Taking the step to transition into a new career can be stressful and not always an easy decision to make, especially if you have spent a significant amount of time in a particular industry or job.  Going back to do a master’s in arts and Counselling Psychology was not an easy decision for me, but at the same time it was an easy decision for me. I know what you’re thinking.  “What does that even mean?”   Well, it’s simple, I know I wanted something more than what I was doing, and I wanted to it be meaningful to me. 

For those of you who didn’t read my introduction, I am currently in corporate sales and marketing and am in the process of completing my master’s in counselling psychology from Yorkville University.  

It was a process for me to discover ultimately that this is what I wanted for my future, I asked myself what I was passionate about and what I wanted to see change in the limited worldview that I had.  I then thought about all the skills that I had acquired thus far, and how they could help me.   I thought about what I enjoyed vs. what parts of my job I could live without.  Ultimately, coaching, leading, helping were the most important part of my day and made me feel like I was making a difference. What could I do without?  Conflicting goals, politics and competition were all unappealing to me.  

Strengths and transferrable skills are often dismissed when thinking about career transitions and personally, I think they are an important part of the equation.  Often people lead with passion because when they decide to make this shift, they are looking for something so drastically different from what they were doing.   Knowing yourself, what you are good at and what you have invested in being good at will be determining success factor. 

Marty Nemko, career coach (www.martynemko.com) explains that “more often career contentment comes no from passion but from work of moderate difficulty, some impact, decent pay and job security.”