One man's switch from factory floor to a desk job
A career do-over requires persistence, hard work and willingness to start all over
Today, the 34-year-old Pearsall is a $60,000-a-year product manager for Concursive, a business-software developer that's also in Norfolk. He wears slacks and polo shirts on the job rather than coveralls. Despite his lower pay, he says he is much happier at the desk job in a small firm. "He has effectively done a career do-over," observes Michael Harvey, the Concursive executive vice president who hired him soon after his December 2006 layoff.
Pearsall's rapid metamorphosis from an hourly manufacturing worker is an inspirational example of how to switch professions while trying a new industry. He found a double change is possible — as long as you articulate your goals, don't make a leap of blind faith, adapt like a chameleon and are ready to take a few steps backward to make a huge leap forward. "My entire work life turned around," he recollects.
Amid a weakened job market, more Americans may soon follow suit. A dual swap, however, poses formidable challenges. You must create a fresh occupational identity, overcome recruiters' resistance and possibly accept less money. Pearsall was "willing to pay the price. A lot of people aren't," says Laurence J. Stybel, co-founder of Stybel Peabody Lincolnshire, a Boston leadership consultancy.
Pearsall became a full-time student, assisted by a severance package covering his tuition and $30,000 partial salary for up to four years. When you make a twin transition, extra education offers a cocoon "to transform how one is perceived in the marketplace," Stybel says.
If you don't belong to a powerful union like Pearsall did, creating a career asset working capital fund now could cushion you during future retraining, says Mike Haubrich, a financial planner in Racine, Wis. You can figure the right amount based on how many lifetime job changes you expect.
Early last year, Pearsall sought a summer internship at Concursive after his Internet research suggested that product managers often advance to senior management. A resume sprinkled with misspelled words, however, nearly killed his candidacy.
"This is not, frankly, a good way to impress a potential employer," Harvey wrote him in an e-mail. A product-management internship requires "an ability to check your own work before forwarding it to others," the stern message continued. The Concursive official figured that he had scared the applicant away.
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