If you’re stuck in a dead-end job, longing for more fulfilment in your career, or are struggling to find work in your occupation or industry, it may be time to make a major change. But before you jump to the conclusion that “changing careers” implies “starting from scratch,” know this: There are many opportunities to reroute your career without starting over.
In his new book The Sequel: How to Change Careers Without Starting Over, Dr. Laurence Shatkin explains how a “sequel career” can help you redefine your career while leveraging the skills, knowledge and education you already possess. Shatkin defines a sequel career as a “Career that is a different use for the knowledge and skills you’ve acquired in your old job. Like a movie sequel, it carries over much that is familiar from your first effort.”
Throughout the book, Shatkin pinpoints seven major career groups where you can stage your career sequel. These groups include Management, Teaching, Advocacy, Standards-Enforcement, Communications, Sales, and Brokerage. Additional paths you may pursue in your sequel career include Recruitment and Agency, New Product Development, Entrepreneurship, Management Analyst, and Forensic.
Before pursuing one of these paths, Shatkin says you must appreciate why a sequel career may be the right move for your future. Here are a few of advantages he says you can bring to a sequel career:
- You know the terminology of your industry and can “speak the language” of people in the field.
- You know common problems that workers deal with, along with shortcuts and resources that help get the job done.
- You know the standards of quality in the industry and can tell the difference between good and bad output.
- You know the features that purchasers look for in the products and services of the industry.
- You know who and where the major buyers and sellers are: where the industry gets its inputs and where it markets its outputs.
- You know the typical range of prices in the industry.
- You know which organizations dominate the industry and who the up-and-coming outfits are.
- You know how and why the industry is changing, both in its yearly cycle and in its long-term trends.
- You know the regulator and infrastructure environments of the industry.
- You know what kinds of workers the industry employs and what backgrounds they tend to come from.
- You know the channels of communication that the industry uses.
- You know a lot of people in the industry.
“That’s a lot of useful knowledge,” says Shatkin. “Any one of these types of knowledge could serve as the foundation for a new job—a job that’s different from your old job but that carries over a lot of this knowledge that is familiar to you. In other words, it could be the basis of a sequel career.”
Shatkin adds that this knowledge can also help you when you hunt for a job opening in a sequel career:
- You’ll have an excellent network of people in the industry to feed you information about job openings, including those that are not yet advertised.
- You’ll know which employers are the best to work for and the most likely to be hiring.
- You’ll know what language to use in your resume and cover letter that will be most impressive to employers in the industry.
Additional information about sequel careers and the areas to stage them in can be found in The Sequel: How to Change Careers Without Starting Over. The book is available on Amazon.com, at major bookstores, and from the publisher (www.jist.com).
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About this Examiner: Kathryn Marion is the award-winning author of GRADS: TAKE CHARGE of Your First Year After College!, the most comprehensive resource for navigating the world of work and independent living after graduation, as well as host of the book’s companion resource site, www.GradsTakeCharge.com. The print edition of GRADS: TAKE CHARGE is available through Amazon and other online booksellers. The e-book edition is available through e-junkie.
Kathryn also coaches students, graduates, and career changers as well as consults with small businesses and aspiring authors. Follow her other Examiner columns: College-to-Career and Life After College.
Find more of Kathryn’s articlesas well as thousands of others on every self-improvement topic imaginable at SelfGrowth.com.
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