Career Transitions
Years ago I had the opportunity to help a friend through a career transition. This work has always been important to me as I believe it’s one of the most powerful places where factoring in our cognitive preferences and temperament can greatly improve someone’s choices.
So let’s talk about “Mike.”
Mike had worked for about 12 years at a large bank in Boston. He’d started out his career there right out of college and was making his way up to more senior levels in a nice upward trend.
But, along the way he kept getting steered towards work that was more and more within the regulatory category – you know, the people who make sure everyone is following protocol and staying inside the lines of the rigorous regulations to which banks have to adhere.
His most recent promotion was to the enforcement division. The job there was not investigating whether someone had done something wrong, but direct confrontation, warning, and issuance of consequences… and, in many cases, the execution of those consequences including firing people and escorting them out of the building.
When Mike came to me, it was with misgivings about his new role and whether it was something he enjoyed doing and could see himself doing on an ongoing basis. The job had come with a very nice salary boost, but Mike was struggling with how he felt for most of the his days and how he felt after he left work.
When Your Career Doesn't Align With Your Preferences
I’ll cut to the chase… after working it through with Mike, we determined his Cognitive Preferences matched up with INFP which placed him squarely in the Idealist Temperament category. You can read our intro to INFP here, but for the sake of the article we can just consider the word cloud we created for the INFP.
It’s pretty rare in the world of career transition coaching to be able to say this, but here’s what I said:
“Good news, Mike! You’re in what most INFPs would consider to be the WORST possible job! In other words, literally ANY other job will be better!”
Here’s the hard truth: Mike had it EASY. Dumping a job that is so clearly a bad fit is not a difficult choice. If every single hour spent at work is mind-numbing torture, people let it go and find something better. Or, they are let go because everyone around them sees that it’s a bad fit and people can rarely do good work at something they find miserable to do. It’s only a matter of time before something gives.
The harder situation? What I call the B+ job.
Hallmarks of the B+ Job
The B+ job is one where you don’t HATE what you do. In fact, there are parts of it that you enjoy and even look forward to. Usually colleagues are people you might not admire, but they’re “OK” and neither add a lot nor subtract a lot from your quality of life day-to-day.
Pay for the B+ job is usually pretty decent. Maybe not exciting, but enough for you to say “They treat me pretty well – I’m getting by just fine.” The true hallmark of the B+ job is that the employers tend to know exactly the right amount to increase your salary or bonus to keep you there for another year.
You can probably think of friends who say this sort of thing about their B+ Job:
- “Once I get my bonus, I’m going to take a serious look around.”
- “It’s not my dream job, but it could be a lot worse.”
- “I don’t hate it… it’s fine.”
- “I’ve put too much time in to just walk away now.”
- “Maybe next year will be different.”
- “My boss isn’t great, but I’ve learned how to work around him.”
- “Every job has its downsides.”
- “I don’t love it, but it’s not worth the hassle of starting over.”
- “The pay’s good enough that I can’t complain.”
- “I mean, it’s not what I dreamed of doing, but it’s fine for now.”
- “It’s stable. That’s worth something these days.”
- “I keep thinking I’ll make a move next year when things calm down.”
- “The people are nice. That counts for a lot.”
- “It’s not my passion, but it pays the bills.”
The True Cost of the B+ Job
Answer? Time. Your time. Your most precious and valuable commodity. The B+ Job is the one that steals 5, 10, 15, even 20 years of your life when you’re not looking.
The thing is, one of my most core beliefs is poignantly at play here in the context of the B+ Job: The most powerful psychological force is INERTIA.
I believe with all of my heart and soul that humans will continue to do what they have previously done right up until they no longer can. A greater force has to come in and KNOCK them out of their inertial orbit … otherwise they just keep putting their feet in the same footsteps they followed the day before.
In the B+ Job, there is no greater force… Even Mike in my example above in his worst-possible-fit, full on “F” job struggled to let it go until he considered it through the lens of his personality. That’s how strong inertia is. With the B+ Job, it is SO easy to simply let inertia pull you forward – gently anesthetized and just comfortable enough to let a decade or two slip by.
Breaking the Spell of Inertia
I can’t break down every part of the process here in a short blog format, but here are 5 proven steps anyone can take at any point to review their situation and formulate a new plan:
1. Look Within
The starting point for this process is to get a rock solid grasp on who you are at a fundamental level. We obviously think the Cognitive Preferences and Temperament are a starting point because a) they tell us a lot about the kinds of things we enjoy doing vs. require a lot of energy to pull off and b) they explain our core motivators and what’s really driving us. It is VERY hard for people to keep these elements in their viewfinder as they go through a job review or transition process. Keep coming back to your foundational understanding of yourself when considering whether some other career / path might be a better fit.
2. Look Around
Consider those with whom you work, and how much or how little they enjoy what they do. If everyone around you likes their work more than you, chances are you’ve been going against the grain of your personality to fit yourself into the wrong place. This was true for me when I reflect on my five years spent as a corporate lawyer with big law firms – the activities my colleagues looked forward to doing were things I had to struggle to get through. I was constantly hearing a little voice in my head: One of these things is not like the others… That was actually helpful in allowing me to give myself permission to find something else.
3. Separate Work Activities from Your Field of Play
Look down at your to-do list and consider which of the items there make you smile – the stuff you look forward to doing. The stuff that (shhh, don’t tell anyone) you would do even if they didn’t pay you. Understanding what makes you tick at an activities level is different than thinking about your field. What I mean is… if you look forward to standing in front of a room of people pulling ideas from them and working through a complex problem, it doesn’t matter if that is happening in the world of high finance, working AI simulations, or solving issues at a construction site… that activity is something you want to have make up more and more of your day.
4. Think in Terms of Percentages
An A or A+ job does not mean you ONLY spend time doing things you enjoy. My best ratio/target for people I advise is to be aiming for 50-75% of your average day being filled with stuff you look forward to doing, that uses up your natural talents and wiring, and which leaves you with more energy than you started with. There will still be, on an average day, PLENTY of stuff you have to grind through to get done… that’s what coffee is for. But if you think about your current job through this lens, what’s your average %%? The B+ job is usually in the 10-20% range. Not zero… but c’mon guys, we’re better than that!
5. Consider the Source
One of my favorite resources for people in this context is Making a Living Without A Job by Barbara Winter. Along with the Tiegers’ seminal Do What You Are, Barbara has introduced some principles that are great at breaking inertia. We saw her speak years ago, and she shared that one of the biggest challenges with a career switch is the “friendly advice” that people get from well-meaning friends and family. Her 3 word solution is brilliant: consider the source. Before taking someone’s advice to heart, ask yourself if you think THEY have their career figured out and if you view them as a positive role model. Or, more likely, are you picking up career tidbits from Uncle Joe who has never gotten his sh*t straight but can’t pass up a chance to tell other people what to do.
Final Thoughts on Career Transitions
I have a lot of passion for this topic and believe that most people would quit their jobs if they won even a relatively small amount in a lottery. But, inertia holds them in place in the meantime. It’s usually when some major life event comes up – the loss of a loved one, a near-death experience, etc. – where they are shaken out of their orbit.
And no one needs a bigger kick in the butt than those stuck in the B+ job. Don’t let it happen to you, and send this article to your friends and family who fit the bill.
