Lorna had been a teacher in a London adult education centre for 20 years when she made the leap to a new career in the theatre. “I procrastinated for years about changing direction but nothing grabbed me,” she explains. “My passion for theatre just felt like a fantasy in terms of another career.”
She started the move by doing theatre and performance courses in her spare time. “These short courses became such an important part of my life that I wanted to study more and immerse myself in postgraduate study.” So she enrolled in a part-time MA in theatre studies. “It was more about personal growth initially rather than a career change. However, the opportunities opened up because of my teaching experience.” She’s now a researcher in performance arts and runs workshops.
Many of us will have secretly daydreamed about quitting our career to embark on something completely different. Research from London Business School found that 47% of us want to switch professions.
But leaping into the unknown is a daunting prospect – particularly if you’re considering a midlife, mid-career change. These sorts of pivots often entail walking away from relative security – be it financial comfort or social capital in the form of personal networks, a solid track record or hard-earned professional credentials.
The trick is to break up the big leap into smaller actions. As well as making things feel less daunting, this approach allows you to take steps towards your new life during your spare moments, much as Lorna did.
Pick a path
The task can be particularly daunting if you know that you want a career change but don’t know what new path to pursue. It’s all too easy to waste valuable months and even years stuck in this liminal space. “The problem is, most people don’t know how to brainstorm,” says John Williams, founder of the Ideas Lab, a business coaching organisation. “Instead, they fall prey to what I call ‘pinball thinking’ – one idea pops up, it gets batted around your head, you decide it won’t work and it goes down the plughole; up pops another idea, same thing. You end up thinking you’ve got no ideas.”
To avoid this, Williams recommends writing a list of all the business ideas or careers you’d love to pursue, regardless of practicality, and then selecting three ideas to think through methodically. “For each idea, note down what you would enjoy and what you would dislike. Also write down what skills or personality traits you have to offer each new career or business idea. Finally, list all the obstacles, which might be that you don’t know anyone in that field or that you lack people skills.”
Using the information you’ve gathered, commit to one idea and then take action – preferably straight away. “By taking action, I don’t mean ‘Google it’ or waste time designing a logo or a website,” says Williams. “Do the actual thing.” So if you want to get a job in social media, phone a friend and offer to take over their posts in exchange for a testimonial, for example.
Lorna says that following her switch from teaching to the theatre she’d offer the following three tips: “Dip your toes in with small courses and then build up to longer ones. Try different things to find what makes you thrive and least stressed. Talk to others who have done something similar.”
Aviva offers a Mid-Life MOT app that can help you think more holistically about why you want to change careers. The full life audit highlights which of three different life areas needs your attention: wellbeing, work and wealth. The goal is to have all three working in balance together. After all, happiness is not just about money, it is about a balance of the three things that the mid-life MOT analyses. The idea underpinning the app is that by investing in ourselves today – or even reinventing ourselves – we’ll be open to the many opportunities that tomorrow will bring.
You’re never too old to be an intern
It’s all very well dreaming and scheming about reinventing your career, but if you have no experience, how are you supposed to make the leap? One idea that is gaining in popularity is to become a “mintern” – AKA a mid-career intern.
“If you’re serious about pivoting, you won’t mind giving up holiday time for work experience,” says Blaire Palmer, an executive coach and expert in leadership and change. It’s also worth asking your boss about a sabbatical or a short-term transfer to a different department if there’s one that matches your interest.
Interning is also useful if you want to set up your own business. For example, if you dream of selling your salted-caramel brownies via gift boxes, find someone in the cake subscription business and ask to shadow them for a week. “By doing this you may realise that 80% of running that business is sales and marketing, and packing up boxes, rather than baking,” says Palmer. “But you won’t know until you try it.”
If you can’t find an internship, volunteering is an equally good way of gaining valuable experience. Some enlightened employers will allow you time off to volunteer. Likewise, many managers no longer frown upon side hustles these days. So take advantage of this shift by testing the waters in your new career first.
Get connected
Finding work in your new field is going to be a lot easier if you start building a network of contacts before you make any final break with your former career. So start to nurture relationships with potential clients and knowledgable industry figures as soon as possible. “It’s much easier to make connections from the security of your current role,” says Palmer.
Social media can also help you make contacts in a new field. “Set a target to connect with 10 relevant people on Twitter or LinkedIn every day,” advises Williams. Notice the people they are interacting with and follow them too.
Reverse engineer your finances
It’s vital that you crunch the numbers. “Spend an afternoon with a spreadsheet. Don’t just look at the potential riches a new career could generate, examine how much income you realistically need to live on,” says Penny Power, an entrepreneur and author of Business is Personal. “Is your dream viable? If I need to make £5,000 a month and I’m setting up on my own, then how many clients do I need?”
Alistair McQueen, head of savings and retirement at Aviva, points out that, in today’s changing world, your previous income and experience shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a guide to the future. “The job for life is a thing of the past and a longer working life is inevitable for most of us given changes to the state pension,” he explains, “so income patterns won’t be a simple straight line anymore – they’ll be more volatile and fluctuating, for instance, as people switch between employment and self-employment.”
The key thing to bear in mind is that a mid-career change could ultimately give you a longer working life: “If you take one step back financially in the short term, you could be taking yourself three to four steps forward in the longer term if you set yourself up for a longer working life.”
The same principle holds for any missed or reduced pension contributions while you retrain: any new skills you develop could add years to your working life and therefore offset any short-term pension shortfall. Aviva’s online retirement planner can help you understand how long your money might last in retirement and you could also consult a financial adviser. “It’s important to make a career change in an informed way rather than a blind way,” says McQueen.
And of course, savings will also be an important buffer during any career switch. A good rule of thumb is to build up three to six months’ salary to fund any period of transition.
While the prospect of leaving your comfort zone can feel incredibly daunting, there’s nothing to be gained from aimless rumination. By carefully researching your options and finances, you can minimise the risks. And it’s far better to build momentum towards your goals by taking concrete actions and examining your options than languish in a sea of unlimited possibilities. That’s how you stop dreaming and start doing.
To find out more, visit aviva.co.uk
