Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” 

- Albert Einstein

I just adopted the 5^th puppy of my adult life - and that doesn’t include my rescue dog, who came to me full grown, or the three dogs we had while I was growing up.  Yup. I’m a dog person.  I also consider myself, as do most of my friends and family, a pretty well-seasoned dog parent.  The glaring exception to this notion is my sister-in-law, the all-around-doggie-know-it-all-trainer-turned-breeder…and source of the new four-legged addition to my family.

Likely sensing the sarcastic eye-rolling and under-my-breath mumbling that would accompany my involvement in the adoption proceedings, my husband stepped up to handle the whole matter.  (Dodged a bullet there.)  I came home last Wednesday to my bundle of squirmy, cuddly fur, feet, and utter joy; complete with his own puppy instruction manual.

What!?

A puppy instruction manual?  Did I not just mention this was my 1-2-3-4-fifth puppy!?

Hmmm…my sister-in-law’s final attempt to assert her dominance in doggie domestication. Ha! I’ll show her! I’ll actually read the book.  Be the bigger person. There. Take that!

So, I’m reading section one of chapter one and there it is…gulp…my first taste of humble pie.  Did you know that a puppy’s brain is best suited for imprinting openness to strangers between 3 and 12-14 weeks old?  Um…I didn’t. 

I am burning daylight people! My puppy is nearly 11 weeks old!  I have got to go to the park. Now!  Oh wait…I’m blogging.

I admit it.  I learned something new.  And I was only on page 2.  Maybe, just maybe, my sister-in-law knew something that I once knew, but seem to have forgotten: you can teach an old dog new tricks – pun intended.  Seasoned or not, there is always something new I can learn about raising my puppy. (I like to think that my sister-in-law passed the book along because she learned something new from it, too.  Soothes my ego.)

My lesson in puppy-rearing brings me to today’s Sign Post:

Be a life-long learner.  

Or, as Albert Einstein said, “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”  Words to live by.

If you are an unemployed and unplanned career changer like me, your current job is finding a job; and part of finding a job is dependent upon your continued professional development and growth.  Use some of the ideas below to continue your professional "intellectual growth":

• Take advantage of free educational resources for the unemployed. Start with the US Department of Labor’s web page for Job Seekers and the Unemployed.
• Go back to school.  Find out if you are eligible for financial aid as an adult student to go, or return, to college.  Visit the US Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, Adult Student web page.  Or, check out your local community college.
• Take a class.  Your local library or high school will likely offer adult education classes. If you are a career-changer of a “certain” age and missed the technology train, this is a great place to find basic computer software classes.
• Just read. Find out what’s at the top of the bestseller lists for business, finance, management, self-help, philosophy, or “whatever”, and check the book out of the library.  (Or just pick up the Hunger Games trilogy…I guarantee you will stop and think about life in a way you haven’t pondered before – great for getting the mental juices flowing.)

Do you have any ideas to continue the learning process during your career “down time”?  I welcome your posts, below.

"You can't know where you're going until you know where you've been." - unknown

Welcome to the inaugural post at The Crossroads...Where Career Change is Good.


For over 3 years, working in the MBA career office of a local business school, I had a front row seat for the stress that the post-September 2008 job market has put on career-changers.

Now, I'm in the midst of my own career change.  Not exactly by choice...well, not by choice at this point in time, anyway.

MBA students are nearly always career-changers.  After about five years of doing whatever they studied as an undergrad, they decide they don't like "doing it", and want to either manage the others who are "doing it", or want to do something entirely different.  The first class I knew was the Class of 2009.  It was November, 2008, fall semester of their final year, when I started working in the Career Office.  Some had returned to campus after their name-brand summer internships with a job offer, only to have the same offer ripped from their hands by winter break: rescinded due to the tanking economy.

I started my own career-change journey on a slower path as a part-time masters student a couple years ago. Then I had my own jarring experience on February 8th, when I lost my job.  Of course, it wasn't quite the same for me as it was for the Class of '09 - I hadn't just invested two years of prime career time and $85,000 in tuition. But I was facing a sudden job loss at 50 years old; a job that, at one time, I'd really loved.  What once seemed like a career adventure in my early 50's, now, facing it without a completed masters degree and the security of day job, seems less adventurous and more perilous.

I've been thinking about the Class of '09, and how gingerly we walked them through the remainder of their second year and the summer following graduation.  They seemed unable to grasp what was staring them in the face. "It's the economy, stupid," I frequently thought, but never said.  They didn't remember 1992 - they would have been in elementary or middle school - or any recession during their life-time.  These bright, talented and proud young adults learned a hard lesson in economics...and in humility.  Simply dealt a lousy hand, no amount of studying or interview prep or networking was going to change the fact that the MBA pipeline had run dry.

So what happened to the Class of 2009?  I'm happy to report that they are all doing very well. Patience and creativity were key for them.  An entrepreneurial spirit didn't hurt either. Another important factor that cannot be ignored is today's "Sign Post":

"You can't know where you're going until you know where you've been." - unknown

As you prepare for a career change, it's important to use the experience, training, education, contacts, and every other usable professional edge garnered during your previous career.  This can include using your previous profession, or job function to get your foot in the door and take a step toward your target profession or job function.  When the job market is weak, this tactic may be the most powerful tool in your arsenal.

What tips can you share about using your old career as a stepping stone to your next career?