Successful career transitions. How did it work out for you?

Question

I will be 40 in a few months and have been working in an administrative field for over 20 years. In the last few years I've had aspirations of going back to school to obtain a Funeral Director's license. These two fields are comparitively very different. What results did you have when you made the change? Do you have regrets?

Answer 1

Hi Liv,

I hope you're in good shape as usual (Even at 40!)

Looking specifically at the jobs in question...

Funeral Director is not actually that different from administrator, bar the practical / physical bits. The complicated bit is still largely about organisation and paperwork. There ARE some legal areas to get into due to involvment with coroners and records offices etc, but this is essentially no different to filling in forms for funding / insurance / taxation or a miriad of other official documents you will have come across in your career.

As I see it, the main difference for you will be dealing with customers. In this case the bereaved. Customers can be a pain in the ****.... sorry... customers can be a challange at times and when they are dealing with the death of a loved one I can imagine they are about as awkward as can be... OR... as easily walked over as they ever will be. At least until they get over the worst of the grief and come back and sue you!

Giving up income to go and study is gonna be the hardest part of this change and, unless you have a background in the field, this is a hell of a risk. I would strongly suggest that you do one, or better both, of these two things.

Work shadow. Find a local Funeral Directors and ask if you can offer them some free labour for a day / few days / week. Use this time to pick the brains of the people you are with, do they like the job; did they set out to do it or 'fall into' it; is it really tough emotionally at times etc?

I friend of mine took my advice on this when planning to do a 4 yr Occupational Therapy course and decided after the work shadow NOT to go ahead because the job was so far adrift from her image of the job.

If after this work shadowing you still think it is for you, then consider working as a funeral service operative first. This will give you some experience in the field and make the 'course' a lot easier to understand and follow when you finally jump for the qualification. You may also find that there is a suitable 'certificate or diploma in funeral services' that you can persuade your new boss to sponsor you through and which will earn you credit towards your Director's License.
You won't be earning as much as you would as a director but it'll be more than while you are not earning at all and it'll make the final leap so much easier.

Try and work for a big corporate first for a year or two as a director and then find a nice small town some where and start your own. You'll never get rich as an employee. And you DON'T have to work any harder to run your own business... I know cos I do. (BTW I am not a funeral director).

I can point you towards some useful resources that will help you choose if you are actually not sure which career you want to jump to... But don't just sit on it for years or you'll miss the boat and regret it for the rest of your working life.

Of course before you do all this consider the impact financially for the duration of any work hiatus you may have. It may be necessary to save for a while to help you through your training. And you'll be amazed how little you can live on. I took a cut from £50k to £10k overnight (BT Management to Manpower Agency work). We survived, be sure you can or it'll blow up in your face.

Scary bit over.

Good luck, I wish you all the best in your endeavours and I'd encourage ANYONE else reading this who has doubts about their current career to consider a change. It is afterall, the bulk of your waking life you spend at work!!!

Answer 2

I went from being a marketing manager to a software engineer so I would say that their is a pretty good contrast there.

I would say go for it, making the transition from vastly different fields can be difficult, especially landing that first new job. There will likely a high level of anxiety when you decide to make the career shift but it has worked out well for me and I assume it will for you too.

Keep in mind that most of your skill set will transfer nicely to a new field. Your experience in admin work is applicable to any field. You can also stress that your previous work experience gives you a unique perspective for your new employer and that you might see things in a different light than other employees would.

Answer 3

I don't know if my change was that dramatic but I went from being an administrative manager (HR, Employee Relations, etc.) for a large corporation in a large city to a database administrator for a medium company in a small city. VERY different payscale..... I guess you could call it "domo" for downwardly mobile but I have a lot more family time and really have enjoyed the change. I don't feel like my job defines me. The big impetus to me was that I wanted to effect some change... make a difference in somebody's life. I wanted to give back some of the great things I have received in my life. The change was difficult (I have asked myself "what have I done?" but I have no regrets. I really like my life.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

No regrets. Just pursue what you feel is for you. Have a lot of courage and prayers. They are just over the horizon. Keep on sailing.