Your Brilliant Second Career

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A Coach's Insight

Likewise, my brother Dave is a talented software engineer, but he has always loved rock-climbing, even growing up in less-than-mountainous northern New Jersey. So, Dave left a steady job in the Bay Area to join a prestigious guiding company in Jackson Hole, Wyo. He still designs software architecture, but he does it around his climbing-guide schedule now.

If you know that you need a change, but are otherwise completely stuck, you might find it worthwhile to invest in a series of sessions with a career coach. Find a competent coach through a coaching Web site like CoachU, or via referrals from friends. Ask for references. Ask each coach to share his or her approach (there are wildly different philosophies and methods used in career coaching, and each coach has a slightly different style) and schedule a trial session before you commit to an ongoing program. A coach's insights may be just what you need to zero in on the second career that will get you excited about work again.

Once you have a direction, start talking to people. Look at your current résumé and see what skills and experiences can translate to the field you're moving toward. If there's education or certification involved, begin collecting data from schools and looking at schedules, fees, and requirements. A major second-career shift can take a year or two to accomplish, but that's a drop in the bucket to someone who has already been working for 20 years or more.

A Foot in the Door

If you're ready to plunge into a second-career job search without additional training, it's time to pull out the networking stops. Major career changes almost never happen through Monster.com or any other job site. Employers have to hear from a trusted employee, vendor, or customer: "I've got a friend who would be perfect for that job opening. You have to meet her. She comes from a different field so she's not an obvious candidate, but I know you'll be impressed when you speak with her."

You will find that some companies are dead-set on specific, nearly identical experience in their job candidates, while others are open to job applicants from different backgrounds. Don't waste your time on the first group. Now that you know what kind of work you want to do in Chapter Two, there's no sense mucking around with companies who have no appetite for career-changers. Every week, commit to making two new contacts at likely companies, and don't stop until you've got a foot in the door.

Will you have to take a pay cut to make your big move? It's not certain, but you should plan on it. You may have to change your spending habits for a while or even move to a less fabulous residence to get the work situation where you want it. And working your way back up to your old income level may take a few years. But after all, isn't that scenario preferable to toiling away at work you don't love?

Time to Get Going

There's an old story about a man who heard a neighbor playing the clarinet. "Boy, you're a good clarinet player," he said. "Could you teach me to play?" The clarinetist said, "If you want to make that commitment, of course I could. It takes time to get good." "How long?" asked the prospective student. "In seven years you'd be quite good," replied the musician. "Seven years! I'll be 46 years old in seven years!" Said the clarinet player: "How old will you be if you don't study clarinet?"

How old will you be in five years if you don't pursue your dream? Get started now.

Liz Ryan writes her "Career Insight" column and answers readers' questions every week at www.businessweek.com/managing/. She is an expert on the new-millennium workplace and a former Fortune 500 HR executive.