If all roads lead to Rome, the same can’t be said for career changes. When you know the final destination everything is simple; at worst it will take a bit longer, with stops in Tokyo or San Diego. The hitch comes when you have absolutely no idea. Career changes look like that.
You quit a job or a career, voluntarily or otherwise, and make a leap into the void, saying that all will be well since you will land somewhere in the end. Even the greatest optimists and those who have a specific plan and project have no idea. I love the concept of taking control of your career and destiny. “Be your own manager” was one of my post popular lectures. Nonetheless, control is still limited. You have to deal with economic, time and availability factors. Many factors are beyond our control. Recruiters know this well since despite everything there are always imponderables and the ideal candidate can withdraw, just like the project that you have been hired for can be postponed indefinitely, including your job.
However, there is a turning point in a career when the question comes up: “What are my professional roots? What is my professional DNA?” There are many answers depending on your academic training, your path in a particular industry and even certain particular skills. After a certain number of years of professional practice (between 15 and 20 years) you are supposed to know your value on the market, sufficiently know your strengths and weaknesses and be able to “align” with the right career choices. Many people have advanced in their lives without really asking the question, simply leaving their guidance to successes or failures. According to the economist Neil Howe (see his biography here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Howe) only 5% of individuals choose their career or profession the first time. How many accountants, lawyers or others have I met describing themselves plainly as “fake accountants or fake lawyers”: “I can perform in this profession but I don’t like it and I don’t see myself in my peer’s values.” In short, this is the story of a teenager whose parents dictate: “You will be a doctor or a lawyer” and who follows the footsteps of their parents, lacking other options, latitude of decision or alternative plan. (Editor’s note: In this back-to-school month, when high schools or colleges or universities are being toured, avoid projecting your own infringing desires or dreams onto your children; you will only create frustrated adults who are lost in their career choices… End of citation and back to our subject…)
As a recruiter, how many times have I asked candidates the question: “what do you really want?”. It’s easier to ask than to answer. Candidates with some professional maturity (i.e., between 15 and 20 years) are in 90% of cases able to say what they don’t want any more but very rarely what they earnestly and deeply wish for. Because in fact, they don’t have the slightest idea. They end up riding with the opportunities or needs that arise. That’s not to say that they won’t do a “good job”, but it means that they risk eventually becoming bored and their performance drooping. No results without passion.
Sometimes it’s necessary to go back to your roots in all humility and despite the grand ambitions that drive you. Realistically, some of these ambitions are fantasies. The CFO who dreams of becoming an entrepreneur only very rarely becomes one and the same for the sales manager who wants to launch his own line of products and services. Although I have met a few exceptions, they are still only exceptions. This week, I counselled a former insurance representative who has always dreamed of being a radio broadcaster. Big change. Big risk. Last month she quit a more than stable job in a very large financial services company to launch her project. Fundamentally, I admire her. I also encouraged her, but not unrealistically. Her roots, her professional DNA are closer to communications and her current project than insurance. She has passed the last ten years in a “bread and butter” vocation, denying her deep roots. I sense that she will succeed. The work of a recruiter is to understand where candidates are coming from, what their roots are and their deepest ambitions, their passion, sometimes against and in spite of themselves. Claude Gaudreault, industrial coach and psychologist told me this story one day of the flying fish.
“This is the story of a fish from the bottom of the ocean who dreamed of being a flying fish. Obsessed with its dream, it passed its time trying to fly out of the water, to fall flat every time. One time it was exhausted and on its last ditch attempt it was caught by a hungry cormorant.”
Of course, it died happy and proud of its exploits. But it passed its life trying to look like something it was not. Here is the moral of the story. We are what we are and who we are. Nothing can really change it. Your DNA is stronger than all the personal development programs. Capitalize on who you are. Capitalize on the strengths of your candidates. Minimize risks, especially in people, there are enough; there is no need to add more.
I’m speaking from experience. After a long pause in recruiting executives, I am returning to it today. In another environment, more international, a larger organization, but I am returning to it. Because that’s what I love. Because I have always loved this job deeply, despite all. I will not be a flying fish, neither will I be a Bengal tiger, but I will be what I am and always will be, despite the desires, doubts and the rest. Thanks to all who have helped me in my process and who have opened up all possible horizons. I am returning to my roots and my DNA for the best.