A reader emailed me in response to last week’s article, The “can do” skill, a story about an accountant who decided she wanted to pursue a career as an article writer.

Her decision, as well as the actual career shift, had almost been instantaneous. She had virtually decided overnight to become a freelance writer, and, in what seemed like a very short time later, was out there doing it.

The reader admitted she was more than just a little envious of this particular career change story, as she has been struggling for the past couple of years to find new career direction, and was pondering how some people can have it “so good”, and almost seem to have the next moved mapped out.

I have to admit I myself was likewise a little envious when I first heard the story, and it bought back less than pleasant memories of the difficulty I’ve had in finding career direction through the years.

But then again I was one of these people who has never known what they wanted to do for work, or as a career, for as long as I can remember.

Or so I thought.

There were always clues as to what I wanted to be doing now, but it took the longest time to put the pieces of the “puzzle” together.

As I have written here before, I knew I wanted to do something that was creative, and also something that allowed me to do my own thing, and to be a free agent, or mostly so anyway.

Anyone reading this blog would think the “creative” part of the equation is the writing I do here. And they would be mostly correct.

But writing was a very overlooked part of my career puzzle for a long time, despite numerous pointers it was in-fact an integral part of it, pointers which go back my high school days.

In my final year of high school, our English teacher would give the class a weekly essay assignment, and we had to write 500 words according to a topic of his choosing.

Once the assignments were returned and he had reviewed them, he would read out the one he liked the most, without naming the writer. Mine used to come out at least once every other week, sometimes even weekly.

Perhaps the one enjoyable thing I (care to) recall of my high school days was sitting nonchalantly during the reading, while other classmates were quietly pointing at each other, trying to ascertain whose work it was!

Instead of following this “talent”, and trying to develop it further at the time, I felt under pressure to take a “nine-to-five” job, any job, once I left school, and settle into a “proper” career. There was no time to pursue “silly” writing desires now, I now had a career as bank teller to consider!

That “career” went the unsuccessful way, some people had called it would from the onset, a few years later!

But the inclination to write isn’t my only career motivator. I wanted to be doing my own thing also, not just writing. I’m really no geek, but the element of web design or development, that maintaining this blog, plus my other projects, requires is also a part of the puzzle.

Perhaps also the feeling (whether actual or imagined) that I am making some sort of difference, and hopefully being of assistance to readers here is another aspect of it.

I wrote back to the reader and told her that finding career direction can sometimes be like putting a puzzle together and to persevere with her search.

Unlike the accountant turned article writer who knew in a word, as it were, what she wanted to do for a new career, some of us may have to link up apparently random ideas to solve our career puzzle.

I don’t know about you, but I love doing online quizzes. It’s like I can never find out enough about myself. I am therefore pleased to include a quiz in this week’s checklist Friday five, as it’s been a while between drinks. I’ve also included a survey that may be of interest to web designers, just for good measure. Enjoy the weekend!

• This may come as a surprise to many, but very little is known about the demographics, and exact duties of a web designer, even though web design has been a profession for over a decade! A List Apart, the online compendium of all things web design, is currently conducting a survey to learn more about who a web designer is, what they do, and what is expected of them. A better understanding of web design, and even some documented knowledge of the profession, would be useful for those thinking about a career (change) in web, so if you are a designer please consider participating, and adding to the knowledge base. A knowledge base would be helpful. I once told a neighbour I was a web designer, and he immediately asked if I could fix his modem. Sorry, call the helpdesk, dude…
• “Blogs are the new resume” has been a hot topic of discussion in recent weeks, but the tone has at times been cautionary, and stories abound of employers finding all manner of “objectionable” deal breaking material on a job applicant’s blog or MySpace page. Martin Burns points out that we shouldn’t go completely erasing our online presence just yet though…
• Australian recruitment company Chandler MacLeod is currently featuring a new career type personality test on their website. While you may find answering a series of either/or questions which appear to be very similar, and that seem to repeat, a little frustrating, persevere as you should find the reasonably detailed test result enjoyable. It’s free. And anonymous. Which is exactly what we want of a recruiter’s website!
• On the topic on “self discovery”, or personality quizzes and tests, Patricia Kitchen reminds us that such quizzes are never complete, or comprehensive, and will only ever answer part of the “who we are” question.
• Re-think Yourself Into a World of Possibilities: this week’s motivational read from Passion Meets Purpose. If you’re in a ditch then unhitch. Brilliant!

Either an artist is highly paid or barely paid at all. And depending on your take of matters artistic, either state of affairs can be deemed glamourous.

The rich, successful artist, whose work has found acceptance and respect is seen as a model, someone to look up to, and draw inspiration from.

The poor struggling artist trying to eke out a living, and gain some sort of recognition, is likewise seen as a model, someone to look up to, and draw inspiration from.

It really depends on which side you like your toast buttered, but whichever that is, there remains a certain number of constants, a certain degree of what is known as BS, that must be tolerated regardless of where you are placed on the financial earnings spectrum.

First there are the opening nights. Your night of nights is sullied by the pretense and verbal garbage some people will speak merely for a glass, or ten, of your Moet. Or perhaps a, shall we say, mass produced sauvignon blanc, as the case may be.

And do such rounded art critics have any intention of buying one of your works? There’s a slight chance you might snare a sale before the last of the chardonnay and cheese vanishes down their art appreciating throats.

Then there are the people who really don’t know a thing about what they are viewing. They are only in an art gallery because they are trying to impress their latest partner, who said he or she loved “spending Sunday afternoons in art galleries.”

And he or she only wrote a line like that on their match dot com profile because they wanted to give the impression they are educated, articulate, and have an appreciation of the “arts”.

So no sale there. And to add insult to injury they are telling you, as they don’t realise that you are in fact the artist, that your work could be “produced by a five year old child”.

Are you beginning to get an idea of how difficult this all is?

Why are people born to suffer, be artists, and then die? Why do you go to arts school to learn the “rules” when art is all about freedom of expression, and not abiding by any rules?

How can making a salary of $5000 (in any currency) be deemed glamourous and fabulous. Well here’s how.

An artist is one of the few people who can create what they dream. Who can follow a wisp of inspiration and toil for days, weeks, or longer, to transform a blank canvas, a piece of wood, rock, or marble, or any other material, or media, they care to work with, into a story, a message, a statement, something that baffles the comprehension, and taxes the imagination of we the onlookers, and sometimes makes us simply stop and stare in awe.

Tell you what, no stockbroker, accountant (not even a creative accountant ), or socialite, could ever do that.

A love of money may indeed be the root of all evil, but any artist will tell they are not in it for the money, they are in it for the art.

Following my recent article, How blogging can help you change careers, I’ve noticed a couple of people writing about how a person’s blog may work against them, especially while they are job hunting.

Most of us have probably heard the Dooce story. An American web developer, Heather B. Armstrong, lost her job several years ago after her employers discovered her blog, and took exception to some of the things she had posted about them.

While her writings were apparently satirical in nature, her boss however was unimpressed, and sent her packing.

Since then a number of similar incidents have come to light, and it makes you wonder just how far you can go with what you write in your blog, particularly in regards to your job, or employer.

In fact Heather’s experience gave rise to the term “dooced”, a reference to the title of her blog, and is a way of saying you’ve been sacked because of what you wrote about your boss, or workplace, in your blog.

Now it seems employers are actively searching the web in an effort to locate any blogs a job applicant may have, as a way of gathering further “background” information about them, over and above what they have already learned during the application, and interview, process.

Some people are calling blogs the new resumes, and by looking at what a person writes, and how they write, employers are able to gain a “fuller picture” of a prospective employee.

This is not an entirely new “phenomenon” though. I remember a recruiter telling me back in 1997 how she used the web to gather information on applicants, though at that time she, and other recruiters, would not been able to find a great many blogs, let alone, most likely, any written by her candidates.

It is nevertheless something to be mindful of, and prompted Anthony Baggett at Antbag to suggest we consider taking a more serious approach to our blogging.

It would be unfortunate though were employers to make recruiting decisions based to any great degree on what they read, and possibly didn’t like, in someone’s blog.

It has to be remembered blogs, particularly of those of a personal nature, as verbose and detailed as they may be, still do not paint the full picture of the writer.

People have ups and downs in life, blog accounts are not always complete, and will be presented with varying degrees of candour and colour. Not all stories will have “follow ups”, or posts detailing the resolution of problems someone may have articulated at an earlier time.

My earlier article outlined the benefits that a blog presenting your professional knowledge could have while looking for work, and I would hope that is most employers are really interested in.

Everyone has a “story”, and will at times have upheaval in their personal life, and while we can argue that there is no such thing as a complete separation of our work and our personal life, a lot of workers are able to discharge their professional duties without allowing the conflicts, or otherwise, of their personal lives to interfere.

There are a million career change stories out there. Icy at Individual Chic left a comment in response to yesterday’s article, The “can do” skill, about a friend of hers who went from being a chemical engineer, to an animator for Disney!

That’s quite a significant career shift!

A few years ago I was chatting to a careers advisor who told about me about a stockbroker working in Sydney, who had probably presented the worse case of career burn out he had ever seen.

The stockbroker was apparently working 18 hours a day, six days a week. Even on his “day off” he was still studying market trends and keeping in touch with clients.

Then one morning he woke up and decided he’d had enough. He wanted time to slow down so he could “smell the roses”, and take in a bit more of what was happening around him.

He had approached the careers advisor because he simply had no idea what he wanted to do next. The advisor subjected him to all sorts of career aptitude tests, but none of the results seemed to excite the stockbroker.

Then one morning the erstwhile stockbroker arrived at the careers advisor’s office announcing he had found his new vocation in life; sweeping leaves in the nearby domain!

Apparently he had seen a council worker going about his duties in the park and had become ever more curious as to what the job entailed.

It was outdoors work. The hours were set, 8am to 4pm, five days per week. No overtime. And as a bonus, he really could take time to “smell the roses” in the park!

So he went from being a stockbroker on a six-figure salary, to a gardener on a far more humble income. But he was happy. He still apparently felt that way some months later when the careers advisor saw him one morning.

The only adjustment the former stockbroker really had to get used to was the change in lifestyle, as a result of the reduction in his salary!

This story reminded me of a former boss of mine. He had been for some years the assistant general manager of a nationwide company.

Then the company was taken over, and it was decided it would be totally dissolved. The assistant general manager was made CEO of the soon to be defunct entity, and was charged with the task of winding up the operation.

It turned out to be the most stressful six months of his life, as he had to make colleagues he had worked with for years redundant, and break up the company he had spent years trying to build up!

Eventually his last day of arrived, and after leaving with his final pay cheque, wondered what he would do next for work.

Then he spotted a “now hiring” sign on a gateway, and within minutes had signed up for work as a building site labourer!

According to former colleagues who saw him some years later, he was still very happy in his new career, even though he could easily have found another executive role. He however just wasn’t interested in the responsibility (read: stress) that came with such a position.

Changing careers is about finding meaningful work. Work you find meaningful, whatever that is. Not the next person, or the neighbours, definition of meaningful, but yours.

In fact I shouldn’t even call the two career transitions I’ve just described as “downshifting”. If it’s what you want to do, then it is neither going downwards nor backwards.

Have you ever met people who just seem to choose to pursue a new career and, lo and behold, what seems like a mere few months later, they are doing it?

And I’m not talking about a graduated sort of career or job change, such as an assistant accountant becoming an accountant, for instance.

In fact there would be some people who couldn’t discern the slightest difference between the two roles, including possibly, even the former assistant accountant, until of course they saw their first payslip as a full blown accountant!

It was something I was thinking about the other day after meeting a, now former, accountant who had decided she wanted to become an article writer.

And six short months after making the decision, she was doing it, that is writing for newspapers, magazines, and even websites, and making a living at the same time.

While her current income is greatly reduced, compared to that of her previous job, at the rate she is going, I dare say in another six months she will be making more than she ever did as an accountant!

When I asked how she did it, that is made quite a significant career shift in a relatively short space of time, she simply answered, “because I wanted to do it.”

And I think much of her success has to do with her attitude. Because I wanted to.

It also made me think about a few of the jobs I had during my early days in the working world.

At first I worked as a bank teller. That was a big mistake, since I just didn’t have the necessary customer service ethic, despite the best “efforts” of the then branch manager to try and instill that in me!

After leaving the bank I took a job as a buyer of spare parts for a mining company. I immediately found myself talking to mining engineers and sales representatives who were located all over the world.

I’d just spotted the job in the newspaper classifieds, thought it looked interesting, contacted the hiring manager, told him it looked a fun job and that I was willing to learn, and next thing I knew I was a buyer of spare parts for mining machinery.

After leaving that role I became a school bus services administrator, specifically planning rural school bus services.

This job saw me spend a lot of time on the road, meeting bus company managers, school principals, and staying in charming hotels in equally charming country towns.

Travel certainly can be an under appreciated aspect of a job, and what people tend to forget is it gets them out of the office! How bad can that be?!

I’d had no prior experience in either of the roles after my time at the bank, yet I’d managed to drop myself into them without any big deal, or without calling either transition a career change!

While I certainly had some transferable skills; such as organisational, communication, and problem solving abilities, among others, a lot of my “success” was down to my attitude, and the fact I was willing to jump in, and give it a go, while also learning on the fly.

In much the same way as my accountant turned writer friend had. It is a reminder to me that a “can do” attitude is perhaps the most important (transferable) skill any of us can develop.

It’s when you have a couple of things on the boil at the same time, say working two jobs simultaneously, that time management becomes crucial. Makes me wonder how people with families, young children especially, manage to get anything done. To say nothing of working a job.

But then as the old saying goes, “if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it”!

Let’s kick off the Friday five with a little time management theory (and practice). Perhaps you could try applying this over the weekend?!

• The Pickle Jar theory. This is one I have regularly harped on about over the years (on other websites and blogs), so it’s time I mentioned it here. It’s all about prioritizing your time. Get the day’s biggest and, most important, tasks (the rocks) out of the way first, and then fit whatever else you can (the pebbles and sand) in the “jar” with what’s left of the time. Great in theory, except my pickle jar is often full of empty space by day’s end… and that would be procrastination time!
• On the subject of The Pickle Jar theory, here’s an interesting variation on the time management theme. “The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee” story takes the pickle jar concept (a mayonnaise jar in this case) and applies it across a lifetime. In other words make the “big” things in life a priority and the rest will fall into place, in the “space” between the rocks, the pebbles, and the sand.
• The Secret To Finding Dream Jobs. This articles contains a number of pearls of wisdom, including two of my favourites; “find out what you like doing best, and get someone to pay you for doing it”, and “find a job you enjoy, and you’ll never work a day in your life”. Finding your dream job is a secret no more!
• In Progress: this flow chart breaks down the whole career change process into its simplest form… and sometimes we need a bit more of this sort of thing! Take a few of whats, ifs, buts, and maybes out of the equation, and what are you left with? Raw determination, right?
• We probably hear a lot about how people hate their jobs, and despise their bosses. Etcetera. Have you ever given any thought to how your boss feels though? As Mira Katbamna reveals, we don’t even know the half of it!