Should I Switch Careers? Part 2

What’s Beyond 30, Should I Switch Careers?

Continued from Part 1:

What I found most intriguing about 20-somethings asking “Should I switch careers?” was the tone of the conversation. Sure, it was a steamy summer party, still, these up-and-comers were unwittingly sharing their views and assumptions about what a career is supposed to be. If you listen closely you’ll notice that people can rarely utter a sentence without it being loaded with their philosophy on life. Hooking up definitely trumped pursuing great work.

At this stage of life we are hijacked by our hormonally charged instinct to find a mate and nest. This clearly takes priority over making good career decisions. But the problem is, when we are 20-something we don’t realize that waiting to “figure things out later” makes the problem harder solve. Life moves faster after 30. Before you can say “What did I do with my life?,” you’re 40-something.

If they could hear the regrets of my mid-career clients, they might look at things differently. These young professionals planned their life to look good by age thirty, but not much beyond that. The reality of a poor career fit hits very hard by 32. My early 30-something clients confidently declare that they fell into a career in their 20s, and are somewhat embarrassed to admit they still have no sense of direction. Until the sex drive wears off a little (or desire for status and $), very few people feel the urgency to make their “real” career choice. Career coaches from around the country find the same thing, it’s like a hidden door opens for people around thirty or so to buckle down and figure out what their true talents and purpose are.

Interestingly, many 20-somethings intuitively recognize that they’re either in a hold pattern or follwing the herd. It’s like being under a spell that you are semi-consciously aware of, yet unable to wake from. For many, the initial career choice is given short shrift; we don’t put near enough thought into it. What we’re hardwired to “think” about in our twenties is finding a mate, so we can’t really think strait about our careers. It’s not our fault, that’s just Mother Nature’s plan. In hindsight it became crystal clear to me that my inner caveman chose my career direction when I was eighteen.

Most people that come to me for help say they weren’t ready to make a solid career choice until around 30, which is when the call of our hormones quiets just enough to realize that we’re pretty far down the road in a randomly chosen career and still haven’t made a well-considered decision.

To get a glimpse of what your future will probably look like, talk to a handful of mid-career people in the office. Which ones are alive, energetic and in love with their work? Which are more like robots going through the motions? Listen to the career philosopy each camp is living by. Imagine yourself further down the road in each of their shoes.