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Switching Industry: The Coin Has Two Sides

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Are you planning for a change? You must then evaluate the job market. You might begin by looking in your own back yard.

Occasionally I am told, "If there was anything going on in my industry, I would surely know about it." My reply is, "You do not know what is under the rock until you lift it up and look under it." Contact your competitors--write to them--call them up--let them know you are available. Of course, if you do not want your present employer to know your intentions, then much discretion will have to be used. Anytime you contact a prospective employer, or take someone into your confidence, there is the possibility that word may leak back to your employer. The odds are in your favor . . . but it is still a calculated risk.

I have also seen an executive begin his search for a new employer--word leaks back--and before he knows it he is given a raise, and sometimes even a promotion! Do not play games though. There have also been instances when executives were fired because their employer found out they were talking to competitors. There is no pat answer. Good judgment and common sense should prevail.



If one is to look for a new employer outside of his own industry, one again should make a list. This time list all the services related to your own industry. You will not be as valuable to any other company if you cannot immediately utilize your particular skills. You will also be amazed at how long that list can become.

When I receive a company search assignment, I always make not only a list of the competitors to go to searching for candidates, but of the adjunct industries as well.

A change to a totally different industry is actually quite easy for some professions. Examples would be accounting or data processing. These skills are relatively easy to transfer.

Most of the time, however, you must very seriously think before switching industries. For most occupations switching industries can be difficult.

Is the reason you want to switch industries really the business you are in, or just your own particular environment? I frequently hear, "I have to get into another business or industry. This business just is not good anymore." If one has any length of time at all in a given profession within an industry --think three times, not twice, before giving it up!

In many industries and occupations, once you leave for any length of time, it becomes extremely difficult to get back in. I am not advocating never changing career directions or industries--but carefully weigh the downside risk.

An illustration of this point would be a data processing manager I know, whom I will refer to as John. John spent fifteen years with a major Midwestern bank working his way up from programmer to data processing manager. He had joined the bank right out of college and had spent his entire professional life with them.

After fifteen years of continual gradual growth, and at the age of thirty-seven, John decided to leave the bank and go into business for himself.

What may have prompted this was that he was in competition with two other managers for a promotion and he did not receive it. The colleague who received the promotion was the only one of the three who had obtained an M.B.A. In fact, he had just completed it six months earlier, at night.

John decided to purchase a pizza restaurant franchise. He used his savings; his bank accumulated profit sharing, and borrowed a little from his father.

After struggling over a two year period--six and seven days a week--many hours a day--John decided he had made a mistake. The pizza business was losing money and John was miserable. He finally closed the restaurant and took a very substantial financial loss.

After searching to get back into data processing management for several months, he finally landed a position with an insurance company. His new job was equivalent to one level lower than the job he left at the bank some thirty months earlier. He also was earning ten percent less.

The field of data processing is so dynamic that being totally removed from it for 2 years created some very significant hurdles for John to overcome.

Also, he returned to the job market, when few companies were expanding. When John left, he felt that the economy was great, which it was, and that he would have no difficulty getting back into data processing if the pizza business did not work out. This is where he made his miscalculation. The economy entered a downturn, and he had become "rusty" in his original profession.

I know a police officer in a major city whom I will refer to as Phillip. Phillip attended law school at night over a period of several years. When he completed his law degree he went to work for the States Attorney's Office in his home town.

He gave up seven years of police work to pursue a career in law. This was a substantial change for Phillip, but he prepared for it well over a period of several years. He reduced his downside risk by the amount of preparation he went through to qualify himself. He also gave himself several years to change his mind. He did not risk his career on the police force until he had successfully passed his State Bar Examination.

Make sure you really understand your own reasons and motives for wanting to make substantial changes in your career, industry, or occupation. You may be able to fool the outside world, but you are on very thin ice when you try to fool yourself!

Some years ago a Roman Catholic priest was referred to me by a friend. The priest (I will call him James) had made up his mind to leave the priesthood. James indicated that after fifteen years as a priest, he wanted to give it all up to enter industry. He indicated that he thought he would be happier doing some sort of personnel work.

Eventually, a friend of his made a job for him with his company as a personnel supervisor. Unfortunately, James left the company after being on the job about six months. James had about three more jobs over the next two years. One more in personnel, one as a math instructor in a private school, and his third was as a real estate salesman.

James had got married within a year of leaving the priesthood. Apparently, he had known the girl he married for several years.

The speculation was that James was not unhappy being a parish priest. Our mutual friend felt that James left the priesthood because he wanted to marry his wife. He thought he would solve the problem by simply switching careers.

After his real estate job did not work out, James separated from his wife and headed out for California. That is the last I ever heard from him.

Make a list of all the positive reasons for going into a new industry. I frequently hear, "Well, that industry has many more opportunities than my own." I only suggest that you find out why it does. Talk to others working in the prospective industry.

Call a stock broker to send you some research material on the industry. Stock brokers can be quite helpful in analyzing an industry. They usually have excellent resource materials at their disposal.

Go to your local library and ask the reference librarian just what suggestions she might have in checking out an industry. I have found that reference librarians, when approached in the right manner, will go to great lengths to assist you.

Now, make a list of all the negative reasons for switching industries. How do you know you will even be happy in that new industry? Weigh the negatives and positives. If the positives strongly prevail, then switch industries.

Do not forget to consider your resume chronology. Have you switched industries before? How recently and how frequently? In evaluating downside risk, one has to consider just how the resume will read if you soon switch again.

I have heard the phrase, "Even if this move does not work out, it will certainly look good on my resume." I would never advise against taking a chance on a new industry or career solely because it might not look good on your resume, but in evaluating the pluses and minuses for changing, the above consideration is important enough to be seriously weighed.

By doing the above, you may come to the conclusion that you have job-hopped enough, and why make it any worse? On the other hand, you may conclude that you have never taken a chance--and there is no time like the present!
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