to lose employees but a leader could help the person network to find a job outside of the organization. Especially if there aren’t opportunities within the organization.

o    It is better for the leader to help the person find that opportunity than to keep them and make them disgruntled or disengaged.

Tomorrow I will address the things the leader can do for themselves if they want to make that career change.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where Have I Been?

 The title of this article is apropos since I haven't blogged in almost 12 years. I plan to start this blog up again and try to blog on a consistent basis. I will also be broadening the topics that I write about. Be sure to subscribe so you can get notifications about when I post. So what have I been up to since that October day in 2013 when I made my last blog? Let me recap for you. When that post happened I was in the middle of my Toastmaster journey and I'm happy to say that I crossed the Toastmaster finish line by earning my DTM. I didn't continue in Toastmasters after that since I changed jobs and took my leadership skills to Mathnasium and started running a Mathnasium in Blaine MN in 2016. I got the opportunity to blend my education degree with my MBA and use it as the Director of the Mathnasium in Blaine. I also had the opportunity to be the director at one in St Louis Park and one in  Andover. I ran these until 2023 when I decided to go back into the classroom and t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Canada or Bust

 This week I'm on vacation in northern Minnesota. I want to share some sights and sounds of where I went and what I did. Every summer we go to Wilderness Point Resort in Pequot Lakes. During this time, my son always plans another side trip that he and I take. This year our side trip consisted of a trip to Rainy River in Ontario, Canada, along with several stops along the way. My son collects city halls he takes pictures of them and posts them on a discord server. Our first stop was a visit to the Walker, MN city hall. Along the way to Canada we also stopped and got city hall photos for the following cities: Cass Lake, Black Duck, and Kelliher.  A big highlight was getting out in Shooks and taking a picture at the Royal Shooks Motel. Shooks is an unincorporated community, but at the intersection of highways 1 and 72 is the hotel, conveniently located in the middle of nowhere. In Minnesota and the upper Midwest, there is the legend of Paul Bunyan. We like to visit as many of the...
Post a Comment
Read more

THUNDEROUS LEADERSHIP

This is a condensed version of a speech I gave. The clap of thunder, the flash of lightening, a storm is coming, are you prepared. Storms occur on a regular basis whether they are weather related or life related we have all encountered a storm at one time or another in our life. The question is “are you prepared and will you survive? In the movie “A Perfect Storm” George Clooney plays a captain of a fishing vessel that gets caught up in the storm of the century. He has to make a quick decision about what to do under the circumstances. He had to react to a situation and make the best decision possible for all parties involved. During these perfect storms of life, decisions like these can be life changing. People get caught off guard during the storms of life because they are either ill prepared or they lack the leadership to make positive life changing decisions. In order to survive these storms in life we must follow strong leaders or be a strong leader ourselves. I am goin...
Post a Comment
Read more