Making a Career 180 in the Right Direction
FEBRUARY 11, 2016 | BRAD MCCORKLE
When I was 37, I decided to make a major shift in my career path. The first 15 years of my career were spent in the relative “safety” of corporate america; I worked for a few different companies in various sales related positions. I had been somewhat successful, and was pretty comfortable. But something was missing.
When I graduated from college, I really had no clue about what I wanted to do professionally. So, I took the first job that paid well, and seemed to make sense for me. Then I blinked, 15 years had passed, I had a wife at home with two children, and I was still in the same field of work. I wasn’t particularly happy with my work, nor was I really leveraging my strengths. The problem is that life had moved so fast that I never had taken the time to explore options with regards to my professional life.
By the time I was in my mid-30s I awoke to the realization that there was a whole big professional world out there, and I was foolish to not consider options that may actually suit me better. So, after much thought, prayer and debate, I decided to quit my comfy corporate position, and give entrepreneurship a try. There was significant financial risk, especially since my wife had quit her job to be home with our kids, but we decided I needed to do it.
The change from employee to entrepreneur was drastic. From steady paycheck, to no guaranteed income. From company mandated direction to a day to day that required heaps of creativity, I had to learn a whole new game. Those first 3-4 years were really tough, but I would do it all over again because I grew tremendously, personally and professionally, during that period of my life.
The Career Change Journey
The biggest sacrifice is working at something without passion.
In retrospect, the short-term financial sacrifices associated with my career-change paled in comparison to what I was already giving up in the form of professional growth and opportunity, learning, motivation, happiness and impact.
Often times playing it safe is the biggest risk.
Since leaving my corporate position, the majority of the people I worked most closely with have been laid off from their jobs. There are other jobs out there, but at least my change was on my terms, and timing.
I didn’t understand what I was best equipped for at such an young age.
Most of us make long-term career decisions at a point in our lives when we haven’t lived much. In my case, my lack of understanding of my own strengths and weaknesses resulted in poor career decisions that had a lasting impact. Without the willingness to change, those choices could have had a permanent limiting impact.
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