Changing Careers on 3AW 693 AM Radio Melbourne with Jimmy Bartel
Topic: Changing Careers
Date: 15 September 2023
Media Outlet: 3AW 693AM Melbourne https://www.3aw.com.au
Broadcaster / Interviewer: Jimmy Bartel
Producer: Bianca Johnston
Duration: 00:08:51
Time of show: 14:20
Audio Recording: 8.1 MB
YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEbt2FulbJI
Topics Discussed:
✔ changing careers and job mobility rate
✔ changing on a transitional basis
✔ short courses versus longer courses
✔ social media promotion of side hustles
✔ difference between jobs and work
✔ using technology to attract aligned gigs
Transcript:
A little bit earlier in the show we spoke about one in five police officers warning they are likely to leave the force in the next 12 months which got us uh thinking and talking and give us a call one double three six nine three have you made a career change or are you considering a career change people are more likely to do it these days Sue Ellson is on the line uh career expert good afternoon Sue
Hi Jimmy
Um a career change it I asked um obviously a professor a little bit earlier um used to be you’d pick your career coming out of high school or university you need rolled the sleeves up and you’d make your way through the organization you know 20 30 years there and get the gold watches they say at the end we’re more likely to change these days aren’t we
We definitely are and at the beginning of my career it was about nine job changes and now it is well over 12 and the actual number of people according to the Australian Bureau statistics changing jobs is that it’s highest rate now since 2012 so the Job Mobility rate has actually increased as well
Are we seeing massive industry shifts uh yeah there can be career changes where you can work in the one industry but do a different role and I’ve had these conversations with good mates of mine one’s gone from Real Estate to teaching are we seeing complete industry changes or are they still staying in the same stream
I don’t have those specific details but I do know that if you are going to change careers and it’s going to be something completely different it is better if you do it on a transition basis so that you do it kind of part-time to sort of suck it and see and make sure it is really what you’re looking for one thing I do get very anxious about is somebody throwing their hands in the air and saying I’m just getting out of here I’m going to buy a franchise or a business or something like that and they’ve never done it before and that’s super risky so I guess the bigger thing I’d suggest is don’t believe everything you watch on social media or about how you’re going to make loads of money out of something else do your research and do something on a transitional basis well I was going to ask you about that
You you flick onto any social media platform and the rise of the at-home entrepreneur if you will or the the side hustle um does that worry you or scare you the people going I’m going to focus on my side hustle It’s fine if they’re doing it while they’re still working
It’s a big worry if they quit their job and try and just make money out of it and they little advertisements basically that you’re getting on social media are very convincing oh you don’t need to have any cost to set up and this is how much money and if you multiply this number by that number you’ll get the same thing but you really need to test it out and I wouldn’t invest any money in any of those sorts of things I would always do it once again as I said before on a suck it and see basis and also see if you can talk to anybody else who’s done it before you go down that path but I’ve heard of people spending fifteen thousand dollars on some new beaut scheme and and never actually even completing a course to set up their system so there’s a lot of people who waste a lot of money and as you were talking about yesterday on the program this idea of trades I mean there’s shortages in particular areas and some of these industries would be very grateful to have you come and work for them and perhaps being a bit more lateral in your approach and thinking about well where are the jobs and working close to home could be a really big bonus as well
One double three six nine three if you’ve ever made a big career change or shift give us a call Sue you mentioned courses um that was leading to my next question that I wanted to ask you the accessibility of many short courses and providers where you don’t have to go do the the four plus year or three plus year university degrees is the rise of the accessibility of all these short courses allowing people to make that shift a little bit easier
I think it’s a really good opportunity to try something out I never recommend a four or five full on course I had a friend of mine who was of a similar age and he was originally a database administrator which is basically a computer programmer and wanted to go into data science and when he went to actually investigate a course at a university he actually found that the course even though it was at one of the top universities was five years out of date so if you want a theoretical knowledge then yes a longer course is definitely worth it but if you want vocational training that’s going to give you the skills to do a particular role those short courses are really really valuable now if you’ve got a local library card you can get access to free courses on LinkedIn learning Librarians are a you know a wealth of information on different courses that you can do as well and also bear in mind that if you go to get some career advice from an educational provider of course they’re going to recommend a course for you they’re not going to recommend a job so so again get some experience in that industry first before you rush out and spend the course one other person I spoke to at an expo she wanted to be an airline pilot and I said well why don’t you just take 10 flying lessons first see whether you really like it and then consider going for your pilot’s license so there’s lots of ways you can do that sort of thing
I hate using these terms and I think most of our listeners I think everyone has been worn out by the terms you know since COVID and during COVID and things like that but but myself in particular while COVID was on I went back and did some further study it was covered a big catalyst for a lot of people to really sit back and reassess what they wanted to do
Oh absolutely without a doubt and it actually gave people a bit of a chance to look after their mental health and I think they realised that they’d been suffering for years without even realising that they were really under the pump and really stressed because as soon as they stopped they actually had to deal with how uncomfortable they felt and their anxiety and depression and stress and everything that had been building up and of course it all bubbled to the surface and a lot of people started reevaluating their options and I think it’s been you’ve got to remember that let’s say you’re interested in changing jobs and you go to recruiter a recruiter is responding on behalf of an employer and they’re looking for somebody to get into the job stay there three months they get their commission but if you go to somebody like a career specialist they will actually give you advice that’s suited for you and if it’s a qualified one they’re going to be able to do some additional assessments for you and you’re paying them for advice that’s related to you and your circumstances and so hopefully it’ll encourage people to get that professional advice rather than just talk to a few mates down at the pub or something and say you know what do you reckon I’d be good at that’s not necessarily the best way to get the next job
No that’s pretty sound advice so yeah any other little titbits I liked your piece on you know go try something first before you actually spend a lot of money you know getting qualifications I I’d love to be a pro golfer but I can’t seem to keep the ball on The Fairway but um is there anything else that you could leave us with with a little bit of advice people considering making a career change
Look I really think that part-time piece is important so instead of saying I need another full-time job why don’t you consider doing reducing your current job to four days a week and doing something else one day a week and just seeing how that works for you and whether you would enjoy that change you definitely need to talk to a lot more people and find out what they like about it but let’s say you’re a police officer considering it it’s a very niche industry to be a police officer and there’s specific training and moving back out into the civilian world defence people have the same sorts of issues some medical professionals it’s it’s a very different beast and a lot of people won’t understand you so it’s really important to speak to people who’ve made that transition and understand that it is a significant adjustment and any job that you move into even if you had 100% competency would take at least six months before you become unconsciously competent whereas you just do everything on automatic pilot
One quick one before I let you go Sue
Yep
How many career changes have you had?
I have not had a real job since 1994 I was in banking for 11 years, so every single day is a different gig for me so yeah I’ve done heaps and heaps of different things and I’ve been doing this for a long time and I actually believe that is the future of work we’re all going to have work not jobs so we’re going to have to be able to understand how do we use technology to attract aligned gigs and that’s the big wave that’s coming next so watch out if you don’t have a digital presence and people can’t find you for your skills you could be out of work real quick
Thanks for that uh sound advice Sue Ellson career expert who has given some great advice if you want to make a career change and little titbits to consider before you do make that big jump uh Peter’s given us a call good afternoon Peter
Further information:
3AW 693 News Talk Afternoons
https://www.3aw.com.au/show/afternoons
Podcast Recording of the Show – starts at 01:26:36 – 01:35:24
https://omny.fm/shows/3aw-afternoons/3aw-afternoons-with-jimmy-bartel-15th-september-20
Australian Bureau of Statistics Job Mobility
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/jobs/job-mobility/latest-release
Find a Qualified Career Specialist
https://www.cdaa.org.au/CDAAWebsite/Web/About-Career-Development/Find-a-Career-Specialist-Landing.aspx
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