Forced to change career? Here’s why it can be a good thing

I’m a failure. Years of my life down the pan. The future I wanted is up in smoke. It’s not fair. Why couldn’t things just be the way I thought they should be? What if I can’t provide for my family? My mate’s just got another promotion, now I’m back to square one. 

These are all thoughts and feelings that rattled around my head for months when I finally accepted that I wasn’t going to be a teacher anymore. 

These were also the fears that kept me in the job longer than was good for me. These were the reasons why I tolerated chronic stress, crippling working hours and deterioration of my mental health and family life. 

Of course, I’d started out with great energy and enthusiasm, optimistic that those early challenges would ease with experience. I imagined myself progressing quickly, becoming highly proficient and moving into leadership roles. Climbing the ladder and all that.

Except it didn’t turn out that way. And for a whole year, I wrestled with those fears and emotions. It wasn’t a nice place to be. 

It was about halfway through my final school year when I finally made up my mind. I’d been forced to make the decision to leave teaching, for the sake of my health and my family. 

Of course, there are many reasons why you might be forced to change career. My dad was forced out of his supervisory job on some trumped-up disciplinary charge by some prick of a managing director who didn’t want to pay his redundancy (he appealed and got the payout). 

Redundancies can come out of the blue. You can be struck down by serious illness. You might suffer chronic work-related stress. Lack of opportunities. Relocation. Maybe your workplace is just a miserable hellhole with a toxic culture. 

The simple truth is that life doesn’t go along as we expect. Sometimes it shits on us. This can lead to all kinds of negative emotions – anger, resentment, embarrassment and insecurity to name but a few. 

It’s easy to let this negativity get us in a chokehold, as we dwell on the injustice of it all. It certainly had quite a grip on me until, interestingly, the day I decided enough was enough. 

Turning point

Once my mind was set on leaving, something strange happened. I stopped thinking about all the things that I’d lose out on by leaving teaching, and started thinking more about the things I’d gain. 

It seems that the fear of changing careers was much worse than the reality. (This is probably true of most things that seem scary, and is something that holds us back). 

Being forced to change careers needn’t cause us to spiral into despair. It actually provides some great opportunities.

Find something you enjoy doing

Many studies estimate that over half of us are unhappy in our jobs. But would most people voluntarily take the plunge and start again in something new? It’s a difficult thing to do when you’ve got a mortgage, family to provide for and a lifestyle you enjoy. 

It might sound like a cliche, but being forced to change career enables us to press reset and think about what really makes us tick.

When I was considering my options outside of teaching, I came across a piece of advice: think about what you loved doing as a kid – why not make that into a career?

As a kid, I used to write. All the time. I’d write stories at home. I’d stay in at playtimes to write stories. I even loved writing essays at uni. I loved writing texts for the classes I taught, to use in English lessons. Why couldn’t I make a living writing?

My dad also got the opportunity to pursue a long-forgotten pipe-dream. About 20 years before he was forced out of his job, he was a salesman for a luxury chocolates company. He’d come up with this idea of a chocolate shop/cafe. He made a few inroads but nothing came of it. He toyed with the idea a couple more times over the years, but he didn’t mind his job and enjoyed a good lifestyle, so again, nothing came of it. 

When he was finally forced out, he had nothing to lose. He went for it and opened a cafe, at sixty years old! And the old man is smashing it. 

It’s never too late to embrace the things you enjoy and are good at, and turn them into something valuable.

Think about what you learned

It’s pretty common for teachers leaving the profession to see themselves as unemployable. It’s such a unique job that we think anything else will seem like learning a new language. This is clearly bollocks.

Teaching armed me with all kinds of things that’ll do me good in my next stage of life. Practical skills such as communication, presenting and designing. Character attributes such as the discipline to hit deadlines, making decisions under pressure and resilience under scrutiny. 

I also learned some things about myself. That I need a high degree of autonomy and flexibility in my work, for example. Negative experiences are especially useful for gaining insights into our own minds.

My old man’s days as a factory supervisor prepared him excellently for running his own business. Staffing levels, managing stock, production lines, administration, motivating staff. All of those skills he could transfer to his business and hit the ground running. 

Whatever you’ve been doing, even if you’ve hated it, there’s no doubt you’ll have picked up some skills and learned something about yourself along the way. Think about your strengths and use them to find your next opportunity. 

Don’t go it alone

To my shame, one of my big worries was that people would see me as a failure or look down on me after I quit my job. I soon realised how stupid that was. 

Firstly, nobody’s paying that much attention to my life. 

Secondly, why was I so cynical about people’s reactions to my changing career? When I told people about my plans to start tutoring privately to boost my income, I got loads of support. 

Friends, family and old colleagues shared my Facebook page and recommended me to people they knew. And many teachers I knew or met have said that they admire my courage and wish that they were brave enough to take the plunge. 

The same thing happened when people found out I wanted to pursue a career in writing. They wanted to help.

It’s easy to think that you’re the only person going through this, especially when people around you are doing well. But it’s something that many of us will have to deal with at some point. 

People will support you, and things will turn out OK. This gives me confidence as I toil through my transitional phase.

I’d love to hear about your experiences of changing careers. Why not drop a comment with your insights?