Being a “slash careerist” is one thing, talking about it however can be quite another matter.

Working as a slash careerist is – for the most part – a blast. You can roll a couple of interests into a hybrid sort of overall occupation, and if one or two parts of the equation aren’t exactly hauling in the cash, no problem, hopefully another of the slash/options will. The hours might be long, and there are occasions you need to be in two places at once, but otherwise it’s all good. Talking, however, about your slash career work is another, far trickier proposition, especially in social settings, and particularly when meeting people for the first time.

Last Friday I linked to a book review about “slash careers”, which is a term used to describe a person who has a number of quite separate jobs, or careers.

For example my current job title is Consultant / Content Producer. My consulting work involves me working, usually on a short term basis, for a number of companies in Sydney on various on-going projects of theirs.

Meanwhile my work here at The InterChange Desk, and even my e-zine OnVoiceOver, is where I wear my “content producer’s” hat.

There’s probably more “slash careerists” about than meets the eye. When you start looking more closely at exactly what people do for work, you realise many of them are doing all sorts of other things, over and above their “official” occupation.

For example I know a doctor who also writes a number of articles for medical publications, and lists his occupation as Doctor / Writer.

While some people may argue that his writing for medical magazines is just an extension of his duties as a doctor, the two jobs are quite unrelated. Treating patients at his surgery is, in reality, a long way removed from his writing work!

In fact he has written quite a number of articles, and I even suggested he had enough of a portfolio to become a full time writer if he ever felt like it.

And herein lies another way of effecting a career change, doing, as I said last Friday, part time what you would one day like to do full time. And you may even be able to make complete use your current career or job, as a way to move towards doing something new.

A year ago I met a media trader who was excitedly telling me about a couple of upcoming speaking engagements she had. Personally, public speaking is something that terrifies me, but her enthusiasm was almost infectious.

Her work as a media trader had been noticed by her peers in the industry, and she had received a number of invitations to speak at upcoming conferences and training seminars.

These speaking engagements began to have a domino effect, and as more people saw her speaking and presenting, the more invitations she started receiving to speak at other events. Before long she was even travelling overseas for some engagements!

I ran into her a few weeks ago and she told me speaking now occupied almost all her time, and that she was very much enjoying her “accidental” career change. She still works in media and advertising, but only on a freelance basis when time permits.

I know public speaking is not for everyone (look whose talking), but her story shows how it is possible to move onto something new, while fully utilising your current skills and knowledge. While public speaking may not appeal to you, perhaps something else, like teaching or tutoring, does.

While unplanned, her story also demonstrates how a fairly significant career change can be made without having to undertake long courses of study, or even “start again from the bottom”, in a new career field.