How
people really explore
new careers
by Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D.
The
traditional model of career choice suggests a
linear pattern. Get to know yourself. Learn your skills and talents.
Explore careers that seem to best utilize those skills and
talents. Decide exactly what you want to do...then go after it.
Today, both research and
experience suggest that real career
change doesn't happen this way.
Q. What's real?
A. Serendipity and zig-zag
Contemporary researchers
find that nearly every
career path involves an element of serendipity. John
Krumboltz of
Stanford University published several articles on this topic in
respected journals.
Herminia Ibarra's research
at Harvard Business
School demonstrated that career change tends to follow a zig-zag
pattern rather than a straight line, with two steps forward and
one
step back. She found limited value in extended introspection and
self-analysis. See her book Working Identity.
What about testing?
Career
coaches and counselors are divided on the subject of tests.
Some insist that all their clients undergo a battery of tests. Others
dismiss tests entirely. One career counselor says, "I can learn more
about a person from astrology than from any personality tests." One
coach asks clients to define themselves as "earth, wind, fire or
water."
Before you pay for testing, I encourage you to ask
what you hope to gain from the time and money you invest. Be
aware of the limits on what tests can do for you. After all, if you
could just take a battery of tests to forecast your future, we wouldn't
hear from so many job-frustrated people!
So why don't tests
have all the answers?
A
job is much more than a series of skills. Every career
or profession includes an ambience - style, working conditions,
flexibility of time. Often it's not the work itself that drives people
out of the field. It's the "other stuff."
You love kids.
You want to teach
and you don't mind earning less than your corporate counterparts. Your
workday ends at three and you get summers off. You get a decent pension
and great benefits.
But that's not the
whole story.
Your day begins as early as 6:30 AM.
You give up a lot of personal freedom. There's no phone on your desk to
make a call home -- and certainly no privacy to talk. A quick trip to
the bathroom? Someone has to cover the class. The students go home at
three - but you have papers to grade, meetings to attend, and perhaps a
rehearsal to direct. Your school district rewards test results, not
creative learning.
Or let's say you
like to earn money and solve math problems. Are you ready for a CFO
job? Each company has its own culture, of course, but in general the
business world values image and style. You have to be comfortable
moving through a hierarchy and giving the appearance of respecting
authority.
Bottom
line: Your
aptitudes and values may drive you to teaching or accountancy, but you
will soon be
searching for a new career if you don't fit the workplace
culture.
If
you have been working a long time, tests often show you are perfect for
the job you hold now.
After all these years, you've probably internalized values and
attitudes of your profession -- and you obviously have enough aptitude
to remain employed! Clients frequently come to me after paying
hundreds, even thousands of dollars for midlife, mid-career testing. "A
waste," they say ruefully.
On the other hand, your college-age children may benefit from testing,
especially if they are thoroughly confused about their first career
moves. College testing centers often employ high quality professionals
because they train counseling students there.
Tests
may not help you balance tradeoffs. Your aptitude and values may
point you to a nature-loving outdoor career, but you realize there are
few jobs available and those won't pay enough to live on. You have to
be creative if you're going to make this combination work. The
question, "How can I enjoy my love of nature and still earn a good
living?" might best be discussed in a series of one-to-one
conversations with someone who understands the career jungle.
On the other hand, strong
motivation can compensate for low
aptitude. In
her book Crossing Avalon, Jean
Shinoda Bolen writes of her determination to become a doctor, following
a strong religious experience just before she entered college.
Bolen easily aced her liberal arts courses but struggled with sciences.
At one point she received a midterm "D" grade in a zoology course. Yet
she was accepted to a fine medical school and became a respected
psychiatrist, Jungian therapist and best-selling author.
In a
corporate setting, what appears to be test effectiveness may be
self-fulfilling prophecy. MegaBig Corp administers aptitude tests
to all applicants for sales positions. Only those who achieve a score
of 80 out of 100 are hired. Those who earn 95 or higher are identified
as high-potential superstars and sent off to special training.
Managers, of course, see scores of their new hires, and they report a
strong correlation between sales success and scores.
In one study, researchers
told high school teachers,
"Here is a list of IQ scores for your class." In reality, the "scores"
were locker numbers! And students with
higher locker numbers mysteriously out-performed those with lower
numbers.
The teachers tried to be
fair, but anyone who has
taped a classroom knows teachers can give subtle cues of approval,
disapproval and support.
Managers can do the same,
sending subtle cues like
"You're on the way up," or, "You don't belong here."
If
you really wanted to test the tests, you'd
administer tests to all applicants, hire a sample regardless of scores,
and refuse to disclose test scores to supervising managers and
trainers. Few companies would be willing to do this.
You probably can't refuse to take a corporate test, but you may be in a
position to ask some tough questions.
Before
you spend money
on
tests, ask these three
questions.
(1) Do
you need to take tests to obtain
this information?
If you've been a
successful accountant for ten
years, you probably have a knack for numbers and details. Do you need a
test to confirm what you know?
But testing may enhance
your confidence if you feel
shaky.
Elaine, a top executive in a Fortune 100 company, had been promoted to
vice president in a male-dominated specialty. She loved her job but she
was getting nervous. There were only three or four departments like
hers in the entire country and, if her job ended, so would her career.
Elaine visited a career counselor who began with a battery of tests.
"The tests show I'm very organized and I'm a good manager," she
reported happily.
Elaine dealt with thousands of pieces of paper each weekShe had been a
highly-paid manager for over ten years. Her friends were not at all
surprised by Elaine's test scores.
So was the test a waste of
time? Not for
Elaine. She had received little praise or validation from her own
management. She wanted those test scores to bolster her confidence as
she began her midlife career exploration.
(2) Are the test
administrators familiar with people like you?
University counselors work
with bewildered undergraduates
seeking their
first jobs. Outplacement counselors work with experienced corporate
executives, many of whom want a job just like the one they left.
Tests must
be
interpreted to be useful. If your
counselor starts to gush about your intelligence or creativity, you may
indeed be the next Einstein or Michelangelo -- or you may be in the
wrong testing center. If your counselor hopes to sell you on follow-up
sessions, she'll be highly motivated to come up with a story that
leaves you feeling confident and appreciated.
Often test results are written so ambiguously that they could apply to
almost anyone -- a frequent critique of both astrology and
Myers-Briggs. Overly specific recommendations can be equally useless.
What will you do if the tests suggest you should become a police
officer or a funeral director?
Have some
fun.
Pick any of the sixteen
Myers-Briggs profiles. Ask a few friends to take a test. Pretend to
score the test and then hand your friends the profile you chose at
random. Nearly every time, your friends will say, "That's me!"
However, be careful. Studies also show that people have trouble shaking
their beliefs in bogus feedback, even when they're told it's bogus.
(3)
Who
designed these tests?
Some assessments are carefully designed while others have no more value
than a light-hearted quiz from a popular magazine.
If you are asked to complete an assessment or test, don't be shy about
asking questions. If you want to push some buttons, ask about
reliability and validity. Ask whether the test was "normed" on a
population that shares your demographic characteristics.
"Self-validation"
is a bogus concept. As we
have seen, there are many reasons you might say, "That's me! How
accurate!"
One skeptic has put together or a solid critique of a popular test, the Myers-Briggs
scale.
Bottom
Line:
Alas, there is no magic genie who
can direct you to a new career. Tests may feel more scientific -- but
recent career research suggests that career-changers to listen for
messages from serendipity and their own intuition. In particular, when
learning to navigate a new career world, you need to develop creative
strategies that allow you to plan realistically while remaining open to
surprises that, ultimately, change your life
I offer one-to-one
consultations on career strategy.
The Great Career
Moves Ezine brings tips for midlife professionals entering
the First Inning of their Second Career. Read one each week and watch your
options grow!