Sital's Blog

Are you a career changer struggling to figure out what it is you really want to do? 

Well one of the best ways to discover which careers you would both enjoy and be talented at, is to simply just go out there and try different roles and careers before making a change. 

A concept highlighted by Sean Aitkin , a graduate from Toronto who has just spent the last year working 52 different jobs – one week at a time. 

Struggling to decide what he wanted to do after college, the Canadian graduate decided to start a 52 week project – to do 52 different jobs, a week at a time and donate the money to charity.

Over the last year, he has been a stock trader, an advertising excecutive, a martial arts instructor, an air force cadette, a school teacher, a Hollywood producer, a photographer, an astronomer, a firelighter, a fashion buyer and even been a Mayor for a week!

Having completed his 52 week project, Sean now has a book deal with Penguin and Random House publishers and is about to pilot a new reality TV series. So by following his experiment, he seems to have landed on his feet and found a new career for himself.

Are you frustrated with your current career? 

There are so many people in the financial services sector who hate their careers and want to make a change. 

The first (and often the most difficult) step in any career change is deciding what it is you want to do.  The way to take this first step is to: 

a) Take a look at your own strengths, skills, values and talents

b) Conduct research into new careers where you these talents can transfer into

c) ‘Test drive’ some careers

Testing out careers is exactly what many of us do in the early stages of our careers when we undertake work experience or internships. As a 16 year old, I spent a week working in the local branch of Lloyds TSB Bank. I knew fairly quickly that retail banking was not for me. It was a simple, effective way of testing out a career.  

‘Test driving’ various careers in such a way should be an integral part of your career change.

Go test drive some careers
 
So regardless of whether you are a potential career changer who is working or someone who has recently been made redundant, start to experiment with different jobs and careers that are of interest to you. Most of us haven’t the luxury (or even the inclination) to spend a full year testing out 52 jobs, but we can go and test out a few new jobs and careers on a part time / volunteer basis. 

Even if you are currently working – there are always ways in which you can test out jobs for just a few hours, a day, an evening or a weekend.

The jobs may be related to financial services – or could be completely unrelated and unconventional. But who cares – treat it as an experiment. Notice what elements of the roles you enjoy. What elements you hate. What skills and talents you enjoy utilising and what types of roles drain you.  

Experimenting in such a way will often provide you with the ‘ingredients’ to look for in new careers rather than the actual  

Just remember 3 things:

1. Listen to your instincts not your head. Don’t rationalise things too much. What are the jobs or careers you fancy trying out – forget whether they are the ‘right’ career or whether they will pay sufficiently well.

If you follow your instincts, testing these jobs may lead you to a new contact, new skill or a valuable insight that you need to pick up in order to help make a career move. Or indeed you may learn something that you apply much further down the line. So don’t over think this, just follow your gut instincts.

2. Don’t listen too much to the people around you. Most of your friends, family and colleagues will think your nuts for even thinking about becoming a part-time chef / charity worker / semi pro poker player / writer / football coach (*delete as appropriate).

But that is largely because they do not have the courage or foresight to try things themselves. If you feel strongly enough about trying out a career, then just go ahead and do it. You don’t want to ever look back and think ‘if only.’

3. Enjoy yourself. Remember, this is an experiment and the key is to find a more enjoyable and satisfying career. If it feels like a chore then you are unlikely to find much value from the exercise.

Making a career change is both a science and an art. Whilst there may be some ‘steps’ that need to be followed, you also have to just experience situations to see what ‘fits’ and what does not. As Sean Aitkin has shown, the way to do that is to just go and try out a number of jobs and careers very quickly.

So which job do you fancy trying out…..?