Page 17 - Marky Stein - Fearless Career Change_ The Fast Track to Success in a New Field (2004)

Introduction

author and television personality named Barbara Sher. (Ms. Sher
*
has some fascinating ideas about careers and career changes on her
Web site at www.barbarasher.com.) When I read Sher’s Wishcraft, it
seemed completely different from other books I had seen about
career change.
I thought about my next career change for quite some time,
and one day, I decided I wanted to become a career counselor. It
seemed odd, at first, that something I always enjoyed doing at par-
ties (asking people about their careers) could be something I could
be paid for.
I enrolled in a three-day course about teaching job search meth-
ods, and I became a Certified Job Search Trainer for about $250. I
interviewed 10 different career counselors, and all of them told me
that I would never make it as a career counselor without a master’s
degree and that there was too much competition in my area.
Fortunately, I scheduled a visit to see a very wise career coun-
selor. When I told her about how much I wanted to be a career
counselor and when I related the negative information that others
had given me, she had only one thing to say to me, “If that’s where
your heart is, then do it.” So I did.
Despite all the negative reports, I set out to make it possible for
me to make this career change. I enrolled in a master’s level class
in counseling (for about $350) at a local university that allowed
open enrollment. If I did not already have a graduate degree, at
least I could create the perception that I was in the midst of getting
one. And it worked.
I did a four-month internship at a local government agency
before I started out as a professional. Despite all of the people who
said I had to have a master’s degree, I have, to date, coached over
10,000 clients, worked as a career consultant for the top two career
management firms in the world, and become known for my writ-
ings on career topics around the world.

The Fearless Career Change Process

In the next chapters we’re going to pinpoint the exact
strategies that many others have used to make swift but meaningful

* Barbara Sher (with Annie Gottlieb), Wishcraft, How to Get What You Really Want, 2d ed.,
Ballantine Books/Random House, New York, 2003.

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