Recareering
In recent times, we have seen a major shift in the employment landscape. Gone are the days of a lifetime career. Many people in today's workforce will have multiple careers across a number of organisations – and sometimes even industries – throughout their working lives.
Some people seeking a second profession, or 'recareering' as it's now known, may do so voluntarily, often inspired by career progression and a desire for new challenges. Others may be faced with an unexpected need to change careers: for example, changing market conditions may cause a person's job to be eliminated, and limit other opportunities in that field of expertise. People may also recareer later in life as a way of transitioning into retirement. The prospect of recareering is often more daunting than the reality of actually doing it. You may be surprised at how quickly
you start seeing results and benefits from well-planned career change.
Recareering in financial services
The diversity of roles within financial services presents ample opportunities for people to recareer – for both new entrants, as well as people currently working in the industry. Even during times of market instability, recareering opportunities will continue to exist. In fact, in some circumstances this instability may be the impetus for some of us to recareer. In addition, future demand for new entrants to the industry will continue to grow, regardless of where we are in the economic cycle. As highlighted in research released by Finsia, the sector faces an ageing workforce, with participants aged under 30 declining six per cent and those aged 60 and over increasing by three percent in the past 10 years.
Recareering within the industry is a great way for current incumbents to remain fresh in their work, or respond to an unexpected need to change their careers. The transferability of core skills within the industry is high, making it easy for financial service professionals to expand their specialist knowledge in a new business area.
Many new entrants to the industry come about as a result of people recareering from other professions. This is not surprising, with the financial services sector a both major employer and one of the largest industries in Australia and New Zealand. Many people also cite that part of their inspiration for pursuing a career in financial services is to further develop their business acumen within the industry, which in turn will help their personal wealth management initiatives.
Generational observations
In line with the generational shift in attitudes towards career planning between Baby Boomers and generations X and Y, employers within the industry have become increasingly progressive and creative in offering recareering opportunities as a means of attracting and retaining employees. Baby Boomers, who in the past were more likely to stay in the one role and career for the majority of their working lives, are now taking advantage of more flexible attitudes towards moving jobs and changing careers. Generation Y has been identified as one of the groups most likely to consider
recareering as a way of life, with many young finance professionals not only likely to consider a variety of recareering options both here and abroad, but will be more upfront in communicating their needs and expectations to current and potential employers.
Find out more about the different working conditions in our Comparison of working conditions of major financial institutions in Australia (PDF 40KB).
Why recareer?
There are a variety of reasons why someone may choose to recareer in the course of their working life.
Voluntary recareering
Leading motivators for voluntary recareering are often inspired by career progression and a desire for new challenges. This can relate back to changes in family responsibilities, personal goals and priorities, the opportunity for better remuneration, dissatisfaction with a current career, or some other trigger that has prompted the individual to review their skills, interests and passions and decide to do something new. Others may recareer to pursue a passion or make a lifestyle change, such as New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. Key began his carer as an auditor, then moved
into foreign exchange before pursuing his childhood dream of becoming PM.
- Career profile on recareering within financial services:
Heath Ueckermann , Business Development Consultant, St George Bank
Redundancies or forced recareering
Due to the cyclical nature of the industry, it is not uncommon for financial services professionals to experience a redundancy at least once in their career. These circumstances offer a timely opportunity to consider recareering. Depending on circumstances and company policies, some organisations will provide professional career transition/advisory services as part of the redundancy package. These can be particularly helpful to individuals interested in exploring recareering options.
Starting a business
The diversity within the financial services industry provides a great platform for establishing new businesses. In recent years, there has been an increasing range of financial services organisations providing a variety of niche services as a result of recareering entrepreneurs.
See the helpful links at the end of this page for more information and support on why people may recareer.
How do I go about recareering?
As Richard Bolles, author of the job hunting book What Colour is Your Parachute?, explains, the essence of recareering as not so much about mastering new skills, rather it is the rearrangement of old skills into new priorities. By changing the order and priority of your skills into new patterns, you are essentially changing your career. The following steps offer some helpful guidance to help you rearrange the priorities of your current skills.
1. Consider your motivations
Make sure you are recareering for the right reasons by considering your motivations. Before planning any career change, you should reflect on what initially inspired you to make the change. For example, if the change is motivated by a poor company culture, then you should rethink your motivations and consider changing employers instead. Similarly, a career move in response to changes or challenges in your private life may also be a poor judgement.
2. Identify your desired career path
As you consider your motivations, start identifying your desired career path. Think in terms of your likes and dislikes. More often than not, it is easier to identify your dislikes before your interests: for example, some people choose to recareer because they dislike certain aspects of their current employer or role. Make sure you also analyse your likes and interests. What do you really like doing when you are at work as well as outside of work? What excites you? What are your strengths? What is that you are passionate about?
3. Seek professional career support, if required
If you are still unsure about your motivations, consider enlisting the services of an employment or human resource consultancy (including recruitment agencies). These consultancies provide a variety of career planning services. Some will charge a fee for their services while others are free of charge. You may find it worthwhile to invest in a series of sessions with a professionally accredited career coach or mentor. This will offer insights into which of your current skills and experiences can be translated into new career areas, as well as help develop a sense of focus and
direction.
Some avenues to review include:
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Mentoring: Finsia members can enrol in our exclusive mentoring program, where members can tap into the expertise, insights and networks of today's industry leaders. The 16-week program runs in cities around Australia and New Zealand. Click here for more information about
mentoring.
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Career transition providers: These organisations use best practice assessment methodologies to help individuals make a career transition. Providers work with the candidate to identify key personality and aptitude factors to guide their future career choices. Finsia has partnered with Right Management, a leading career services provider, to offer
career transition support for members. Competitively priced and exclusively
available to members, the service focuses on building a solid foundation for a more rewarding future for particpants.
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Career coaching: The styles and philosophies can vary greatly in career coaching, so investigate a number of options to identify which approach you like the most. Where possible get referrals from your
career networks for any of these types of services.
4. Research your new career path
With your motivations and skills now reprioritised and your desired career path identified, it's time to start researching it.
Talk to people who are already working in your area of interest. Find out the day-to-day realities of these roles to ensure you have a realistic idea of what’s involved. Ask about the challenges and rewards of the roles, as well as the types of personalities these people interact with. Establish the short- and long-term career prospects by asking about career security. Read as many job descriptions as possible.
If you don't have access to people working in your area of interest, identify and attend professional development events where you can meet and network with people who are currently in these jobs. Join online networking forms such as careernetwork.finsia.com, where you can join special interest groups and seek information and advice from peers. You can also do an online search for information on your chosen area of interest.
You should also refer back to your existing career networks as a sounding board.
5. Seek support where you can
Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to draw on the support of your current employer.
Your manager, the human resource department, or managers working in the area of business you would like to move to may be a valuable ally in your recareering ambitions. Don’t underestimate their response to your request – considering the costs attached to attracting and retaining employees, many progressive financial services organisations will do what they can to keep valued employees.
In addition, many progressive organisations will recognise when it is in everyone’s best interest to assist an employee onto the next stage of their career, even if that next stage is not with them.
6. Identify and schedule training requirements
Set out a detailed action plan and be prepared to address possible skill/experience gaps through study, self education, short courses and professional development. In addition, gaining additional, relevant educational qualifications will provide you with an opportunity to expand your career network. It can also demonstrate your commitment to recareering to prospective employers.
7. Be realistic and be prepared
The more structured your recareering plan is, the greater your chances of success. Be realistic about the time and effort required to recareer – it may not be as simple as just applying for a new job.
Set yourself a realistic plan that includes timeframes for identifying what you want to do and where you want to work, allocates time to bridge knowledge gaps, allows you to develop networks and, finally, accommodates for the recruitment process. Take into considerations any market instability and industry downturns, which may impact your efforts.
Brush up on your interviewing skills and update your resume and covering letters so that they reflect as many of your transferable skills and relevant experiences as possible. You may be surprised at just how many transferable skills you have – make sure you include both technical as well as soft skills, such as communication, the ability to prioritise, leadership, planning and organising.
It is particularly important for recareerers to clearly articulate how their transferrable skills are aligned with what potential employers want, as well as what their motivations for recarering are. In addition, if undertaking additional study to improve their attractiveness as candidates, clearly state this in your resume and covering letter
See Job seeking resources for tools to help you be better prepared.
8. Don't waste your time
When applying for roles, make sure you identify ones that are open to job applicants from different backgrounds. Some organisations are focused on having specific, nearly identical experience in their job candidates. There is nothing gained from trying to get into organisations that have no interest in your recareering. Focus your efforts where they count.
You should also consider the costs involved with recareering, including a possible lower initial salary, education and training and drain on personal time. Take into account both your financial means and your psychological resources for dealing with any financial risks that may come about from your recareering.
9. Now make it happen!
Whatever you think you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace & power in it.
– Goethe
Very few people will say they found their recareering experience effortless. It can take time, money and emotional resilience to get where you want to be. This is why it is so important to carefully consider your initial motivations before committing to recareering. Once you are certain, develop a structured plan of action and then focus on achieving it.
In summary …
Proactively managing your own career is becoming absolutely essential as we experience rapid global, environmental, organisational and technological change. Like most decisions in life, the decision to recareer comes with pros and cons, challenges and risks. The financial services industry is well placed to provide a variety of recareering options and opportunities no matter what your background.
Additional resources
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Finsia Career Transition Services: Competitively priced and exclusively available to members, the service focuses on your next move and beyond: it’s about building a solid foundation for a more rewarding future
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Resource: The CFCD uses a range of
assessment tools and instruments to help identify development opportunities and the execution of targeted solutions for their clients.
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Resource: If you are trying to find out which careers fit you best, the
MAPP Assessment may be of interest.
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Jobs board:
Job Ready Online provides a network of career sites for professionals working in banking and the financial markets and those firms seeking to employ them.
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