Show notes! This is the first of four episodes where I'm interviewing career coaches about their career changes because even career coaches have twists and turns in their careers.
That means you'll be getting some serious insights and I'll tap into their expert advice on how to make a career change.
Lindsey graduated from college with an English degree and a full time job offer in the publishing industry, but she quickly discovered that editing books wasn't a good fit. A visit to her alumni career services office helped her uncover three potential new paths: nutrition and dietetics, personal finance, and career coaching From there, Lindsey set out to talk to people across all three industries to find out which path would be a fit for her next step.
In this episode we talk about the value of having conversations with strangers when you don't know what path to take. Lindsay shares why it's so important to talk to people in your job search or career change. Once she picked her path as a career coach, she tested out her new career path by starting at the front desk of a university career services office. While there she was able to see all of the things at a high level before transitioning into an official career coach role and investing in a masters degree to become a career coach.
Lindsey shares how she expanded from front desk to adding a valuable contribution to the career development team, building relationships with employers and students alike. Plus we chat about the value of working with people who you like.
Listen to this if you're trying to get a job in higher education or if you're curious how to make informational interviews work for your career change (especially if you're an introvert)
Show quotes to motivate you!
Why conversations matter in your career exploration process:
"Having conversations actually helps you see what your work entails. A job title doesn't tell you anything about what your day to day life will look like. It can give you tidbits but not the full situation. It gives important context, so if you're switching fields, those are going to be your colleagues in the future, even if not at the same institution or company, they are still going to be people in your field, so it can't hurt to have those conversations with them."
On relationship building:
"Relationship building is easy in a sense, but I'm extremely introverted and very shy. So putting myself out there is hard and challenging but it's important to do it because so many people have these amazing stories that you want to hear and it can help change your career too, and really change your life by hearing from other people as well."
Don't forget to get on my book launch list for big surprises in 2020: www.punchdoubt.com