My Story. I was once in your shoes....making a career change.
If only people were born knowing they would grow up and be career advisors! Almost every career advisor I have spoken with tells me the same thing. They fell into it the same way I did. I started in Music Education, and quickly realized that this was not my calling, and the economy saw to it that jobs were scarce. Then, I went into librarianship, since I worked in a music library for two years in graduate school. A nanosecond after discovering there were no jobs, I switched my concentration to corporate/knowledge management, and there I stayed for 14 years.
Something was gnawing at me. I felt I didn't belong in Corporate America, I wanted to make a change, and my industry was shrinking anyway, due to the recession, and it falling out of favor in general. This was a good time to get out. I was an educator at heart, but not a traditional one, as I had trained. I knew from my tests in library school and industry MBTI results that I was a solid INFJ. Once such career for us INFJs was "the counselor". Off I went to earn my life coaching certificate (a long and arduous but valuable endeavor) and started taking online seminars in résumé writing. I started working with what I knew: IT and librarianship, and for 3 years, I worked as a career coach and résumé writer as part of my life coaching training hours and launch of my new endeavor. When I was finally ready to make the full career switch, I earned a certificate in Entrepreneurship, built relationships with area library related organizations and obtained my first full time position as a career advisor for a technical school in Boston and Woburn, MA (they had an emphasis in IT). I really cut my teeth there, working with underserved populations also looking to make major life changes; we had that in common. I still help them with social media and marketing, even though I am now at a university.
Recently, I took other instruments such as the Holland Code in my current CDF course and came out as artistic first, then investigative and conventional. How can one be this weird (and rather nerdy) mixture? Well, somehow I have accomplished that. I like to create, and I like structure. That really IS how I approach résumé writing and coaching. Each person, résumé or career document is a blank canvas of possibilities with true colors just waiting to be discovered. That is why I had initially named my business Artful Résumé Service. I help everyone I encounter to discover their unique inner career artistry. It all came full circle.
Something was gnawing at me. I felt I didn't belong in Corporate America, I wanted to make a change, and my industry was shrinking anyway, due to the recession, and it falling out of favor in general. This was a good time to get out. I was an educator at heart, but not a traditional one, as I had trained. I knew from my tests in library school and industry MBTI results that I was a solid INFJ. Once such career for us INFJs was "the counselor". Off I went to earn my life coaching certificate (a long and arduous but valuable endeavor) and started taking online seminars in résumé writing. I started working with what I knew: IT and librarianship, and for 3 years, I worked as a career coach and résumé writer as part of my life coaching training hours and launch of my new endeavor. When I was finally ready to make the full career switch, I earned a certificate in Entrepreneurship, built relationships with area library related organizations and obtained my first full time position as a career advisor for a technical school in Boston and Woburn, MA (they had an emphasis in IT). I really cut my teeth there, working with underserved populations also looking to make major life changes; we had that in common. I still help them with social media and marketing, even though I am now at a university.
Recently, I took other instruments such as the Holland Code in my current CDF course and came out as artistic first, then investigative and conventional. How can one be this weird (and rather nerdy) mixture? Well, somehow I have accomplished that. I like to create, and I like structure. That really IS how I approach résumé writing and coaching. Each person, résumé or career document is a blank canvas of possibilities with true colors just waiting to be discovered. That is why I had initially named my business Artful Résumé Service. I help everyone I encounter to discover their unique inner career artistry. It all came full circle.