改換職業(yè)者們請做好準(zhǔn)備

Susan Sommerville enjoyed working as a teacher, first to young children, then later to teenagers. She is, however, the first to concede it could be hard work: “It is exhausting. You give so much of yourself.”

蘇珊•薩默維爾(Susan Sommerville，見上圖)喜歡老師這份工作，她最開始教幼童，后來教青少年。然而，她是第一個承認(rèn)執(zhí)教是個苦差事的人：“這份工作令人疲倦。你會過于投入其中。”

Despite the sense of purpose the work gave her she found herself feeling wistful when she watched the children leave for university education and careers. “I wondered if I could cut it in the wider world.” She hankered after experiencing “something different”.

盡管這份工作讓她的生活有目標(biāo)，但她發(fā)現(xiàn)，目送孩子們離開去上大學(xué)和工作讓她傷感。“我想知道，我在一個更廣闊的天地里能不能行。”她渴望體驗“一些不同的東西”。

So at 30, she quit her full-time job to go back to university to study occupational psychology. While she was doing research at PwC, the professional services firm, as part of her Masters degree, she came across the role of organisational consultant — an area which she is still working in today at the age of 45.

因此，在30歲的時候，薩默維爾辭掉了全職工作，回到大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)職業(yè)心理學(xué)。在完成碩士學(xué)位的過程中，她到專業(yè)服務(wù)普華永道(PwC)進行研究，偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)組織顧問這種職位——直到今天，現(xiàn)年45歲的薩默維爾依然在這個領(lǐng)域工作。

Ms Sommerville applied and was hired. In the early days, she was plagued by imposter syndrome. She recalls worrying about the “clever people seeing through me: would I be found out?”

當(dāng)時薩默維爾申請了工作并且被聘用。在工作的初期，她被“冒牌貨綜合征”困擾。她回憶，當(dāng)時的自己常常擔(dān)心“被聰明人看穿：我會被揭穿嗎?”

Working for a large company was a big adjustment. “I was shocked by the idea I could get a bonus for having a good year. Being a teacher, the motivation is intrinsic.”

在一家大公司工作是一次重大轉(zhuǎn)變。“如果這一年干得不錯，我能拿到獎金，當(dāng)時這個想法讓我震驚。作為教師，動力源于內(nèi)在。”

Yet other aspects of the new career, Ms Sommerville took in her stride: presenting to her peers was far less stressful than a room full of teenagers or seven-year-olds, after all.

然而，薩默維爾能從容應(yīng)對新職業(yè)生涯的其他方面：畢竟，在同事面前做演示，比在一屋子青少年或者7歲兒童面前講課輕松得多。

Ms Sommerville recommends teaching as an alternative career to her colleagues. If they were to take her advice, they would join Lucy Kellaway, the Financial Times columnist, who last week announced that after 31 years she was retraining to become a maths teacher — and imploring others in their 40s, 50s and older to follow suit.

薩默維爾建議她的同事在轉(zhuǎn)行的時候考慮教書。如果他們聽從了她的建議，他們就加入了英國《金融時報》專欄作家露西•凱拉韋(Lucy Kellaway)的行列。在為英國《金融時報》工作31年后，凱拉韋不久前宣布她將接受再培訓(xùn)并轉(zhuǎn)行做一名數(shù)學(xué)老師;她還力勸其他四五十歲或者更年長的人士效仿。

The dream of quitting one career for something entirely different is an intoxicating one. Yet the reality is far from straightforward, says Marc Freedman, founder of a social enterprise that advocates “encore careers”, or new chapters in later working life that promote social value and purpose.

放棄一段職業(yè)生涯，去做一些完全不同的事情，這個夢想令人心馳神往。然而，現(xiàn)實遠(yuǎn)非這么簡單，一家支持“職場再出發(fā)”(encore career)的社會組織的創(chuàng)始人馬克•弗里德曼(Marc Freedman)說。所謂“職場再出發(fā)”是指，人們在職業(yè)生涯的后期開啟新篇章，從事有益于社會、有意義的工作。

“Getting from one career to another is a painful and fitful process. It’s confusing; we don’t have a set of institutions like universities [do with teenagers] to guide older people.” He wants more organisations to help mid-career workers retrain such as Ms Kellaway’s Now Teach pilot.

“轉(zhuǎn)行是一個痛苦和時斷時續(xù)的過程。這個過程令人困惑;我們沒有像(為青少年提供指導(dǎo)的)大學(xué)那樣的一整套機構(gòu)，來指導(dǎo)更年長的人們?nèi)绾无D(zhuǎn)行。”弗里德曼希望更多機構(gòu)能夠幫助處于職業(yè)生涯中期的人們接受再培訓(xùn)，比如凱拉韋所在的Now Teach(現(xiàn)在教書吧)開拓性項目。

Those who change careers successfully appreciate that the transition might take a long time, he says. They also explore multiple options before investing in training. He advises saving money for a transition period.

弗里德曼說，那些成功改換職業(yè)的人明白，過渡或許需要很長時間。這些人在投入培訓(xùn)前還會探索多個選項。弗里德曼建議為過渡期儲蓄一些資金。

Work experience, and talking to people doing the job to which you aspire about the reality of their work is important, rather than making a leap into the unknown. Mr Freedman advises career-changers “to try before they buy” through internships, volunteering or board roles. “You need to roll up your sleeves and try it out.”

重要的是工作經(jīng)驗，以及與目前做著你希望從事的工作的人們談一談這份工作的現(xiàn)實情況，而不要縱身一躍投入未知世界。弗里德曼建議改換職業(yè)的人通過實習(xí)、無償服務(wù)或者董事會職位“先試后買”。“你需要親自試好。”

Too many people, Mr Freedman says, do not put enough effort into exploring alternatives. “They dream of working as a lawyer or a banker, then the clouds part and they pursue their dream without breaking a sweat. It’s a romantic fantasy.”

弗里德曼表示，太多人沒有花費足夠的精力去探索各種其他選擇。“他們夢想著當(dāng)律師或者銀行家，然后云開霧散，他們不費吹灰之力就追尋了自己的夢想。這是一種浪漫的幻想。”

Jane Clarke, director at Nicholson McBride, a business psychology consultancy, says the most important thing is to “understand why you’re unhappy” in your job. “People don’t think hard about it. It’s important to see which bits you like and analyse the company, people at work, work-life balance.” It is also important, she says, to understand where you get your identity from. “For some people it is really important to say ‘I work for X’ or am a ‘Y’.”

商業(yè)心理咨詢機構(gòu)Nicholson McBride的負(fù)責(zé)人簡•克拉克(Jane Clarke)表示，最重要的事情是“了解你為何(在現(xiàn)在的工作中)不快樂”。“人們不會認(rèn)真思考這個問題。認(rèn)識到你喜歡哪些部分，分析企業(yè)、同事和工作-生活平衡很重要。”她說，理解你從何處獲得自己的身份認(rèn)同也很重要。“對于一些人來說，能夠?qū)θ苏f我在某處工作或者我是做什么的真的很重要。”

Ms Clarke suggests that those who want to make a move but have no idea where they want to go should scrutinise their entire career and pick out components that made them happy.

克拉克建議，那些想要邁出這一步但又不知道該往哪個方向去的人應(yīng)該仔細(xì)審視他們的整個職業(yè)生涯，挑選出讓他們感到快樂的部分。

Becca Warner of the Escape School based in the City of London, which runs programmes for career changers, says common catalysts include having children, losing a parent and reaching an age milestone. “This is often a prompt to make people think about what are they doing with their days. What legacy am I leaving?”

位于倫敦金融城、為改換職業(yè)者提供幫助的Escape School的貝卡•沃納(Becca Warner)表示，促使人們做出這一選擇的常見契機包括有了孩子、父母一方去世和達到某個年齡階段。“這通常會促使人們思考，我在如何度過自己的一生，我將為這個世界留下些什么?”

Two macro trends should work in favour of older career changers. The first is that more people are expected to work for longer than previous generations due to longer lives and reduced pension savings. The second is the rise of self-employment and contract work, which allows some to inch their way into a new career as a freelancer. “You can dip your toe in,” as Ms Warner says.

兩種宏觀趨勢應(yīng)該有利于更年長的改換職業(yè)者。第一種是，由于人們的預(yù)期壽命延長、養(yǎng)老金儲蓄減少，更多人將會比之前的幾代人工作更長的時間。第二種是，自我雇傭和合同工作的興起讓一些人能夠慢慢以自由職業(yè)者的身份走上新的職業(yè)道路。“你可以先小試一把，”沃納說。

Geoffrey Stanford has made multiple changes, from the army to consultancy to investment banking to teaching. When he was a banker, he was cautious about being dependent on a high salary. “People get locked into mortgages. My wife and I were clear that we weren’t going to get sucked into that lifestyle.”

杰弗里•斯坦福(Geoffrey Stanford)轉(zhuǎn)行過很多次，從軍隊、到咨詢公司、到投行再到教職。斯坦福在當(dāng)銀行家的時候就很注意，不讓自己變得依賴高薪資。“人們被按揭貸款困住了。我妻子和我都很清楚，我們不愿被卷入那種生活方式。”

A change in income or status, or stints retraining, can affect relationships. If your partner believes fine dining is important then they might feel disappointed on their tenth night of baked beans on toast. Mr Stanford advises “keeping an open dialogue with your partner, not just about your job but what’s important. You have to be clear.”

收入或者地位的變化，或者再培訓(xùn)時期，都可能影響與伴侶的關(guān)系。如果你的伴侶認(rèn)為精致的飲食很重要，那么當(dāng)他們第十天晚上只能吃烤豆子配吐司，他們可能會感到失望。斯坦福建議“與你的伴侶保持開誠布公的對話，不僅僅談?wù)撃愕墓ぷ?，也談?wù)撌裁词侵匾?。你必須表明自己的想法?rdquo;

Research by the Escape School found people who left jobs to pursue dreams reported higher levels of fulfilment and purpose. However, despite often taking a hit on income, they did not express dissatisfaction about money. “People recalibrate their relationship with money. They adapt,” says Ms Warner.

Escape School的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些離職去追尋夢想的人們反映，他們的滿足感更強、感覺自己的生活更有目標(biāo)。盡管他們的收入通常會減少，但他們并沒有表達金錢方面的不滿。“人們重新調(diào)整了他們與金錢的關(guān)系。他們適應(yīng)了，”沃納說。

This was certainly the case for Sally Arnold who quit law to become a hairdresser almost 10 years ago. After working in Linklaters’ private equity team and then in-house at Unilever, the consumer goods company, she realised law was making her unhappy.

對在近10年前離開法律業(yè)成為美發(fā)師的薩莉•阿諾德(Sally Arnold)而言，事情就是如此。先后在年利達(Linklaters)律師事務(wù)所的私募股權(quán)團隊以及消費品企業(yè)聯(lián)合利華(Unilever)的法務(wù)部門工作后，她意識到，法律讓她感到不快樂。

While the hours at Unilever were better than the “relentless” days at Linklaters, she could not envisage a future as a lawyer. The tipping point came after she split up with her boyfriend and, having sold her flat, found she had enough money to finance a course at Vidal Sassoon’s hairdressing school. Her budget was severely reduced.

盡管在聯(lián)合利華工作不像之前在年利達那樣“沒日沒夜”，但阿諾德無法想象自己作為一名律師的未來。轉(zhuǎn)行的契機在她和男友分手之后出現(xiàn)了。賣掉公寓的阿諾德發(fā)現(xiàn)，她有足夠的錢在維達爾•沙宣(Vidal Sassoon)美發(fā)學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)一門課程。當(dāng)美發(fā)師讓她的預(yù)算大幅減少。

“It’s amazing how you can adapt. It was hard having to be careful all the time. I earn so much less than I used to but I’m so much happier. You can adjust your lifestyle and spending. Lots of people want to change career but feel constrained. It’s perfectly possible to [make do with less].”

“你想不到你有多能適應(yīng)。過去不得不時刻小心，這很困難。我比我過去掙得少多了，但我也快樂多了。你可以調(diào)整你的生活方式和支出。很多人想要改行，但感到自己被捆住了手腳。(用更少的錢生活)是完全可能的。”

Career changers must be prepared to steel themselves against peers projecting their own anxieties and envy. “People got very defensive,” says Ms Arnold who was told hairdressing was a “waste of a brain” and “there’s no money in it”.

改換職業(yè)者必須做好準(zhǔn)備，應(yīng)對將自身的焦慮和嫉妒投射出來的同儕。“人們會變得非常戒備，”阿諾德說，她被告知美發(fā)“浪費智商”又“不掙錢”。

Going back to study when your peers are younger can be a huge adjustment. Jason Warren, who trained to be an architect with students 10 years younger, found the experience invigorating.

回到學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)，并且發(fā)現(xiàn)與你一同學(xué)習(xí)的人年紀(jì)都比你小，這可能是一種巨大的改變。賈森•沃倫(Jason Warren)與比他小10歲的學(xué)生們一同接受培訓(xùn)，成為了一名建筑師，他發(fā)現(xiàn)這段經(jīng)歷令人鼓舞。

“I lived for doing the course. I wasn’t taking days off with a hangover. It meant a lot more to me being a student once you’ve lived in the real world.”

“我當(dāng)時渴望參加學(xué)習(xí)，不會因為宿醉而請假。在現(xiàn)實世界中生活過以后，重返校園當(dāng)學(xué)生對我的意義比以前大得多。”