Psychological News You Can Use - December 2009

Psychology & Career Change -- This issue of the E-Newsletter looks at the topic of work: finding the right career, changing careers, surviving when you're between jobs, and moving successfully into retirement

The Nults and Bolts of Changing Careers - Jack Williams, Ph.D.

You spend half of your waking hours working. Your career affects your mental health and future, so it's not unusual to think about a career change. I made my own big career change 30 years ago, so I know the feeling. Here's what I've learned from my experience and from those I've helped navigate these difficult waters.

• Read the best book out there on changing careers.
• Assess your motivation.
• Know what really interests you.
• Know what you like and don't like about all your jobs.
• Take measure of your transferrable skills.
• Be sure you have good family support.
• Talk to everybody you meet that's in a career that interests you.

Read the best book out there on how to change careers
Richard Bolles wrote "What Color is Your Parachute" more than 30 years ago, and updates it yearly. His book contains detailed instructions on networking, assessing your interests and skills, and figuring out the types of people you enjoy working with. His book helps provides exercises to figure all this stuff out. The latest editions are full of information about using the Internet for job searches and career changes. You need to know this book by heart.

Assess your motivation level
If you're like most people, changing careers really challenges your identity and finances. So taking the career change risk is very scary. The more motivated you are to make the change, the better you'll be able to do the huge amount of work required.

Similarly, you need to know why you to want to change careers. Is it because you hate what you are doing? Perhaps there's something you love doing that you want to do full time, or maybe you need more money. Possibly you want to live elsewhere. It's important to know why you want to change careers so you can be sure your new career path meets those needs.

Know what really interests you
A new career must be very interesting to you. Otherwise you will become bored and discouraged very quickly. The career that will bring you satisfaction will match your own interests and personality.

Look at the types of people who have the careers you are considering. People who are satisfied with their careers tend to work with people of similar interests and values. They get along and enjoy working together.

Know what you like and don't like about your other jobs
Take time to identify what turned you on and off in every job you ever had - even the jobs you had when you were a kid. Knowing what you didn't like in your old jobs is just as important as knowing what you liked. Obviously, you should choose a career that matches the things you liked, and avoid work and work environments that you don't like.

Take accurate measure of your transferable skills
The more new skills you need to learn to change to a new career, the more difficult (and expensive) the change will be. Most people have no idea what skills they have or which ones they love to use. Even worse, they don't believe their current skills can be transferred to a new career. Identify your transferrable skills, so you can make good career decisions and to sell yourself to people who can hire you.

Be sure you have good family support
A career change is very challenging emotionally for you and for those who love and depend on you. If you have a family, you will need their total support, and you will need you to be considerate of their concerns. You will have to communicate a lot and make some difficult financial decisions. If you don't have the support of your family, your chances of success are poor.

Talk to everybody you meet who's in a career that interests you
Everything I've discussed so far helps you reduce your career options from hundreds to, perhaps, a dozen. In the end, you have to talk to people - lots of people. Lucky for you, nearly everybody who enjoys his/her career likes to talk about it. Interview people about their careers - called "networking" - so you can learn what their work is really like. This is where the "rubber hits the road," and where you will finally reap the benefits of all your preparatory work.

In conclusion:
This really works, but it takes work to make it work. Be patient; the process takes time and you don't want to mess it up. Done right, making a successful career change can be one of life's most rewarding experiences.

References:

Richard Bolles, "What Color is Your Parachute, 2009: A Practical Manual for Job- Hunters and Career Changers," Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 2009; http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/

John Holland, "Making Vocational Choices." Washington, D.C.:American Psychological Association, 1997.

You'll find a link to the Bureau of Labor Statistics "Occupational Outlook Handbook," a valuable and reliable resource online at: http://www.bls.gov/OCO/

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Jack Williams, Ph.D, is a clinical psychologist and freelance writer in State College, Pennsylvania, who made his own successful career change to clinical work nearly 30 years ago. You can read more about his private practice and writing at www.JackDWilliamsPhD.com

Losing one's job, particularly if one remains out of work for a long time, often leads to depression and poor coping, including social withdrawal, inactivity, hopelessness, and avoidance. Studies have shown that depression and poor coping, in turn, often lead to a decreased assertiveness in seeking employment and decreased productivity overall.

Resilience is the ability to cope well, and even thrive, in the face of adversity. This is the illustrative and inspiring story of my friend, Charlie. Charlie is a skilled tradesman who is in the middle of a layoff, and union officials estimate at least six months of projected unemployment for him. Watching Charlie stay afloat in these turbulent waters got me thinking about the factors contributing to his resilience.

I met Charlie in early June, shortly after he lost his job, in a whitewater kayak class I was teaching. In the face of unstructured days and lots of free time, Charlie picked up a new hobby that he can do relatively inexpensively that occupies a lot of his time and connects him to a whole new social network. Charlie has embraced his new hobby, kayaking, with enthusiasm, experiencing much joy in it.

Admittedly, Charlie finds it harder to get going in the mornings when he doesn't have a structured activity or job. To combat this challenge, in addition to kayaking, Charlie meditates daily, exercises several times a week, enjoys cooking healthy meals, and attends self-help group meetings that he finds supportive. All of these activities help keep him active, socially connected, thinking positively, and feeling well during this challenging time.

Charlie misses his work and wages but he doesn't let anger, fear, and grief keep him so stuck that he fails to address the problem or to see new opportunities. He plans adaptively, staying in touch with union contacts, collecting unemployment, changing his spending habits, and carefully considering his job and career options, including keeping an eye on possible training opportunities and new career interests.

Someone once said that the difference between suffering and ordinary pain is acceptance. Charlie has made decisions that reflect acceptance of economic reality. This has been hard for him, but less painful than the consequences of not accepting reality. For example, about a month into his unemployment, he sold a trailer he kept at the Jersey shore that was costing him a lot to maintain. Instead of trying to get a better price for his trailer (as he would have been able to do a year ago), he wisely realized that times had changed, and that he didn't have the luxury to wait for better economic times to sell it. In this way, he adapted his behavior to current economic reality, rather than what he wished reality would be, or what it once was.

Charlie has remained outgoing, expressing his desire to find work to all of his social contacts. He has taken whatever work outside of his trade that he could get - helping friends build and paint decks, doing yard work, and taking odd jobs. Because he doesn't know when he will be employed next, his attitude has been that all opportunities to work are a gift, and he consistently expresses gratitude, turning nothing down.

Charlie also has taken a long-term view, thinking very seriously about educational and career interests he always wanted to explore but never had the opportunity to do. He enrolled part-time in community college - living a life-long dream to attend college. He interviews friends and acquaintances about their careers, asking about their work, about the challenges they face, and about training and educational hurdles. He stays open to the possibility that one door closing may be leading to another door opening for him.

Charlie struggles with feeling a lack of purpose at times. He admits that nothing really replaces the sense of purpose he gets with being a breadwinner. But since that's not possible for him right now, he at least finds some purpose in his studies and in his outside-of-work roles, including volunteering at the canoe club and supporting other members of a self-help group he attends.

We all have prior experience with challenges that we can draw on for resilience. Ironically, for Charlie, he has a history of addiction recovery that turns out to be a great source of strength in these hard times. Charlie has many tools that he learned in his recovery that help him with joblessness, including the ability to persevere through setbacks and to rely on social supports during hard times. He has had to redefine his habits and his life radically in years past, and done so successfully, and so he has every reason to believe that if that's what is ultimately required of him, he will be able to do so again. In a job-loss crisis, it is easy to dwell on our failures, instead of focusing on our competency and success.

In conclusion, there are habits and attitudes that can enhance resilience during job loss. Reading articles like this one can help move us toward more resilient coping, but at times more support is needed, such as psychotherapy or a support group. The important thing is to stay tuned into our own struggles and do all we can to enhance adaptive coping. For more on resilience, see the companion article in this issue, "10 Ways to Build Resilience."

Dana Fry is a psychologist in private practice in Swarthmore, PA. You can find out more information about her practice at http://therapists.psychologytoday.com.

1. Make connections. Good relationships with close family members, friends, or others are important. Accepting help and support from those who care about you and will listen to you strengthens resilience. Some people find that being active in civic groups, faith-based organizations, or other local groups provides social support and can help with reclaiming hope. Assisting others in their time of need also can benefit the helper.
2. Avoid seeing crises as insurmountable problems. You can't change the fact that highly stressful events happen, but you can change how you interpret and respond to these events. Try looking beyond the present to how future circumstances may be a little better. Note any subtle ways in which you might already feel somewhat better as you deal with difficult situations.
3. Accept that change is a part of living. Certain goals may no longer be attainable as a result of adverse situations. Accepting circumstances that cannot be changed can help you focus on circumstances that you can alter.
4. Move toward your goals. Develop some realistic goals. Do something regularly -- even if it seems like a small accomplishment -- that enables you to move toward your goals. Instead of focusing on tasks that seem unachievable, ask yourself, "What's one thing I know I can accomplish today that helps me move in the direction I want to go?"
5. Take decisive actions. Act on adverse situations as much as you can. Take decisive actions, rather than detaching completely from problems and stresses and wishing they would just go away.
6. Look for opportunities for self-discovery. People often learn something about themselves and may find that they have grown in some respect as a result of their struggle with loss. Many people who have experienced tragedies and hardship have reported better relationships, greater sense of strength even while feeling vulnerable, increased sense of self-worth, a more developed spirituality, and heightened appreciation for life.
7. Nurture a positive view of yourself. Developing confidence in your ability to solve problems and trusting your instincts helps build resilience.
8. Keep things in perspective. Even when facing very painful events, try to consider the stressful situation in a broader context and keep a long-term perspective. Avoid blowing the event out of proportion.
9. Maintain a hopeful outlook. An optimistic outlook enables you to expect that good things will happen in your life. Try visualizing what you want, rather than worrying about what you fear.
10. Take care of yourself. Pay attention to your own needs and feelings. Engage in activities that you enjoy and find relaxing. Exercise regularly. Taking care of yourself helps to keep your mind and body primed to deal with situations that require resilience.

Additional ways of strengthening resilience may be helpful. For example, some people write about their deepest thoughts and feelings related to trauma or other stressful events in their life. Meditation and spiritual practices help some people build connections and restore hope.

The key is to identify ways that are likely to work well for you as part of your own personal strategy for fostering resilience

For more information on resiliency, please access the full information pamphlet called, The Road to Resilience, American Psychological Association, © 2004. The Web site link is: http://www.apahelpcenter.org/featuredtopics/feature.php?id=6. The above points are excerpted from that pamphlet using original wording in its entirety.

For many people in high school, college and beyond there is a struggle to figure out what career path to take. Some individuals know from a very young age what career direction to follow, although most struggle. Many people feel out of place in a job or career that does not provide a sense of satisfaction, fulfillment or joy. After some time they start to question if career fulfillment is ever possible. It is possible, but first you must find a career that is suitable.

There is a method to finding a suitable career. As a vocational psychologist, I use a four-step method. The first step is to know thyself, which includes knowing your job interests, work values, personal circumstances and skills/aptitudes.

Step I

• Job interest can be determined by a test which shows what type of occupations you are naturally attracted to. There are a multitude of inventories available to determine your specific job interests. The most well known is the Strong Interest Inventory. There are many Web sites which help to determine your job interests such as: www.self-directed-search.com
• Work values refers to what you value in a work experience. These values play a significant role in your career selection and satisfaction. They include income, leadership opportunity, intellectual stimulation, prestige, independence, creativity, travel, professional development, and job security, to name a few. A Web site that provides a list of work values is: www.best-career-match.com.
• Personal life circumstances will play a part in the decisions you make about your career. The following factors should be considered when choosing a suitable career:

1. marital status
2. physical concerns, medical conditions
3. financial issues, limitations, responsibilities
4. geographic limitations
5. family obligations
6. available supports
7. willingness to commit to a career change
8. resources available to make a career transition
9. available opportunities

• Skills and aptitudes need to be taken into consideration as well. Skills refer to the abilities you have already developed while aptitudes refer to the potential to develop specific skills. They include 7 areas:

1. physical and mechanical skills
2. thinking and reasoning skills
3. creative and judgment skills
4. interpersonal skills
5. self-management skills
6. detail skills
7. quantities skills

By going to www.quintcareers.com you can see what types of skills are needed for various jobs.

After you complete Step I, you can start to see your "career identity" start to take shape. This will narrow the options so you can start to explore your most suitable career choices. Most people do not think through a career choice in this way. For most people a career decision is a hit or miss process with insufficient information collected before committing themselves to a decision.

Step II involves exploring career options. I like to call this the "information gathering stage." Here are some things you can do to gather information:

1. Go to your local library
2. Explore Web sites: www.careerplanner.com, www.bls.gov, www.careerbuilders.com
3. Call your local Chamber of Commerce
4. Access information from trade or professional associations
5. Do volunteer work
6. Shadow someone
7. Try out a job in your area of interest or in a related capacity
8. Interview someone in your interest area (informational interviewing)
9. Talk to family and friends who work in that area

Web sites can provide a wealth of information about careers in terms of their tasks, abilities, skills, knowledge, work values, interests, salary, tools and technology utilized, or educational requirements. Having this type of information will help to make an informed decision before committing to a career choice.

• What do you do at this job?
• What do you like/dislike about this job?
• Is there room for advancement?
• What is the salary?
• Would you recommend this career path to others?
• How did you get into this line of work?
• What are the job projections for this career?

• Do my work values, personal circumstances, skills/aptitudes, and job interests fit this career choice?
• What are the advantages/disadvantages of this career choice?
• Do I need more information to feel ready to make this decision? If so, what information do I need?
• Am I willing to take the risk and commit to this career choice? If not, why?
• Do I have the resources (money, time, supports, motivation, etc.) to make this choice?
• What if anything about this career choice causes you concern?

Step IV involves devising a detailed plan to reach your career goal. Your plan should be specific, realistic, flexible and evaluated in order to stay on course. In general, the more detailed a plan, the greater are the chances of success. A plan should be specific so you know what steps are needed to take and when to take them. The plan should be realistic so you can optimize the chance of success. The plan should be flexible so that unforeseen obstacles can be dealt with. And lastly, you should evaluate the plan as it unfolds to make sure you stay on course.

Roadblocks often get in the way of making a career decision. By using this four step, plan, such roadblocks can be minimized. Common roadblocks include:

1. fear related to career change or commitment
2. facing the unknown
3. self-doubt when trying something new and different
4. negative thinking, beliefs and assumptions about a career decision
5. poor decision making skills

You can minimize your fear by gathering sufficient information before making a decision. The negative thoughts, beliefs and assumptions can be put to rest if you rely on objective information from Web sites, information interviewing, and volunteer work. This four-step process will improve your decision-making ability and thereby increase self-confidence and diminish self-doubt.

1. www.wetfeet.com
2. www.Careerbuilders.com
3. www.directemployers.com
4. www.monster.com
5. www.rileyguide.com
6. www.careerperfect.com
7. www.salary.com
8. www.volunteermatch.org
9. www.bls.gov
10. www.act.org/cps

In conclusion, the "job" of career decision-making requires working on the steps outlined above, continued persistence in facing setbacks and discouragements, and a commitment to finding the career satisfaction and fulfillment one deserves.

Joseph Wieliczko, Psy.D., is a Pennsylvania and New Jersey licensed psychologist. As a New Jersey state employee he provides assessment and counseling services to disabled individuals re-entering the work force. Additionally, he has a private practice in Lawrenceville, NJ working with individuals and specializes in career counseling and vocational testing services. For more information he can be contacted by email:

Successful Retirement - Dorothy N. Ashman, M.A.

Retirement is one of our major transitions, and our success with this next phase of our lives should not be left to chance. When we retire, we leave a job that we have learned to do well, co-workers who have become friends, structured expectations for our work day, and skills that we no longer need.

Many people assume that an abundance of free, unstructured time will magically give them the life they have been hoping for, but exactly the opposite is usually true. Those who report the most satisfying retirements have put a lot of thought into how they will use their time.
To make your transition more successful, plan for it ahead of time:

1. Decide what your basic needs will be. This includes how much income will be available, where you will live, whether or not a part-time job will be needed, how you will manage your investments, how often you can travel and so on.
2. Recognize your mental needs. Because we usually have been mentally engaged and challenged at our job, it is important to replace this with new areas that stimulate your mind. Taking local classes, learning how to do new household projects, studying subjects we have always been interested in are ways to keep our minds engaged.
3. Take care of your social needs. Creating opportunities to share time with others is very important, whether this is done with relatives, close friends or new people that you meet.
4. Even if finances are tight, having fun, appreciating the little things in life and finding opportunities to laugh, dance or play is very important. Schedule activities that will give you physical exercise as well.
5. Plan for your personal or spiritual growth. After retirement, we are often more aware of death and more interested in exploring our personal beliefs. It is also a time we may want to give back to others some of what we have been blessed with, through volunteer organizations, teaching, or community activities.
6. Allow some time for reflecting on the thoughts and emotions you are experiencing. Feelings of sadness and loss are normal in any transition, and need to be acknowledged along with all the positive feelings that accompany your new life. Spend time "in the moment;" keep worrying or regret to a minimum.

Dorothy Ashman, M.A., is the owner and director of Bloomsburg Psychological Center, LLC (www.bpcenter.com) and in addition to her full-time work as a psychologist, teaches trauma response skills to therapists in Ethiopia.

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The Pennsylvania Psychological Association is a member-driven organization dedicated to promoting and advancing psychology in Pennsylvania, advocating for public access to psychological services, and enhancing multiple dimensions of human welfare while supporting the development of competent and ethical psychologists. Our mission is to educate, update and inform the public and our membership on cutting-edge psychological theory and practice through training activities and public policy initiatives.