"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name-brand summer internships with a job offer, only to have the same offer ripped from their hands by winter break: rescinded due to the tanking economy.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?