Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness, concerning all acts of initiative (and creation). There is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas & splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents & meetings & material assistance which no man could have ever dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power & magic in it. Begin it now.

-GOETHE

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Radical Shift: A Grounded Theory Approach to Midlife Career Change of Professionals

by

Brian E. Mellor

A THESIS

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

CALGARY, ALBERTA

SEPTEMBER, 2006

© Brian E. Mellor 2006

ABSTRACT

There has been a modest amount of current academic research that has explored the family, situational, lifestyle, demographic, motivational, and/or life course factors that influence people in midlife to change professions. The findings expressed in this study came about through the use of an inductive grounded theory approach to analyze semi-structured interviews with former lawyers and educators who left their professions and are now engaged in unrelated careers. Major findings include: the motivations for why people leave their first careers; the link between the professional, personal, and family spheres of one’s life; the importance of spousal support and security; the transitional process undergone; the consequences of a career change on the family; and the types of new careers that were pursued. Overall, this study discusses how the lines between work, leisure, family, and lifestyle are blurred when people are successful in the proactive pursuit of a new and desirable career.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Committing oneself to an endeavour such as writing a Master’s thesis is

something that we all do at the beginning of the graduate school process, however I

believe that few of us fully comprehend the dedication, steadfastness, and sacrifice that is

involved in producing a lengthy work such as this one. The help, guidance, and support

of others has made this thesis-writing process a successful, enjoyable, and enlightening

experience.

Looking back on this process I now understand that success has many different

meanings: there is the success of writing a passable Master’s thesis; there is the success

of learning my own life lessons from the data that I collected and talking with the people

I interviewed; there is the success of engaging others in wanting to be part of this process.

There is also the success of realizing who you can count on in times of personal,

professional, and ontological crises. So many people have impacted me over the last nine

months of this thesis process (and over the course of my life) who have helped me in

different ways to achieve my success. It is those people that I would like to acknowledge

in explicit terms so that they can better understand how they have impacted me in the

development of this thesis and in fostering my own personal growth.

First off, I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to the research participants

who participated in this study. Each of you volunteered your time and shared your stories

with me. We often discussed important and personal details of your lives and I am

appreciative of your openness, frankness, and sincerity. I found each of you inspiring for

many reasons: the risk you took in making your career changes, the passion you shared

iii

for both your work and your families, and your engaging, creative, and dynamic spirits.

Without you this project would not have been possible.

I would also like to thank Dr. Robert Stebbins for being my supervisor on this

project. You have been instrumental in helping bring out the nuances of this project as

well as providing me with general direction. I have greatly enjoyed our working

relationship and have appreciated your involvement as an advisor. The situation of you

being an advisor more than a supervisor allowed me to tackle many of the issues that

arose on my own, while also being able to come to you for guidance. I also enjoyed our

conversations, both professional and personal, and I look forward to maintaining contact

in the future.

Gratitude is also extended to Tim Hamilton, Anne Tingle, and Marilyn Clarke for

your support in helping me recruit my research participants. You put me in contact with

many of your friends and colleagues, and I sincerely appreciate you doing that. To Tim,

thanks also go out for taking the time to meet with me over the course of this project to

mentor me. Our discussions helped shape my ideas and interpretations of my findings,

and also guided me toward future endeavours.

My friends have been indispensable in my journey to where I am today. They

have been here to discuss issues pertaining to my thesis, to support me in life choices, and

to influence me to become the person who I am. I am grateful for my long time and new

friends alike, and hope that the end of this thesis means that I will no longer be as

consumed with my work and will be able to stay better in touch. Life’s adventure awaits,

and I look forward to exploring it with all of you.

iv

My uncle Jim is someone who deserves special mention. In recent years he and I

have reconnected. I have spent multiple summers living with him at his Beach House on

Quadra Island, British Columbia. I cherish those times: our projects, conversations,

chopping wood, drinking tea, and enjoying each others’ company. Although you have

not had direct input into this project, your influence over the last several years has in part

led me to studying this topic. Being able to discuss that life is about choice, and our

freedom to choose is what sends us on different paths has spiked my own curiosity to

contemplate how our power of choice plays into achieving our own personal ideal - our

own individual reality. This project has helped me consider the question you ask

whenever I visit: “What’s it all about?” After reflecting on the findings of this project,

perhaps the question should be rephrased, and we should ask each other: What’s it all

about for you?

Throughout this thesis writing process there has been no one that has been as

supportive as Cristi. There have been countless discussions on where the writing should

go next, brainstorming sessions when finishing on time seemed an impossible goal, and

midnight walks to relax after hours of writing. You have been there as an editor, an

advisor, a companion, and best of all, a friend. To you I owe a great deal of gratitude and

appreciation. You have been there from start to finish, and this project would not have

looked the way it does if it was not for your support. Thank you for this wonderful gift.

I cannot imagine where I would be without my family. More than anyone, you

have made this project possible and have supported me to become the person I am today.

Barb and Steve, I couldn’t be happier having you close by. Your kindness, support, and

generosity have been tremendous. To all my parents, you have been there to guide me,

v

offer insight, and were there when I have needed you. Nancy and Roy, you have been

my guiding light through my journey. You have never said no to any of my ideas or

dreams. You have supported me through everything I have ventured. Your inspiration,

wisdom, openness, and guidance have helped me triumph over the hardships and

challenges that I have faced over my years. This thesis was completed in part with your

help and support, and your efforts will always be remembered.

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents vii List of Tables x CHAPTER I: UNDERSTANDING CAREER CHANGE 1

Finding Interesting Work 3 Literature 8

The Characteristics of the Midlife Career Changer and Reasons for Changing Careers 8

Changing Values Over the Life Course 11 More to Midlife than Money 13 Midlife Career Change as the Result of a Trigger 14 Commonalities of Outcomes for Midlife Career

Changers 16 Support and the Family 17

Critique of the Literature 20 Research Statement 21 Conclusion 22

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 24

Methodology 25 Reasons for Selecting the Combination of Lawyers and

Teachers 28 Rationale for Studying Lawyers 29 Rationale for Studying Educators 30

Recruitment and Data Collection 32 Sample 35 Methodological Concerns 38 Data Interpretation 40 Conclusion 42

CHAPTER III: HISTORICAL-THEORETICAL CONTEXT 43

Weber’s Protestant Ethic 44 The Calling 45 Asceticism 46

Stebbins’ Theory of Occupational Devotion 47 The Life Course Perspective 50

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Charles Taylor’s Malaise of Modernity 53 Conclusion 54

CHAPTER IV: THE FIRST CAREER 56

Motivations for Pursuing Law or Education 57 Unclear Direction and One-Shot Guidance 58 Rational Choice Decision Process 60 The Influence of Role Modeling and Mentoring 63 Always Wanted to be a Lawyer/Educator 64

Constraints for Women 66 The Likes and Dislikes of Initial Careers 68

The Dislikes 68 The Likes 73

Family and Personal Situation 78 Discussion & Conclusion 80

CHAPTER V: THE TRANSITION 84

Underlying Issues for People to Pursue Something New 85 Invasiveness of the Job 85 Change in Collegiality 88 Structural/Cultural Factors 90

Motivations for Pursuing a Career Change: The Push and Pull People 92

Motivational Push Factors 93 The Pull People 96

Triggers 101 Factors that Discouraged a Career Change 104 How it Happened 108

Spousal Support, Experimentation, and Security 108 Spousal Support 109 Two Security Strategies: Financial and

Experimentation 111 Discussion & Conclusions 115

CHAPTER VI: THE NEW JOB 121

Where They Went and How They Got There 122 People Holding High-Powered Positions 122 People Whose Jobs Follow Earlier Interests 126

Consequences 131 Professional Consequences 131

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Personal Consequences 138 Family Consequences 144

Discussion & Conclusions 148 CHAPTER VII: SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS 151

Implications of Career Change for Middle-Aged Workers 160 Opportunities for Future Research 164

REFERENCES 168 APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDE – Final Version 173

ix

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Demographic Portrait 37 Table 2: New Careers of Career Changers 38

x

1

CHAPTER I

UNDERSTANDING CAREER CHANGE

In the mid 1990s, one of my extended family members and her partner began

discussing selling their home in an upscale neighbourhood in the Greater Toronto Area

and moving to a rural area between Toronto and Kingston. For five years the couple

talked in non-specific terms about moving to the country and conversed about what they

would need to do if they wanted to make their idea a reality. She was an internationally

recognized microbiologist and he was a forensic engineer. They had worked for decades

to build their careers to these positions. They collected sizeable salaries, lived a

comfortable life, and had lots of friends nearby. Many people could not understand why

they would want to give up the jobs and the lives that they had, and most did not think

that they would give up their occupational success in favour of a gamble for what could

be.

Looking in from the outside, this decision to give up their former lives in order to

take a chance on something completely new seemed illogical and irrational. However, at

2

the same time as they were talking about their alternative prospects, she started hating her

job. The corporate environment and the office politics were beginning to grate on her,

and the work she was doing had become boring and mundane. Also, her partner had

originally worked in a middle management position in a large corporation but had gotten

out of his former work situation in favour of pursuing forensic engineering in a small

firm, which allowed him the flexibility to work primarily from home. Beyond this, he

had grown up on a farm and knew what was involved in running one, and she had

confidence that she could be a successful farmer because of her biology training. There

were considerable financial risks because they needed to sell their home in Toronto for a

price that would fully pay for the purchase of their new acreage and the building of their

new home. They were not certain that they would like living in a rural community away

from the comforts and conveniences of the city, but knew that this endeavour would be a

new challenge and experience. As a result, the couple sold their home, changed their

work situations, and bought several acres of agricultural land near Picton, Ontario. Their

plan was to start an organic vegetable farm and sell their produce. They wanted to

practice biology on the front lines, become as self-sustainable as possible, design and

build equipment that would make their jobs easier, and reduce their impact on the Earth.

The couple also wanted to embrace new values, tackle new problems, and have a new

challenge. So, for five years they drove several hours every weekend to their property

and built their new home. They now live with their dogs in the farmhouse that they built

with their own hands. They raise animals and grow vegetables to sell to restaurants,

grocery stores, and personal contacts.

3

Although their lives bear little resemblance to when they were living in the city,

they seem happy and content. They have no desire or intent to go back to the city. They

both love the challenge of the all-encompassing nature of the farming lifestyle: they do

everything from planning and growing their crops, to marketing, sales, research, and

staffing. In many respects, they believe that being farmers is the most complicated job

there is because it is up to them to be competent and successful in every facet of their

business. They also enjoy doing it together. According to her, their lives began to get

boring and predictable over the years because they were together for a long time and

were working in the same occupations. Change was really good for their relationship

because it gave them both something to be excited about, and it also meant that they were

growing together as a couple.

Both of the individuals in this couple were professionals and both have graduate

degrees. She has written several books and her professional reputation has put her in

great demand to speak at conferences all over the world. However, all of the trappings of

prestige, financial and material success, and security were outweighed by other factors

that make their new life much more desirable than her previous circumstances. As a

result, both of these individuals have made changes in their professional lives so that they

work on their own terms. While she continues to consult and he works as a forensic

engineer from home, both have made dramatic midlife career changes.

FINDING INTERESTING WORK

The story of this couple is not unique. There has been a recent surge of reporting

on the topic of midlife career change in newspapers and magazines (BC Business, 2000;

4

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2004; Daily News, 2004; Chicago Tribune, 2001; Toronto

Star, 2000; Toronto Star, 2004). The re-occurring themes among these articles address

issues including: whether people of 35 years of age and older who have had relatively

successful careers are happy with their lives, whether careers continue to hold the

excitement and live up to the expectations of individuals as compared to when people

first started their jobs, whether people achieve a desired balance between work and

family life, and whether these individuals are living a meaningful existence that reflects

who they really are. Unfortunately, for many middle-aged workers the answer to these

questions is a resounding “no”. Many people remain in their present job situations even

though they are discontented, dissatisfied, or longing for a change.

The literature suggests that it is important for people’s well-being to make

changes if they feel that they are not getting what they want out of life. A career change,

or career transition, consists of a “movement to a new occupation that is not part of a

typical career progression” (Rhodes & Doering, 1983: 631). This should not be confused

with a job change, which consists of the movement to a similar occupational position that

is consistent with a normal job progression. Golembiewski (1978) asserts that a

successful career transition can re-invigorate a person’s excitement and passion for their

jobs, which will contribute to a long fulfilling life that is both stable and productive.

Conversely, maintaining negative feelings about one’s job or not following through on a

desired career transition can lead to a frustrating life of turmoil and despair (216).

The issue of examining why people make a midlife career change has never been

so pressing. Even though voluntary career change in midlife is a common phenomenon,

there has been little empirical research conducted in recent years to understand this trend.

5

In general, the academic literature on this subject was primarily conducted in the late

1970s and early 1980s, and after this time (until recently) inquiry into this subject almost

completely faded away.

In order to ground the present study, it is still important to discuss the little

academic work that has been conducted. To begin, in a survey conducted in 1972, it was

reported that nearly one-half of managers sampled were considering a complete career

change (Golembiewski, 1978: 219). Golembiewski (1978) also asserted that several

factors suggested that midlife career change is being experienced by a rising number of

people. First, because of the increased wealth of the general population, people were no

longer struggling to make enough income for survival and subsistence for themselves and

their families. Individuals then had enough disposable income to increase the quality of

their lives and engage in new experiences of leisure and fun. Second, because of the

incorporation of the technology into the daily lives of the general public in the developed

world, societal and technological systems were more accessible and stable than ever

before. As a result, it was much easier for people to navigate through a midlife transition

or career shift because they could tap the necessary outlets to make their desired life-

goals a reality. Third, the social system in the Western world was more openly mobile

than ever before. Because of this, people in the Western world were no longer role-

bound; they had increased freedom and opportunity to choose among alternative careers

that are beneficial for promoting desired lifestyles instead of being obliged to follow

family traditions or have a career that fits within a person’s position in a stratified social

system (such as those using a caste system). An additional factor that Harris (1972)

6

found was that it seems that society had raised the expectations for what it meant to be a

well-adjusted and functional member of society (Harris, 1972: 40). As Harris says:

It’s as if some idiot raised the ante on what it takes to be a person… and the rest of us accepted it without noticing. The result? An aspiration gap. What we are as individuals and groups falls short of what we now consider normal.

Bearing in mind the differences of the labour market now as compared to the 1970s as

well as other factors that may be influencing this phenomenon, these issues may be even

more acute in the present day.

Considering the aging Canadian workforce, there are many societal repercussions

and potential implications that arise from people either changing careers or not changing

careers and feeling unfulfilled with their work and non-work lives. Because of an aging

population and increase in the number of Canadians retiring, the projected decrease in the

ratio of the working population to total population signifies that Canada will require

strong labour productivity growth in the future in order to maintain the growth of the

economy (Guillemette, 2003). There is a potential for the development of knowledge

gaps in industry, where experienced and knowledgeable people will exit their established

professions, thereby creating holes in the corporate structure. These experienced people

are invaluable to any vocational sphere because they are “naturally competitive, outdoing

generations before them in education and income. Now they bring to the table scores of

experience, hard-won knowledge and an unbeatable work ethic” (Chicago Tribune, 2001).

If these highly experienced workers leave their places of employment, companies will

either have to rehire, retrain or take a step back in their productivity levels until less

experienced workers gain the required experience and expertise to fill the positions of the

transitioned workers. As a result, there may be a reduction in productivity as the

7

organizational structures of corporations go through a process of losing their older

workers and training younger replacements. Conversely, corporations and businesses can

acquire highly skilled and newly motivated workers if they hire middle-aged workers

who want to make an occupational change. Those who make voluntary career changes

are people who want to work. This group of people has a tremendous amount of

collective experience and life-skills to offer employers. With issues being considered

such as the removal of mandatory retirement from many sectors as well as discussions of

raising the age of eligibility for collecting Canadian pensions, this group of workers is

one that deserves greater attention.

Workers come from all walks of life and have varied ideas of what it is they want

from life. As Mullens (BC Business, 2000) acknowledges:

It's the lawyer who longs to cut back on the fat billable hours for a little more time with the kids or a Tai Chi class or volunteering. It's the doctor who realizes that after slogging through all those years of schooling, medicine is not really his calling... but he isn't sure what else to do. Or the businesswoman who has proved she can deal with the best of them in the world of high finance... only to discover that despite her skills, she doesn't like the game.

People have individual reasons for making a midlife career change. As will be discussed

in the pages that follow, the literature suggests that there is often a shifting of priorities or

a longing for other things in midlife than were desired in the earlier stages of a person’s

life. This acts as a jumping point for this research, since it is important to find out what it

is that these people are searching for and how they go about filling the gaps that were

present in their lives before changing careers.

8

LITERATURE

The academic literature on midlife career change is rather dated, and is limited in

both quantity and scope. Occupational change in midlife was the subject of major

attention in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but after that period, very little research has

been published. However limited, several themes have emerged from within this dated

literature. The following sections are intended to show a thematic synthesis and

awareness of the relevant literature on the topic of midlife career change. Although the

conclusions about midlife career change have tended to be contradictory and non-

cumulative (as discussed by Thomas, 1980: 173-174), the following sections will still

provide a foundation from which to base the current research project.

The Characteristics of the Midlife Career Changer and Reasons for Changing Careers

Several common characteristics emerge from the academic literature as to who is

most likely to change careers. Some argue that people generally engage in a midlife

career change between the ages of 35 and 43 (Golembiewski, 1978; Hill & Miller, 1981;

Roborgh & Stacey, 2001), while others dispute that the age range of midlife career

change generally falls between 35 and 54 (Robbins, 1978). Most researchers agree that

the transition process generally occurs in the same fashion for both men and women,

although the study of women’s experience in a midlife career change has been limited

(Golembiewski, 1978; Roborgh & Stacey, 2001). In addition, research shows that the

midlife career change phenomenon is not exclusive to Western cultures (Golembiewski,

1978; Gutmann, 1967).

9

A few studies have identified a distinction in attitudinal traits between people who

are more likely to change careers as opposed to those who are more apt to stay in a work

situation (even if they have thought about making a change). Using logistic regression to

analyze data from the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory (CASI), Donohue (2003)

found that career changers were significantly more likely than career persisters to take

risks in relation to their careers, and were also more motivated to develop their personal

and professional skills. In contrast, career persisters were significantly more likely to

maintain the present state of their jobs, were satisfied with the jobs they were in, and

were also more likely to be concerned about the maintenance of their jobs than were the

career changers. Taking a more philosophical life-view perspective, Neapolitan (1980)

found that career changers had a different outlook on life and its obstacles as compared to

career persisters. The changers believed that they were in charge of their own destinies,

and felt that people in general have the power to accomplish their goals and overcome

any obstacles that impede the progress toward those goals. In contrast, the career

persisters tended to believe that forces beyond their control may impede them from

achieving their objectives. They were also doubtful of their own prevent to succeed and

were afraid of stepping into the unknown and away from the security of their jobs.

The two primary, yet dated, works that have identified the reasons for changing

careers were published by Robbins (1978) and Golembiewski (1978). According to these

authors, there are three factors that influence a voluntary career change. First, individuals

may be more likely to change careers if they feel that the potential for advancement in

their current career has dried up or if the promotional curve has flattened out. Robbins

(1978: 58) calls this situation being “put on the shelf”, where the job remains, but there is

10

no possibility of further career advancement. This form of career stagnation often occurs

in situations of company mergers where the incoming managers of the acquiring firm

have an advantage because they have developed relationships with those higher up in the

company that hold the power to promote. The workers from companies that are

swallowed up do not lose their jobs, but they are looked upon less favourably for

promotions than workers from the parent company. A second example that was

identified by Robbins (1978: 58) was that men found themselves at an age and level on

the promotional ladder within their company where their movement within the hierarchy

of the company had topped out. This situation implies a glass ceiling where age acts as

an obstacle to occupational promotion within an organization (Olin Wright, 2000).

The second factor identified by these authors is that there may be a change in the

perception of the type or quality of rewards that people desire from their occupational

accomplishments. In other words, the positive rewards no longer outweigh the negative

aspects of the job. The third factor describes a personal release from an individual’s past

major work-related accomplishments, where the achievements of the past are no longer

important to their personal character. Thus, the rules of the game for an individual’s

motivations and desires change at midlife, and the rewards she or he wants from life and

work have changed as well. Robbins (1978: 60) identifies how a sense of purpose or of

doing something good for society becomes more important for men as they age. Her

study found that the peace movement of the late 1960s prompted men to question the

moral value of their occupations and eventually led them to pursue careers that had a

direct and positive impact on others (e.g. education or social work). This final factor is

reiterated by O’Connor and Wolfe (1991: 325-328), who note that the questioning of

11

one’s goals and situation in life acts as the vehicle for a personal paradigm shift that goes

along with a career change. In other words, by questioning the values that had previously

been of importance, the individual is able to let go of those values, make a career change,

and adopt a new value system.

In sum, the literature suggests that career change often happens in midlife, is

similar for both men and women, and is motivated by diminished promotional

opportunities, a shift in the perception of the costs and benefits of a particular job, and a

change in the values of individuals.

Changing Values Over the Life Course

Within the sociological and management literatures, there is a consensus that

individuals want different things out of work and life depending on which stage of the

life course they are in. Mayer & Tuma (1990: 3) offer a definition of the life course as:

[S]ocial processes extending over the individual life span or over significant portions of it, especially with regard to the family cycle, educational and training histories and employment and occupational careers. The life course is shaped by cultural beliefs about the individual biography, institutionalized sequences of roles and positions, legal age restrictions, and the decisions of individual actors.

Overall, the transition through the life course can be divided into two major categories.

Although the specific age for this split is contested within the relevant literature, the

change occurs at approximately 35. Before this age, the individual is often focused on

her or his career and forming mature relationships. In these preliminary stages the

individual is also engaged in recognizing a personal Dream, which drives and guides his

or her choices and priorities in what is seen (at that time) to be what he or she wants for

the future (O’Connor & Wolfe, 1981). At this stage, the young adult is outer-directed,

focusing on career and family role expectations.

12

However, these values do not necessarily persist through midlife, and middle-age

often brings about a change in personal attitudes where the individual becomes

introspective in an attempt to redefine his or her priorities (O’Connor & Wolfe, 1991:

333). To put this metaphorically, Jung (1971: 17) states that: “We cannot live the

afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning; for what in the morning was

true will in the evening be a lie”. At this stage, there is an increased awareness of the self

and a desire to create balance between career and other aspects of life. One’s identity is

no longer shaped primarily from career successes; instead, identity emerges from family

roles, community involvement, and leisure activities. There is also a shifting of work and

non-work values that retool the initial personal structure to make up for “what’s missing”

(Hill & Miller, 1981). This is not to be confused with a rejection of societal values and a

strong work ethic or the desire to go counter-culture (Krantz, 1977).

At this stage there is also a qualitative shift away from focusing on occupational

or job positions, where the worker uses previously repressed abilities as he or she

expands occupational and social roles to encompass more than a career-modeled self-

identity. At this point the individual becomes inner-directed as he or she searches for a

new sense of purpose, meaning, and action within his or her work and non-work life

(O’Connor & Wolfe, 1981: 333). As a result, the career of a midlife worker engaging in

this type of reflection leads to a process of individuation and striving for personal

accomplishment instead of socialization and desire for recognition from work success.

Work becomes more self-directed as his or her own personal goals begin to take

precedence over the objectives of his or her employer (Hill & Miller, 1978).

13

Summing up, Gould (1978) most eloquently describes the shift in values by

individuals in their midlives:

People of this age seemed to focus on what they have accomplished in half a century, and they were unrushed by the sense of urgency that accompanied the achieving 30s. At the same time, they were more eager to have “human” experiences, such as sharing joys, sorrows, confusions, and triumphs of everyday life rather than searching for the glamour, the glitter, the power, or the abstract. Precious moments of contact and deep feeling define the value of being in touch.

More to Midlife than Money

The shift in personal values can be clearly illuminated by looking at the

importance of money; people in this midlife transition period put less value on having a

high income. It was found in one study that only 11 percent of a sample of men indicated

that salary considerations were important in making their decision to change careers

(Thomas, 1980: 176). In fact, not only are individuals not putting primacy on making

salary a serious consideration when thinking about making a career change, but people

who change occupations in midlife generally experience a 20 percent drop in income as a

result of a midlife career change (Roborgh & Stacey, 2001: 506). In addition, it has been

found that people who have made a successful positive career change experience a

decline in income and social status by traditional standards (Roborgh & Stacey, 2001;

Thomas, 1980). Both Robbins (1978: 62) and Thomas (1980: 177) argue that instead of

focusing on money and financial security, workers in the mid-life stage are more

concerned with developing intrinsic rewards from their work. They desire meaningful

work, a better fit between personal values and work, a challenging opportunity to achieve,

and the potential to develop a strong sense of pride in their accomplishments. Their

happiness is linked to non-conventional or personal measures of how they regard their

circumstances instead of on their monetary circumstances (Shaver & Freedman, 1976).

14

These people often mention that their new jobs are enjoyable to the point where they

make less of a distinction between work and leisure.

Multiple non-money-centered life factors have been identified as desirable for

people who are in their midlife and considering a career change. These elements include

job satisfaction, a happy marriage, good health, a chance to prove one’s competence,

social contact, having loving relationships, social support and experiencing life and

family events (Roborgh & Stacey, 2001). As can be seen, these factors draw upon

multiple roles and/or life situations, many of which cannot be provided exclusively

through work. The people experiencing this sense of longing are looking for a well-

rounded life that cannot be fulfilled simply by a high income or material possessions. For

mid-lifers who make voluntary career shifts, it is no longer money, status, or prestige that

provides them with a strong sense of self. Instead, they look to other factors such as their

strong social network or the actual work that they do in order to feel happy and to have a

sense of accomplishment in work and life.

Midlife Career Change as the Result of a Trigger

A handful of recent peripheral studies (other than the seminal works on career

change such as Robbins [1978]; Golembiewski [1978); and Neapolitan, [1980]) have

alluded to the presence of some sort of a trigger that motivates people to engage in a

midlife career change. Hutri (1996) draws on Crisis Theory to explain what drives

individuals to ultimately make a career change. Instead of taking a developmental

psychological approach where people want different things from life at different stages of

the life course, the central assumption of Crisis Theory is that there must be a major

emotional upset (or trigger) that is perceived by a person to be more than they can resolve

15

by employing previously used coping mechanisms. As a result, individuals will change

careers to be in situations where they can better achieve their personal and professional

goals as well as to remedy the negative effects of the trigger. However, this state of

affairs is not a positive reason for a career change because the individual is essentially

pushed from his or her job by negative factors such as being fired or needing to flee an

unhealthy situation.

Shaver & Freedman (1976) report that subjects who are pushed from their earlier

careers do not experience the same positive payoffs as those who are pulled to other

occupations by desirable opportunities. In contrast, O’Connor & Wolfe (1991) offer a

different perspective on the outcome of a crisis. They believe that a crisis has a

significant effect by creating a personal paradigm shift toward a career change, but they

do not believe that the career change stems from a midlife crisis per se. Instead, a

momentous event produces a questioning and an unfreezing of the individual’s view of

their life situation and provides them with an opportunity for creativity and the substance

or material to fashion new adaptations. This unfreezing process can have two outcomes:

the first is the emergence of new understandings and values that lead the way for a career

change. The second outcome involves the retrenchment of the old situation and the

original paradigm as the individual remains in the negative pre-crisis state.

Overall, the occurrence of a triggering event acts as a push to remedy an

emotional trauma found in a pre-change situation. Although both triggered and non-

triggered pre-change situations lead to a voluntary vocational modification, triggered

career change may not yield results as positive as would a career change that is inspired

by attractive aspects that pull a person to his or her new career.

16

Commonalities of Outcomes for Midlife Career Changers

A number of implications can be seen when looking at the results of a career

change. O’Connor &Wolfe (1991) suggest four common outcomes that result from this

process. First, individuals experience an increased sense of responsibility for themselves

and their personal holistic well-being. This includes an accompanying sense of

autonomy and self-directedness that was either non-existent or less-existent than during

the pre-career change situation. Second, the individual becomes more flexible as she or

he moves away from a structured and rigid self-definition. In other words, people

embrace a system of organic life-flow where emergent overarching self-concept guides

their progression through their everyday practices. At this stage they are more open to

new experiences and taking risks than they once were. Third, individuals express an

increased interest, desire, and appreciation for natural and unprompted interpersonal

relationships as opposed to structured and strictly bounded formal interactions. Fourth,

individuals who have gone through a midlife career change show an attempt to

incorporate career and other aspects of life within the same identity framework. This is

done to gain a better holistic life balance in order to have one’s identity centered within

the nature of the self instead of a compartmentalized identity that holds career and family

roles separate. Although these four factors point to different implications of career

change, it is possible to see that individuals who go through this process are able to lead a

less structured life and have a more flexible sense of self. Again, this illustrates the shift

in values between what was important before a career change and what is seen as

important after.

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Support and the Family

Although making a voluntary career change is a choice made by individuals, the

impact of making an occupational shift has repercussions for a changer’s family. In

many respects, people who maintain close ties with the career changer (especially their

family) share in the adjustments of the transition and feel an equal impact that results

from the career change (Henton, Russell, and Koval, 1983). For example, as discussed

earlier, when people make voluntary career changes they often accept a cut in pay and

reduced social status. This can affect the way a family is seen within the community, can

have an impact on the social circles in which family members are involved, and can limit

the activities that a family engages in because of a reduction in disposable income.

However, there are many other factors that come into play for a family when a career

change is made by one of the adults.

Since most of the work in this area has focused primarily on the individual’s

experience of the career change, there has been little attention paid to the impact on the

family or the dynamics that change within the family unit as a result of a career change.

The central work on the subject of the family and voluntary midlife career change

examines the spousal perceptions of midlife career change (Henton, Russell, and Koval,

1983). This article discusses the impact of midlife career change on the changer’s family

and identifies numerous family adaptations characterizing the career change process.

Several insightful findings were discovered. First, approximately one quarter of the

female spouses interviewed (24%) indicated that their husbands felt discontented with

their present jobs, were bored, disillusioned, or frustrated. Second, 41% of the families

involved in the study experienced a decrease in income as a result of a career change of

18

the father/husband. Third, a majority (64%) of the wives interviewed saw themselves as

supportive, were encouraging of her husband’s decision to change careers, and were

facilitative in the process of making the shift (289). Fourth, it was found that the negative

advice and/or discouragement for making a career change from extended family members

and friends had little effect on dissuading career changers from deciding to make an

occupational shift as compared to the significance of having their wife’s support (289)

(see also Neapolitan, 1980: 222).

Other works offer insights into the impact of families on the individual’s decision

to make a career change. One of the primary obstacles for people to make the decision to

change careers involved having dependent children still living in the home. For instance,

one study reported that men who have dependent children living under their care are less

likely to make a voluntary career change even if they are dissatisfied with their present

occupational situation and desire a change (Neapolitan, 1980: 221). The feeling of

responsibility for taking care of the family is heightened when a man’s wife is not

employed outside the home. Overall, it was seen that a spouse and children who were

dependent on their income act as a serious obstacle which prevents men from changing

occupations. In addition, men who had spouses who were willing to support them

financially enabled a career change. In contrast to Neapolitan (1980), Thomas (1980:

177) found that nearly three-quarters (74%) of the male career changers studied had

dependent children in the home when they made their occupational transition. In addition,

among 60% of the families studied, the wife was not working at the time of the husband’s

career change. This contradicts Neapolitan’s (1980) findings about how having

dependents living at home deters men from career change as well as how having added

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financial support from a spouse facilitates career change. In essence, Thomas’ (1980)

results show that for the majority of the families affected by a career change, the father is

responsible for the financial wellbeing of the family and must either make a successful

vocational shift or the family will suffer severe financial consequences.

In terms of the impact of a career change on the family, Henton et Al. (1983: 289)

state that relocating is the hardest thing for families to endure in a midlife career change.

The expense of moving, having to sell and buy their homes, and the stress of watching

children adjust to a new place and make new friends is very difficult for parents.

However, less than a quarter of the women interviewed reported that there were adverse

effects on their children because of a career change. Conversely, several improvements

were incurred to the family unit when men made career changes. Fifty-nine percent of

the wives said their husbands spent more time with their families than when they were in

their former jobs, and the quality of the time fathers spent with their families was better.

Also, the positive effects on people’s marriages outweighed the hardships during the

career change process. In fact, many women indicated that there was a reinvigorated

sense of closeness and appreciation between themselves and their husbands because the

two individuals had to work as a team and support each other. Many of the women

attributed the improvement of their relationship to a belief that when their husbands were

happier with themselves then things tended to be better within the relationship. Lomranz,

Shmotkin, Eyal, and Friedman (1994) build on this concept. They note that for couples,

issues of loyalty and dependence, independence, and interdependence are dealt with

during a major occupational shift. When a serious personal transition like a career

change is proposed and carried out, a couple must redefine their relationship and establish

20

a new basis for trust, support, and differences. In addition, the roles for both adults in the

family must change (i.e. financial, supportive/emotional, parental) in order for individuals

to go about their career transition.

CRITIQUE OF THE LITERATURE

This literature provides a foundation for understanding the motivations and

factors underlying midlife career changes. The studies cited also help demonstrate: the

ways that individuals often experience a shift in values in midlife, where those things that

seemed important when growing up have now lost their relevance; how some people

choose to change careers in order to align their new values with their work; and that an

individual’s family and support networks are important when considering or making a

midlife career change.

However, much of the work cited used psychological developmental models in

order to focus on the individual as career changer. This body of literature paid relatively

little attention to the career change process, the perceived effect that a successful midlife

career change has on the individual as well as on the family, or the outcomes that emerge

from career changes. In addition, women were not included in these studies aside from

being acknowledged as the spouses of male career changers or noted as getting a nominal

occupation once their children had grown up and left home. This is not surprising,

considering the fact that during the era of the late 1970s and early 1980s men made up a

much larger majority of the professional workforce. However, this is no longer the case.

Women are now an integral part of the current Canadian workforce and hold many

skilled and important positions among employed Canadians. The 2001 Canadian census

21

showed that women held many more skilled occupational positions than ten years

previous. For instance, the number of female workers in professional positions in the

business and finance sectors has more than doubled since 1991. Women also accounted

for 40% more managerial positions than they did the previous decade (Statistics Canada,

2001). As such, the experiences of women who engage in midlife career change are also

of great interest in this study because they have been largely neglected by academic

research.

The literature on professionals who voluntarily change careers at midlife is

contradictory and inconclusive. In addition, the body of knowledge on this topic is out of

date and out of touch with the current Canadian workforce, considering the changes in

the demographics of Canadian workers as well as the changes in the way that business is

conducted in contemporary Canadian society. Overall, no study comprehensively

conceptualizes the motivations, processes, and consequences of midlife career change,

which is the primary goal of this project.

RESEARCH STATEMENT

Voluntary midlife career change is something that individuals must choose based

on their own unique situations, values, and goals. There has been a modest amount of

academic research that has explored the situational, lifestyle, demographic, motivational,

and/or life course factors that influence people in midlife to change professions.

Becoming a professional often involves a large investment of economic, social, and

personal capital. As such, it is of interest to study the factors that prompt professionals to

leave their established careers and pursue other paths.

22

Professional work is generally regarded as highly rewarding for the individuals

who are employed in such fields. These workers are often devoted to their professions

and build their personal identities through their professional occupation (Stebbins, 2004).

As Stebbins (2004) states:

True occupational devotees are not likely to renounce their work for an early retirement or a part-time working arrangement, simply to pursue more or less full-time a serious leisure passion. They may have such a passion, but in any conflict between powerful work and leisure passions, the former seems destined to win out, at least until enthusiasm for it has run its course or external circumstances conspire to seriously efface the devotee’s quality of work life (107).

As a result, I am interested in finding out what considerations are made when the

enthusiasm or external circumstances that Stebbins describes run their course and drive

people to find other work situations that offer a better congruence with what they are

looking for from life. Overall however, I will explore how the midlife career shift of

various former professionals was accomplished and how their lives have been affected by

that change. More specifically, this project is focused on understanding, in an

exploratory fashion, what prompted them to leave their initial professions, the processes

involved in career change, and the resulting effects on their lives.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of Chapter I was to provide a general introduction to the topic of

midlife career change. It presented an overview of the relevant literature and a critique of

that literature. As was discussed in previous literature, career change is a broad and

diverse topic that holds repercussions for the individual’s career and their identities.

Occupational shifts also have effects on the families of career changers, where families

23

reported a drop in income and prestige, but also created situations where children spent

more quality time with their fathers and where couples were brought closer together.

The following chapters will not only update the body of literature on midlife

career change, but will also encapsulate a more holistic view of the general career change

process undergone by people at midlife. The overall goal of this project is to examine the

career change process in greater scope and detail than has been done by previous

published works. Several topics will be addressed, including: what makes a career

change successful, why people leave their jobs, how people go about a career change, and

how the lives of individuals and their families are affected by making such a radical

occupational shift.

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CHAPTER II

METHODOLOGY

Because the academic research on midlife career change is limited in quantity and

scope, it is necessary to form a current base of knowledge on which future studies can

concatenate, or contribute to accretive theory on a common subject. By developing an in-

depth subjective understanding of the experiences of individuals who have undergone a

midlife career change, we can begin to develop theory and preliminary hypotheses for

subsequent studies. In addition, the past research that has been conducted on midlife

career change of professionals is inconclusive, contradictory, and out-of-date. As such, it

is important to conduct this study in order to add a current assessment of this

phenomenon to further concatenate on this topic.

The main objective of this chapter is to provide a methodological understanding

of this research project. The use of the grounded theory methodology will be explained,

followed by a discussion of the rationalization for choosing law and education as

25

representative professions for analysis. Another aim of this chapter is to outline the

recruitment and data collection methods used for amassing this sample of former lawyers

and educators. A description of the sample is also provided, and methodological

concerns are addressed.

METHODOLOGY

A qualitative study is appropriate when taking an integrative approach for

gathering rich and in-depth data that is conducive to exploring what occurs during the

process of midlife professional career change. Because of the contradictory findings and

out-of-date nature of the past literature on this subject it is essential to get a new

foundation on the topic that is accurate and up-to-date. As Stebbins (2001) argues, this

topic of study begs to be explored anew because the occupational environment and

context of professional work has drastically changed since the majority of the relevant

research was conducted. As such, taking an exploratory grounded theory approach (as

outlined by Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss, 1987; Stebbins, 2001) is appropriate for

studying this topic. Grounded theory is a methodology where theory is generated through

the development of conceptual categories that emerge from analysis and synthesis of

gathered data. The strength of a grounded theory comes about through the agreement of

multiple sources of data regarding similar categories; conceptual saturation is reached

when multiple sources provide similar information. The overall goal of this process is to

theorize about social phenomena through the inductive production of generalizations that

emerge from empirical data on a given topic.

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As Stebbins (2001) believes, there needs to be a clear understanding of the group,

activity, or situation being studied before more deductive confirmatory research can be

undertaken with optimal effect. Confirmatory-type research (e.g. survey research) is

inappropriate in this situation because there is not a current topical conceptual or

theoretical framework from which to mount well-rounded and high quality explanatory

research on midlife professionals who have made a career change. This exploratory

approach will allow me to adequately uncover relevant social, personal, and structural

elements that are required to develop valid grounded theory for why and how

professionals negotiate a midlife career change.

The emergent findings of this study are developed through analysis of the data

and not from a previously deduced theory. Analysis is conducted by comparing and

contrasting the stories of individuals who change careers. By collecting multiple stories

of a similar phenomenon (i.e. midlife career change) the researcher synthesizes the

commonalities found within these accounts. The grounded theory methodology is an

organic process whereby the data collected from earlier interviews is used to shape, focus,

and direct the questions that are asked of subsequent interview participants. In addition,

the researcher uses various techniques such as memo writing, induction, and reflection to

develop themes and generalizations. More specifically, this grounded theory process will

provide an appropriate and effective understanding of this career change phenomenon so

that further studies may concatenate on my findings.

In The Grounded Theory Perspective III: Theoretical Coding (2005) Glaser

identifies that the power of grounded theory lies in the researcher staying open to the

emergence of theoretical codes that come about through sorting memos and writing about

27

those memos. Analytically I proceeded in the following way. Once I had made detailed

summaries of the taped interviews (Stebbins [2001] states that “[B]ecause, most of the

time, the respondents quoted are not personally identified, verbatim accuracy, is in reality,

unimportant”, and as such I did not produce verbatim transcripts) I proceeded to examine

each of the summaries for interesting analytic themes. Since writing The Discovery of

Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967), Glaser (2005) is still instructing cutting up

printed copies of the summaries where people find relevant theoretical codes. Following

Glaser (2005) I started my analytic sorting with this same idea in mind, however I used

an electronic sorting process to reduce my paper consumption. Specifically, I set up a

dual monitor system on my computer where I could run multiple screens so that I could

run a blank word processing screen while viewing the existing interview summaries.

From there I identified each individual participant within a new document by assigning

them a unique font colour so that I could distinguish between the different participants

once their information had been reorganized in combination with others’ data within a

new thematically organized file. The relevant information pertaining to theoretical codes

was copied from each original interview document and pasted into the new thematic

document. Copying to a new screen and changing the font allowed me to see the relevant

information of every individual in relation to the similar theoretical codes of the other

participants. This system provided me with a variation on Glaser’s (1967; 2005)

prescription of physically cutting each theoretical code from each analytic summary and

separating them into different envelopes. It also allowed me the freedom to remain open

to the emergence of theoretical codes without trying to force the development of non-

preconceived theoretical codes.

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Once the sorting process was complete I proceeded to do memo writing as

suggested by Glaser (2005) and Glaser & Strauss (1967). This is a process whereby I

wrote about the individual thematic constructs that emerged from examining my

organization of the thematic codes. In so doing I was able to expand and flesh out the

detail of the various themes in an introspective fashion by integrating the data from the

accounts of each research participant. This process allowed me to reflect on the emergent

data and interpret it to develop generalizations.

Once I had undergone this overall analytic process I felt confident to begin the

writing and reporting phase of the research. The final outcome of this overall analytic

process is presented in Chapters IV, V, VI, and VII.

REASONS FOR SELECTING THE COMBINATION OF LAWYERS AND TEACHERS

The choice to sample lawyers and educators, as opposed to other types of client-

based professionals1, stems from a desire to examine two very different and contrasting

professions. In general, when comparing education and law, it is evident that the style,

procedures, time spent working, potential income, and client relationships differ in many

ways. In addition, the prestige levels of these two professions are different: law is seen as

a highly prestigious profession while education is perceived as “semi-professional with

relatively low social prestige and income” (Addi-Raccah, 2005: 379). Examining two

different professions will provide an initial assessment of whether the issues, motivating

1 Client-centered professionals provide a service and/or interact with individuals (such as in the fields of law, teaching, and medicine), as opposed to public-centered professionals who provide a service for the masses (such as professional athletes, musicians, or artists). See Stebbins, 1992: 22 for greater detail.

29

factors, and adaptive processes experienced by client-centered professionals are similar

or different.

Rationale for Studying Lawyers

From an outside perspective, being a lawyer may seem to be the consummate

profession. Generally speaking, it is prestigious. Lawyers are thought to make high

salaries, are well respected, and are awarded a lot of responsibility. However, there is a

large amount of literature that identifies widespread problems within the profession of

law. The three main Canadian experts on the sociology of law are Jean Wallace, Fiona

Kay, and Joan Brockman. These three academics have independently studied a wide

array of topics over the last decade. Some of the issues that they have raised regarding

the legal profession and lawyers include: lack of commitment (Wallace, 1995), gender

issues (Brockman, 1994; Wallace, 2001; Kay, Masuch, & Curry, 2004), and work-life

imbalance (Brockman, 1994; Wallace, 1999). Issues such as the ones mentioned above,

and others identified by Wallace, Kay, and Brockman set the stage for identifying why

some lawyers become dissatisfied with their profession and search for a radically

different career. However, as Kay (1997: 303) states, “surprisingly little attention has

been directed toward analyses of departures from the profession or the emergence of

alternative career paths”.

Beyond this, The Alberta Law Society has recently identified an increasing trend

of lawyers exiting the legal profession. Between November 2002 and October 2003, 221

lawyers (99 men and 122 women) chose to move from active to inactive status in Alberta.

Other Canadian research has shown that lawyer exit comes at a great cost to law firms, as

the average cost of an associate’s departure is $315,000, approximately twice an

30

associate’s salary (Catalyst Canada, 2005). As a result of these issues, The Alberta Law

Society, through a pilot project2, has taken a leading role in examining the motivations

for leaving and systematically monitoring the exit of lawyers.

Although these studies are effective in identifying serious issues in the current

situation of law as well as lawyers’ desire to leave law, these projects only examine

lawyers’ desires and motivations for leaving the profession. My research will extend

these works by analyzing the alternative occupations that these individuals pursue upon

leaving law, the steps taken to become successful in a new work situation, and the new

careers that allow for a better personal fit. This study also uses two professional

comparison groups (i.e. lawyers and educators) in order to discover whether there are

issues that are specific to the fields of law or education and to consider whether

commonalities exist for professionals in general.

Rationale for Studying Educators

Educators are necessary and important members of the Canadian workforce.

These people educate future generations and act as administrators to maintain a workable

educational infrastructure. Working in the education system seems ideal: the job of

primary and secondary school teachers is to inspire and teach young people, they receive

extended vacations in the summertime while students are on summer break, their unions

are highly organized, and teachers receive excellent health and pension benefits.

Principals and vice-principals still work within the education system but have moved to

administrative roles. They are well paid and are highly involved in school culture and

2 See Cooper, M., Brockman, J., & Hoffart, I. (2004). Report on the Development and Pilot Test of an Exit Interview Protocol with Lawyers who Move from Active to Inactive Membership Status. Calgary, Alberta. The Law Society of Alberta, The Canadian Bar Association, Alberta Law Foundation.

31

daily activity. University professors are seen to have an ideal job as well: the salaries are

considerable, tenure allows for career-long job security, and the autonomy within the job

is very high. As Reilh and Lee (1996) believe, working in education is associated with

supportive and positive working conditions that allow for an amicable, supportive, and

family-like environment. Notwithstanding these benefits of being an educator,

professionals in this occupation tend to leave the profession at a higher rate than

professionals in many other occupations (Anderson, Stacey, Western, & Williams, 1983).

Many researchers have examined teacher attrition using a resources-rewards

model to better explain why teachers leave the education profession. This rational choice

framework suggests that good teachers with marketable skills leave education because

they find or are offered better occupational positions outside of the education system.

This rational choice framework hypothesizes that higher pay and promotions available

outside education are the key motivations for people to change careers. It has been

shown that although educators are well trained and highly competent in their teaching

specialties, they are paid less for their expertise than if they were employed in the private

sector. Even though the majority of American teachers (57%) hold at least a Master’s

degree, poor working conditions and low pay discourage these educators from staying in

the education system (National Education Association, 2003). This uncompetitive wage

is one of the primary explanations given in the academic literature for teacher attrition;

the attractive wage found in employment opportunities outside of the education sector

pulls educators toward alternative careers (Dolton & van der Klaauw, 1999). In addition,

it has been argued that educators also leave the profession because they are burned out;

32

they need to pursue a position outside of education that will allow them to replenish their

enthusiasm and energy and to engage in self-renewal (Oplatka, 2005).

In contrast to these studies that use a purely rational choice hypothesis, my study

is designed to discover people’s reasons for changing careers, reasons that go beyond

those of promotion and financial gain. This study will also look at the emotional and

personal reasons educators give for changing careers, the features that draw them to their

new positions as well as the outcomes of those changes.

Studying educators is a good complement to studying lawyers: they are

contrasting professions because of differences in income, level of prestige, number of

hours worked, security of employment and income, and the style of the work that is done.

There is a large body of literature that examines various types of dissatisfaction among

lawyers and another that examines teacher attrition. Still, very few sources inclusively

examine the three stages of the career transition process as this work will. These stages

are the pre-change job situation, the career change process, and the outcomes of career

change. By studying these two professions using an exploratory grounded theory

methodology, I will improve and broaden the explanatory power of this earlier research.

Moreover, this strengthens our foundation for making claims about all midlife

professionals who change careers, instead of only being able to talk about people in a

single profession who make radical career shifts.

RECRUITMENT AND DATA COLLECTION

To meet the objectives of this study, non-random purposive sampling was used to

recruit research participants. Because the people who engage in the sort of career change

33

that is of interest for this study are to some degree elusive, the implementation of a

number of recruitment strategies was necessary to gather enough research participants to

achieve the desired sample size. The various means of recruitment included:

• The distribution of a call for research participants included in the January 2006

edition of the Canadian Bar Association’s newsletter (distribution 3,500);

• An advertisement in the University of Calgary Graduate Student Association

newsletter that ran for four weeks in February and March 2006;

• Advertising bulletins posted in public areas in Calgary;

• Information about this study passed along through various personal contacts.

By using several different recruitment methods, I am confident that I achieved sufficient

variation among the research participants in this sample to allow for diversity in

situational, personal, work, and family situations.

Data was collected by means of semi-structured, one-on-one interviews.

Questions included in the interview guide (see Appendix A) revolved around four themes

found in Stebbins’ study of devotee work (2002; 2004) as well as relevant ideas from the

other works cited in the literature review. Because of the dearth of qualitative inquiry

about this topic of study, most of the questions were generated through induction and

common sense. Also, at the end of each interview, research participants were given the

opportunity to suggest questions that they thought would be valuable to ask future

participants. This process, which unfolded as the interviews were being conducted,

resulted in considerable improvement of the guide.

Each research participant was asked questions about her or his personal

experience that focused on four basic areas: the pre-shift career (i.e. law or education),

34

the transition process from her or his first career to second career, the post-shift career,

and general quality of the post-shift life. The questions asked about the pre- and post-

shift careers were the same in content. These questions focused on having participants

provide general overviews of the old and new jobs (position held, work setting,

responsibilities, amount of paperwork, hours of work, collegial scene, and relationships

with bosses and/or management), what participants enjoyed and disliked about their new

and old careers, the initial motivations for pursuing a career in law or education, and a

description of the participants’ family situations at both the pre- and post-career shift

periods. The career transition questions were initiated by asking the research participant

to tell the story of how he or she changed careers. The other transition-type questions

centered on what was involved in making a career change, income prospects, shifts in

identity, what made the participant decide to make a career change, spousal and family

support, and the pros and cons for shifting careers. Research participants were also asked

whether their priorities has changed from when they entered the first career, and whether

the research participant contemplated making a career change for an extended period

before taking action. The thematic quality of life questions wrapped up each interview.

These questions touched on whether the research participant was happier in the new

career than in the previous one, and whether family situations had changed (either

improved or deteriorated). Participants were also questioned as to whether they had more

or less leisure time in the new job situation, whether they felt that his or her goals had

been met, and whether they would continue working in the same capacity as a volunteer.

All the questions were formulated in an unrestrictive manner, giving the participants the

opportunity to freely express and elaborate their answers.

35

The interviews provided a wealth of data, as the participants often provided

detailed explanations and had many valuable insights. The interviews tended to last

between one to two hours, with the majority lasting approximately one and a half hours.

In order to capitalize on convenience and comfort, each research participant was given

the opportunity to choose their preferred interview venue. As such, I met with my

interviewees at their places of business, their homes, in coffee shops, and at a yacht club.

All but one of the interviews were tape recorded, and analytic summaries were made of

the recordings (a summary was written from notes taken during the unrecorded interview).

SAMPLE

The sample was drawn in early 2006 from Calgary, its surrounding area, and the

Greater Toronto Area3. Twenty people were selected so as to provide an adequate

sample size for developing grounded theory. In order to develop a manageable

comparative sampling frame for the scope of this research, nine former lawyers and

eleven ex-educators (five male lawyers and educators, six female educators, and four

female lawyers) located in the Calgary and Toronto areas were selected using purposive

sampling techniques4. Initially, the criteria for participation included males and females

who were between the age of 35 and 55 at the time of their career change, who had

worked as an elementary or high school teacher or principal, a university or college

professor, or a practising lawyer for approximately ten years, and who then entered paid

employment in a field other than law or education. However, it was exceedingly difficult

3 All but one of the participants was located in Calgary, Alberta and its surrounding areas. 4 Ideally the sample would have consisted of five people of each gender per profession, however because of the limitations of the sampling and recruiting techniques employed in this project, I was at the mercy of research candidates to answer my call.

36

to find female lawyers who left the practice of law who fit these criteria. Most female

lawyers who choose to pursue a different career do so on average 60 percent more

quickly than their male counterparts (Kay, 1997: 318), meaning that most female lawyers

who had left practice were ineligible to participate because they exited the profession

before working ten years. Yet, to maintain the comparative aspect of the grounded theory

approach, it is, in this study, essential to recruit female lawyers who may be compared

and contrasted with their male counterparts as well as male and female educators. As a

result, the criteria for eligibility for female lawyers were changed, such that former

female lawyers had to be 30 years of age or older and had to have practiced law for a

minimum of three years. Because the time commitment that is required before being

called to the Bar is considerable, when law school and articling are taken into

consideration, these new criteria were deemed adequate for making recruiting female

lawyers achievable while remaining in the spirit of finding female lawyers at midlife.

The sample consists of 20 middle-aged professionals5 who voluntarily left client-

centered professions in favour of pursuing a different type of career. The participants

ranged in age from 38 to their late sixties (however the people who were in their sixties

had engaged in their career changes before the age of 55). The sample is composed of

Caucasian men and women who either used to practise law or were in the education

profession. Three female participants were single at the time of the career change, the

rest of the individuals in the sample were either married or in long-term relationships.

One of the participants immigrated to Canada from Northern Ireland as part of his career

change. The lawyers practised real estate law, civil litigation, and corporate law. The

5 A professional is being defined as someone with a professional designation whose training has required obtaining a second degree above a university undergraduate degree.

37

educators were either primary or secondary school teachers or principals, and one former

university English professor was included in the study. Not surprisingly, there was a

diversity of new career paths that people followed. The new careers of the lawyers

included: three Executive Directors of not-for-profit organizations, a Chief Executive

Officer of a public company, a Chairman of a large governmental regulatory board, a

wealth management advisor, a university professor, and a professional guitar player, and

an entrepreneur. The new careers of the educators included: a lawyer who practises

family law, a physiotherapist, a Chief Executive Officer of a major non-profit

organization, a lobbyist, a couple who left teaching to become hog farmers, a

‘professional’ student6, a dog groomer, an entrepreneur, an expert on Fetal Alcohol

Syndrome, and a motivational magician.

Table 1: Demographic Portrait

Ma Female

Number of Edu 5 6

Number of Law 5 4

Mean Age of Respondents in Years 60.75 51.30

Percentage Married at the Time of Career Change

100% 70%

Percentage with Children at the Time of ge

100% 80%

Mean Length of Stay in First Career in Years

16.90 15.11

le

cators

yers

Career Chan

6 This former educator sees herself as a professional student because she intends to continue taking post-secondary education until she dies. She is paid by the university as a graduate student, and sees her education as an end in itself as opposed to a means to another occupational end.

38

Table 2: New Careers After Career Change

Male Female

New Career of Educators • Lawyer • Physiotherapist • Hog farmer • Entrepreneur • Motivational magician

• Chief Executive Officer of Not-for-Profit Organization

• Lobbyist • Hog farmer • ‘Professional’ student • Dog groomer • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

expert

New Career of Lawyers • Executive Director of Not-for-Profit Organization (2)

• Professional Guitar Musician

• Governmental Regulatory Board Chairman

• Chief Executive Officer of a Public Logistics Company

• Executive Director of Not-for-Profit Organization

• University Law Professor • Wealth Management

Advisor • Entrepreneur

METHODOLOGICAL CONCERNS

As with any qualitative exploratory research, the representativeness of this sample

must be considered. In an attempt to develop a comprehensive set of theoretical

constructs, the sample size of 20 people was deemed to be large enough so that additional

cases would be unlikely to produce any additional themes or alter the emerging

hypotheses (Rubin & Rubin, 2005). Stebbins (2001) writes:

Proof, to the extent it is possible in exploration, and validity rest on the number of times a regularity of thought or behaviour is observed in talk or action, which must be often enough to seem general to all or to a main segment of the people in the group, process, or activity being examined.

As such, I believe that the recruitment of 20 research participants was sufficient to be

representative, generate relevant data, and empirically ground the emergent hypotheses to

be able to generalize about this topic. This sample size also allowed me to interview an

adequate number of men and women (five male lawyers and educators, and five female

39

lawyers and educator nces, as well as the

motives and potential triggers for changing careers, are different between the sexes.

It must be noted that, although I used a variety of sampling a

techniques, when conducting this type of study there is always the risk that the sample

will not be representative. Although all peopl ple ar d

some of the participants in this study e similar post-career change occupations,

this is unfortunately one of the limitations of having to use a samplin

allowed me to study the target population. The sampling technique mos

this relatively l population was pu nd non-random (Stebbins, 2001). Thus,

as mentioned, I utilized a number of egies. For example, th for

recruiting research participants us canvassed form

educators in as broad and diverse a fas ssible. As many candid

were solicited through diverse commu ms, involving two different and

contrasting professional groups. Sti e call had been put out for research

participants, the sample was at the mercy of people answering that call. Although this is

ain goal of this study, and of grounded

theory

his sample, the individual

experie

theory.

s) in order to explore whether the experie

nd recruitment

e included in the sam e Caucasian, an

nded up in

g technique that

t appropriate for

smal rposive a

recruitment strat e methods

ed in this study

hion as po

er lawyers and

ates as possible

nication mechanis

ll, once th

an issue worth addressing in this section, the m

generally, is to develop theoretical constructs that emerge from collected data that

will provide a foundation for concatenating future, related, exploratory studies. Although

representativeness and generalizability are important to address, these methodological

concerns are still not as serious in exploration as they are in other more confirmatory-type

approaches. Even if there is a lack of diversity among t

nces of the people interviewed still provide useful data for generating grounded

40

DATA INTERPRETATION

There are many ways in which the data amassed for this project can be interpreted.

The overall methodological approach which is chosen dictates how the data is filtered

and reported. Some may ask why this type of grounded theory was chosen over other

methodologies. These other methods could have provided a different lens from which to

analyze the data and be more suited to reporting phenomena in a time-sensitive manner.

It has been suggested that a narrative7 method (or other frameworks that examine

that within a social constructionist perspective) would have been better methodologies to

employ in this study. In using other methods such as narrative, it would have allowed for

the integration of the life course paradigm in order to better explain the process of career

change as a fluid trajectory8. In addition, using a methodology such as narrative would

have allowed for the development of a greater understanding of how the individual

constructed their own reality in terms of how they interpreted their career change. The

rationale for choosing to employ grounded theory as outlined first by Glaser & Strauss

(1967), then by Glaser (1992) and Stebbins (2001) as opposed to a narrative-type

approach stems primarily from a discussion previously identified in this work regarding

the necessity to take a broad inductive, exploratory examination of a given phenomenon

when previous academic understanding is outdated or contradictory9. As this is an

inductive study to develop a preliminary understanding of career change, the primary

Narrative analysis is an individual-based methodology that focuses on the social construction of people

understanding of reality. As reported by Reissman (2002), “The purpose [of narrative] is to see how

their lives. The methodological approach examines the informant’s story and analyzes how it is put together, the linguistic and cultural resources it draws on, and how it persuades a listener of authenticity” (218).

7

respondents in interviews impose order on the flow of experience to make sense of events and actions in

present, and future. 9 See Page 25.

8 Life course looks at how people’s individual stories are shaped by their interpretation of their past,

41

objective was to survey the phenomenon so that future research has a point from which to

develop hypotheses and theoretical frameworks. The narrative methodology examines

the stories of individuals within a given social phenomenon, where the construction of

those stories of individuals is what is of interest ontologically; those stories are a way of

idual. The individual and their construction of their

would have pursued the same goals as a narrative approach. Charmaz’s (2006) version of

p

at

s.

tapping into the identities of the indiv

reality is of concern in narrative-type methodologies. The grounded theory approach as

prescribed by Glaser and Strauss (1967), Glaser (2005), and Stebbins (2001) are

concerned with the social phenomenon itself. The ontology of this type of grounded

theory is the consensus of the accounts of individuals, thereby developing generalizations

that can be taken to a broader positivist level than simply talking about the experiences of

individuals. In this study I am not interested in how individuals came to understand their

personal realities. In using a narrative-type approach, the research questions of this study

would have changed, where the construction of the experience of each individual would

have been the priority, not the discovery of broader substantive theoretical constructs.

Further, using a narrative-type methodology would not have been useful in this case

because it would have given greater voice and embodied the individuals within this study

instead of using a methodology (like grounded theory) which allows for the examination

of phenomena in general instead of examining the story of each research participant.

There is another type of grounded theory that has been introduced recently that

grounded theory posits that grounded theory must discard its positivist roots and pick u

a more reflexive and constructionist epistemology. Because these methodologies look

the social construction of reality, they try to interpret the interpretations of individual

42

This style of grounded theory (and the narrative methodology) attempt to understand how

people perceive their social realities and construct understanding of social phenomena.

These methodologies are highly effective frameworks from which to examine the types

of questions that ask about the individual construction of reality, however when we

generalize about social phenomena, which is the primary goal of this project, we get

away from examining individual accounts.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this chapter was to provide an overview of the methodology being

used in this study. This chapter focused on discussing the rationale for studying lawyers

and educators, the recruitment strategies employed, a brief description of the sample, and

the methodological concerns regarding this study in particular. Overall, the grounded

theory methodology was described in terms of how it is used in this project. This method

focuses on exploring a given topic in order to develop a general understanding of the

issues at play within the phenomenon of midlife career change.

The following chapter will provide a historical-theoretical context which situates

this project within the broader sociological realm. It discusses a variety of different

theoretical paradigms in order to ground this chapter within existing theory.

43

CHAPTER III

HISTORICAL-THEORETICAL CONTEXT

Although little academic attention has been given to the reasons that drive people

to change careers in their mid thirties to mid fifties, there are still several well-established

s that are useful for understanding particular aspects of this kind of

ork will truly add to the

theoretical paradigm

career change. Grounded theory may develop from within emergent empirical data, but it

is important to find where this theory fits within the overarching sociological world. In

order to situate one’s research in the academic domain, past literature and established

theories are used in order to acquire an awareness of where one’s research fits within the

field of sociology. As Stebbins (2001) explains: “exhaustive literature reviews are

wholly justified [in exploratory studies] as background for… empirical or theoretical

examinations of particular areas of research… so that proposed w

corpus of writings” (42). With grounded theory it is acceptable and important to have a

sense of the past relevant literature and theories, as long as exploratory research carves

44

out a unique niche that either builds on the existing substantive area of study or develops

a framework to explain phenomena that have not been previously examined.

The goal of this chapter is to identify where this project intersects and fits within

established theory. This chapter is intended to give the reader an awareness of some

different theoretical paradigms that are applicable to this project in order to contextualize

it within the broader sociological discipline. Although the theories included in this

chapter are but a sample of the ones that are relevant to this career change phenomenon,

they do provide a broad basis from which to understand the different factors that are at

play in the lives of career changers. As well, these sociological paradigms provide a

place from which to theoretically branch off for future studies.

The theoretical provenance of this project does not fit within a single discipline;

instead it intersects several different sociological paradigms. It is important to provide an

awareness of other theoretical perspectives to frame this specific project because this

endeavour synthesizes themes such as professionals and work, aging, devotion, family,

and personal fulfillment. In order to provide a foundation from which to understand how

this project intersects broader sociological themes, a discussion will be provided of

Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1996 [1902]), Stebbins’ theory of

occupational devotion, the life course perspective, and Taylor’s Malaise of Modernity

(1991).

WEBER’S PROTESTANT ETHIC

Stebbins (2004) raises the issue of how Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of

Capitalism (1996 [1902]) is an integral part of understanding a devoted person’s

45

motivation to work. The core of the Protestant Ethic is concerned with the drive of

individuals who commit themselves to their work above everything else. In essence,

Weber’s essay discusses what motivates these people to work. The historical core of this

theory is derived from the Protestant Puritan rationale, whereby a commitment to one’s

business through a divine calling is religious salvation. The ideas of

the day and the way that work was conducted were forever changed by the Protestant

introduction of religious asceticism; changing ideas and values shaped the world’s

material production process. At the core of this ethos are three personal paradigms

(Stebbins, 2004: d to their work

and committed to working hard. The second is value: a person values his or her time and

successes at work more than non-work or leisure activities. The third aspect is belief:

through hard work people hope to prove their self-worth and faith that they are among

God’s chosen. Although the sense of religiosity has disappeared from the modern

capitalist work ethic in favour of a secularized version, several basic principles of the

Protestant Ethic remain: success through hard work, the desire to achieve occupational

success, self-enrichment, and personal fulfillment from occupational success.

precursor to occupational devotion, for the reason people are fulfilled by the work they

believed to produce

25). The first is attitude, where a person should be devote

The Calling

Weber’s argument hinges on the notion of “the calling”. Martin Luther was the

first to propagate this “sense of life-task, a definite field in which to work” (Weber, 1996

[1902]: 79). He preached that every person had a calling that was set forth by the grace

of God. To live a good life in God’s eyes was to follow the position in which one has

been placed in society and to work hard at the job that has been set forth. The calling is a

46

do is because they are good at it, they enjoy it, and they cannot envision themselves doing

a different type of work. In addition, Weber writes that “[t]he differentiation of men into

classes

cus of attention and care

shift to

at a given time.

Asceticism

One of the main themes that emerges from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of

Capitalism (1996 [1902]) is the development of an ascetic lifestyle that comes with being

a successful Protestant. Everything involved in the Protestant system was built on

and occupations established through historical development became for

Luther…a direct result of the divine will…God had assigned [each person] a religious

duty” (Weber, 1996 [1902]: 160). Still, this exhortation proves to be incongruent with

the group of people that I am examining because they abandon their professions and work

situations in order to pursue a new and unrelated occupational endeavour (in other words,

rejecting their callings and following a new one).

Perhaps Karpiak’s (2000) notion of a second calling is of value. Karpiak posits

that during midlife, the concerns, physical health, desires, and fo

ward other interests and/or skills than were previously being employed. Instead of

Weber’s belief that people should follow the career in which they are placed for their

entire working lives, perhaps people are able to have multiple callings throughout their

careers if they are interested, excited, proactive, and devoted to whatever occupational

situation they may be passionate about at that time along the life course. If we shift our

understanding of the calling from a lifelong vocational situation to a state of passion and

excitement for one’s work situation that is accompanied by a strong work ethic, we can

acknowledge that perhaps the calling is able to be whatever occupation that a person feels

devoted to

47

efficiency, rationality, and utility. To be a faithful Protestant meant to be devoted to

one’s calling and always be working. Even the wealthy must work because it is God’s

will that everyone be busy and productive in order to be faithful to their calling.

Overall, what emerged from the Protestant Ethic was an idealized image of the

modern businessman (Weber did not discuss women in this essay). The modern

businessman, at least ideally, has a conscience that is impeccable since he maintains a

strong moral conduct and makes his wealth by conscionable means. He follows his

calling. He works hard, is passionate about his work, and derives personal fulfillment

and self-enrichment from his labours. The modern devotee businessman is motivated

first by success in itself and then by the extrinsic fruits of his labour. The core, however,

is based on devotion, working to the best of one’s abilities, and recognizing occupational

successes as a core part of one’s identity over leisure activities or material comforts.

This vocational doctrine described by Weber provides a historical background for

how the modern work ethic has emerged in the capitalist system. The doctrine of work as

prescribed through the Protestant religion shaped the way that people went about doing

business where hard work, thrift, and dedication to one’s occupation were paramount.

This theoretical perspective allows us to situate the career change phenomenon

STEBBINS’ THEORY OF OCCUPATIONAL DEVOTION

historically.

Stebbins (2004) provides a theoretical discussion of occupational devotion. This

theory provides a description of the appealing nature of professional work and how

48

people take pleasure in their work because they see it as socially important, challenging,

and deeply absorbing (Stebbins, 2004). The theory of occupational devotion consists of:

a strong, positive attachment to a form of self-enhancing work, where the

with such intense appeal that the line between this work and leisure is

realize a unique combination of, what are for them, strongly seated cultural

activity (being involved in something) (2).

The occupations of devotees are generally found within four separate categories:

small business, skilled trades, counselling and c

sense of achievement is high and the core activity (set of tasks) is endowed

virtually erased… it is by way of the core activity and its tasks that devotees

values: success, achievement, freedom of action, individual personality, and

onsulting, and professions (3). The

entifies six criteria that characterize devotee occupations. He

believes that to generate occupational devotion a job must possess particular qualities.

The first criterion is that the principal work activity must require substantial skill,

knowledge, and/or experience for the job to be conducted successfully. The second

factor is that the work must offer a variety of tasks. The third quality of devotee

people who engage in these jobs generally get a great sense of fulfillment from their work.

Also, a large degree of their self-identity is derived from their work success. In fact,

occupational devotees are often people who enjoy their jobs so much that they would

continue to do the same work even in a situation where they were wealthy enough not to

work. Devotees find the central activities of their work to be attractive and rewarding to

the point where “the positive side of their occupations is so intensely appealing that it

overrides the negative side” (Stebbins, 2004: 4). Although the attractiveness of jobs may

sometimes be for extrinsic reasons (e.g. high salary, positive and fun work environments),

the occupational devotee is most passionate about the intrinsic rewards of the job (e.g.

pride of their product, sense of fulfillment and purpose).

Stebbins (2004: 9) id

49

occupations requires the work to be significantly creative or innovative in nature so that

the individual doing the job is able to express his or her personality through working. In

this situation, Stebbins argues that, in such work, boredom will only come about through

fatigue

e rise and fall of occupational devotion: beginning, development,

establishment, maintenance, and decline (87). This brief discussion talks about how the

may diminish

from m

lost interest or control in the work as “the bloom simply falls off the rose; the worker or

from working too long on the job. The fourth principle of devotee work is that

the worker must have significant control and flexibility over the timing of the work. The

fifth requirement of devotee work is that the worker must be good at the core tasks and

must enjoy the work. The final criterion for identifying devotee work is that the devotee

must work in an environment that is conducive to allowing the devotee to work without

significant disruption. Overall, if these criteria are in place, occupational devotees would

be just as happy to do their work as a leisure activity as they are to do it for monetary

compensation, and the positive aspects of the individual’s job outweigh the drawbacks

(Stebbins, 2004).

The purpose of including this theory is to show why people may be drawn to new

jobs because they see the potential of achieving an intensely enjoyable work experience

by engaging in occupational situations that hold the properties identified by Stebbins.

However, one limitation of this theory is the brevity in which Stebbins (2004) recognizes

the notion of “career”, where people engaged in an occupation pass through five different

stages in th

rewards that were present during the early years of a devotee occupation

aintaining a job that does not evolve or change with the increasing experience and

expanding interests of the worker. Stebbins describes the period when the devotee has

50

the leisure participant runs the course of the activity, getting out of it all that he believes

is available for him” (88). Although Stebbins addresses the temporal issue of the rise and

fall of is

based o st

in the c ce

excitin ne. This theory does not look at how

age is

devotion within an occupation, he does so only briefly. As such, this theory

n an individualized, inward-looking framework where the individual loses intere

ore activity or has acquired skills, experience, and knowledge that make the on

g and enjoyable core activities now munda

connected with the rise and fall of occupational devotion, and those who use this

theory for research may benefit from using it in conjunction with a time-sensitive

process-based theory such as the life course perspective.

THE LIFE COURSE PERSPECTIVE

The third theoretical approached identified in this chapter is the life course

perspective. Generally considered to be the dominant perspective in social gerontology

at present (Chappell et al., 2003), Elder’s (1985; 1994; 2000) life course perspective

provides a framework for understanding the interconnectedness of the social structures,

historical events, and the decisions that individuals make as they navigate through life.

The common trajectories of education, work, and family evolve and progress for every

individual and group as they navigate through society (Elder, 1998: 1). This framework

acts both as an individual-based analytic structure as well as a way of better

understanding the progression of people’s lives within the context of history and society.

As stated by McPherson (2004), “[o]ur place in historical time, our culture, and our social

structure present different barriers, opportunities, and challenges along the life course”

(10).

51

It was once believed that the life course was made up of a linear progression of

sequences that made up a clearly defined trajectory or path along which people’s lives

progressed. It was thought that assumptions could be made about the age of a person and

the stage of life at which he or she should be. In this original life course view, people

were thought to follow the same path through life as others their age. A variation on the

life course perspective has come into play in recent years. Instead of viewing life as a

linear progression, this framework views life much like the growth of a tree, where

people branch off in different directions as they make different choices and follow

different paths. In order to better explain the life course perspective, Elder and Johnson

(2003) have developed five tenets for defining the life course. The first posits that human

development and growth are life-long processes. This means that the decisions,

experiences, transitions, and events undergone in early life have an effect on the

experiences and opportunities later in one’s life. For example, if a young woman gives

birth in her teenage years, this event will have an impact on the unfolding of her future.

Because of her responsibilities of motherhood at an early age, she may not have as many

opportunities to achieve a high level of education, which will have an impact on the types

of jobs available to her. However, having a child at a young age will also mean that the

grown child will be an adult when the mother is in her late thirties or early forties,

providing the parent with freedom from children in the home long before she is of

retirement age. The second tenet of the life course perspective is based on the

predominance of human agency in shaping an individual’s personal life course. People

are the masters of their own destinies depending on how they choose to navigate the

opportunities and constraints of their social and personal situations. The third principle is

52

that the life course of individuals is unique to age cohorts because the lives of generations

are shaped by the historical time and place in which they live. For instance, the life

courses of people are affected by things such as wars, economic depressions or prosperity,

or serious political upheaval. The fourth assumption of this framework states that people

who are at different stages along the life course are affected differently by shared

historical events. The choices made and directions taken by individuals are different

depending on a person’s stage of life. Elder (1998: 3) describes this effect as “linked

fates”, where historical events and individual experiences are connected through the

family as well as among people who are in similar situations. For instance, during World

War II many young men were sent to fight in Europe while their school age siblings

ere not of eligible age to enlist, they did

h. As such, people are able exercise human agency to make choices regarding the

stayed in school. Because the younger children w

not have to fight in the war, which thereby differentially affected these age cohorts. The

fifth and final tenet of the life course perspective focuses on how lives are not lived in

isolation; lives are lived interdependently between individuals, families, and friends. Our

actions are not made without thinking of others. Instead, our actions are determined by,

and in turn influence, the actions of those with whom we interact on a regular basis. For

instance, getting a promotion can mean a better life for one’s family, while if one of the

adults in a family loses their job then there may be adverse effects on the entire family

unit.

As can be seen, the life course perspective is based on a dialogic relationship

where an individual’s decisions are influenced by outside structures and historical

situations, while those decisions also have an impact on the trajectory of the individual’s

life-pat

53

paths they wish to follow. However, these choices are not made in isolation from outside

factors. All life choices are conditional on the opportunities and limitations of the social

structure and culture with which the individual is engaged. This viewpoint looks at

human life as a process whereby the chronology of life brings about different stages that

enable different desires, opportunities, family situations, and motivations. Models that

use this perspective generally focus on the interaction and interconnectedness of the life-

spheres of work, leisure, and family as they change over the life course. This perspective

also highlights the common relationship and impact that macro-level historical events

(e.g. wars, economic depressions) have on individuals within similar cohorts. It is

important to include this paradigm because it shows how life is a temporal-historical

process where the desires, motivations, and paths chosen by individuals are often similar

depending on the age cohort being examined. By including this framework as a reference

point, we are able to consider mid-lifers as a distinct cohort.

CHARLES TAYLOR’S MALAISE OF MODERNITY

The final theoretical foundation identified within this chapter comes from The

Malaise of Modernity by Charles Taylor. Taylor also offers a relevant theoretical

framework from which to build this study. In The Malaise of Modernity (1991), Taylor

articulates that each person has an idea of what it means to achieve personal fulfillment.

In what Taylor calls “authenticity”, he says that “the notion that each one of us has an

original way of being human entails that each of us has to discover what it is to be

ourselves” (61). As such, individuals attain self-authenticity by keeping their behaviours

54

and actions consistent with their personal values over and above socially- or culturally-

imposed factors.

Taylor tells us that “authenticity is itself an idea of freedom; it involves finding

the design of my life myself, against the demands of external conformity” (68). Each

person has his or her own conception of what an ideal lifestyle comprises, and as such,

every individual has the right to choose how to live his or her life. For some, that may

involve immersing themselves in family life. For others, it may mean dedicating

themselves to career advancement. Overall, it is about making life changes depending on

people’s values and desires.

Taylor offers a positive insight into the process in which individuals choose what

it is that they want from life within the constraint of societal structures. In this work,

Taylor also articulates the concept of self-fulfillment and how this concept has an original

definition for every person. Following this, self-fulfillment is done through unique

strategies that bring people to their individual ideas of personal happiness. In essence,

this work is about the personal discovery of self-truth and the achievement of personal

harmony. This work is important for this project because it discusses how each person’s

idea of fulfillment and a good life are individual in nature, meaning that each person must

discover which occupational situation will make her or him happier and more fulfilled.

CONCLUSION

In summary, the discussion of these four theoretical perspectives offers a basis

from which to contextualize this project within the broader world of sociology. Each

theory is useful for addressing different types of questions, and the different paradigms

55

bring their own strengths to this project while complementing the others. Stebbins’

theory of occupational devotion and Taylor’s Malaise of Modernity both discuss the

search for personal fulfillment. However, Stebbins looks at how work affects the

individual, while Taylor discusses the internal motivations for people searching for their

own holistic sense of fulfillment. Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

provides historical background to the theory of occupational devotion. The life course

perspective gives us a temporal process-based link to the progression of people’s lives as

they age within society, while also providing a link between the aging individual, his or

her working life, and the family.

Because this is induction-based research, these theories are not identified in order

to test their relevance to the topic of professional midlife career change. Instead, in

conjunction with the thematic literature review in Chapter I, this chapter is useful for

getting a preliminary assessment of this topic in its broadest scope. The discussion here

situates the topic of career change within existing theories and gives it a historical context.

ork, the life course,

the call

Career change has been neglected, and so has its intersection with w

ing, and devotion. The following chapters will report and discuss the findings that

have been generated from the interviews conducted with individuals who have undergone

a successful midlife career change. The results will touch on the theoretical and

substantive themes reported up to this point and will also provide a thematic and

generalizable understanding of the midlife career change phenomenon of former

professionals.

56

CHAPTER IV

THE FIRST CAREER

Entering into a person’s first career is often a time of serious transition. In many

respects, the first career is a major milestone where years of education and preparation

are finally put into practice as people venture out into the working world. This period is

full of new experiences and new people, as it represents a new stage in a person’s life.

For many, the first career is often a time where people become more mature and adult-

minded as they take on new occupational ventures. This time is also a period of shifting

from being a student to a full-time worker. As will be discussed, some people have clear

and direct paths on which they pursue their occupational dreams, while others end up in

jobs through a more organic and serendipitous process. Whatever the starting career,

master new skills as they become experienced within their field.

The go

people are challenged to

al of this chapter is to provide a thematic description of the pre-career change

situations of the participants in this study. This will include an analysis of the

57

motivations for pursuing law or education, the likes and dislikes of the jobs in which they

were engaged, and their family and/or personal situations at this time.

MOTIVATIONS FOR PURSUING LAW OR EDUCATION

Nearly all of the participants in this study entered into their first career directly

after graduating from university. Most of them went straight through their education

from high school, to their undergraduate degrees, and finally their professional degrees.

As a result, most participants were in their late twenties to early thirties when they started

their first careers. In terms of motivations, some respondents could pinpoint the age at

which

not mutually exclusive. Instead, these groupings are to be seen as the

primary motivations that set lawyers and teachers on their initial career paths.

they decided that they wanted to follow a specific career path while others just

thought it was a good idea at the time. Although people’s specific stories vary to some

degree, there were four general motivational rationales that were identified in this study

for pursuing either education or law.

Similarity existed between the lawyers and teachers as to their reasons for

pursuing law or education; the motivations were generally the same for both. As a result,

the following sections will describe the motivations for entering a profession on a general

thematic basis, and will differentiate between educators and lawyers only when there are

distinct differences between the occupational groups. There was enough similarity that

categories could be made to classify the overall sample. It must be noted that, although

each of these people have been classified into different motivational categories, these

typologies are

58

Unclear Direction and One-Shot Guidance

One group of interviewees fell at one extreme of the motivational continuum for

choosing a career path. Four of the respondents reported that they became lawyers or

teachers not because of a personal calling to the discipline, but more because it seemed

like a good idea at that point in the eople there was no question as to

whether they would go to university, but more a matter of having to choose which post-

secondary program and career direction to pursue.

For this group circumstance sometimes played a role in their decisions to get

professional training. One fem she ended up at law school.

After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Alberta, this woman

thought that she would pursue a Master’s of Business Administration. When she

approached the University of Alberta administration to apply, she was told about a new

combined MBA/Law program. She was told that she would have to write a Law School

Admission Test (LSAT) before being admitted, and she replied that she had written one a

few years previous. She had played goalie on the university’s law school women’s

hockey team, and some of her friends on the team had bet her to write the LSAT test.

She wrote the test without studying and never found out what she scored. The university

had her record on file, and told her that she had scored high enough to be accepted into

the MBA/Law program. Everything fell into place and she enrolled in the new program.

This woman’s story illustrates how people sometimes end up following their career paths

as a result of a series of serendipitous circumstances.

Other participants had much simpler stories for how they were led to teaching and

law. For many, their decisions to pursue their professions were based on the influence of

ir lives. For these p

ale ex-lawyer described how

59

others. For example, one man who used to be a teacher explained that he could not

decide, just out of high school, what he wanted to do as a career. His mother said that he

would be a good teacher, and as a result he went into education. This scenario was fairly

tremendous

influen

id not know anyone who was a lawyer and did not

really k

ugh he had

no prior ambition to become a practising lawyer.

common among many of the respondents. Discussions with parents had a

ce on the decisions made by the respondents with respect to their future careers.

In general, input from others, whether it was from parents, friends, partners

(boyfriends/girlfriends/husbands/wives), or guidance counsellors, was enormously

influential in helping people make their future career choices at the post-secondary

educational junction. Five people in this study fell into this category. In fact, the

influence of others was so strong in helping guide these future teachers and lawyers that

one former male lawyer decided to go to law school even though he said that he never

really had a burning desire to be a lawyer. In retrospect, he called his rationale for going

to law school “silly”. He said that he d

now what being a lawyer was about. After graduating from university with his

undergraduate degree he took a job selling Xerox photocopiers. He quickly realized that

he did not want to do that for the rest of his life, so he started thinking about what else he

could do. His primary reason for pursuing law was that his friend was at the University

of Toronto law school and thought it was great. From hearing about his friend’s

experience he decided to go back to study law because his friend said it was good, the

respondent liked school, and he thought “it’d be cool”. He reported that he did not think

the decision through, but went through law school because it was easy. The influence of

the young man’s friend was persuasive enough for him to follow law even tho

60

Another woman who is now a professor of law said that she did not always want

to be a

anted to pursue initially. However,

they en

its. In essence, these people

described looking at the profe

guidance and discussion from others, this process was more introspective than the direct

lawyer; she went to law school because she did not know what else to do. When

she finished her arts degree she contemplated what to do next. Although she was

discouraged by her family from going into law (her father wanted her to become an

accountant), her partner at the time suggested that law would be a good fit. She took his

advice and ended up getting both her LLB and her Master’s degree in law.

These people were unsure of what field they w

ded up entering post-graduate education partly because of brief conversations with

others and/or through a bit of serendipity. These conversations were singular talks (or a

small number of discussions) as opposed to sustained discussion, guidance, and

mentoring over an extended period of time. Whether it was because other people advised

that these were good professions to pursue or circumstance played a role, these people

entered careers in law and education.

Rational Choice Decision Process

For ten of the respondents there was a substantial rational decision-making

process that preceded the decision to go to law school or teacher’s college. This strategy

falls in the middle of the motivational continuum between having a clear career direction

in mind and having an unclear path. The rational decision-making process involves an

introspective examination of the compatibility between the components of the potential

job and the person’s skills, values, and character tra

ssions of law and education and asking themselves whether

they thought they would be good at the job. Although this process did involve some

61

process of always knowing what they wanted to do. The people in this category are

different from those in the other motivational groups because they were able to work

through the myriad of occupational choices without being seriously influenced by others.

In addition, the people in this category did not make their career decisions as impulsively

as those in the Unclear Directions and One-Shot Guidance category.

The primary elements that shaped these people’s decisions to follow these career

paths included whether they thought they would be good at the job, whether the job

seemed like it would be a good intellectual and personal fit, and (for the educators)

whether they liked school and children. Although these were not the only reasons why

people chose their professions, they were the primary considerations for the people in this

category who decided to go into education as well as those who pursued law.

Many of these respondents provided descriptions of the decision-making process

that they went through. One former lawyer discussed how he felt his skills would make

him good at being a lawyer:

I thought it would make use of stuff that I was already good at. I could tell from

could read well, fast, and accurately. I could speak well. I was also interested

that those things would be useful in law…I was always a good student in school,

This man reported that he felt he was correct in assuming that his skills would be helpful

in achieving his success in the practice of law. The story reported by this man is a good

example of the thought process that the rational decision makers used when

contemplating entering different professions. Another man who became a university

English professor knew that, once he had found his passion for English in university, his

high school and university that I always had good English language facility: I

and good at history and the social sciences, not math or science. I had the feeling

and so this was a perception that there was something that I could do.

capacity for language and the intellectual and cultural fit of the university atmosphere

62

made h

d taken some

classes

ing with children was important to the educators in

making their career decisions (although many lawyers discussed how enjoying school

and law in general). One woman who became

im feel that he wanted to be a professor. As a result, he knew that the university

was where he wanted to be for his future career. He said that after his first year in

university he realized that the only class he enjoyed was the English class he was forced

to take. After that, he decided to go into the English program, and the only question he

was asking himself was what he was going to do with his degree upon completion. He

thought teaching sounded good, but at what level he was not sure. He ha

in the summer, so he was ahead of the other students. The administration let him

take a graduate class. He loved it. He just adored it. He said, “What the heck, I’ll stick

around for another year.” And he continued to love it. His Master’s year was a super

year, so he decided to stick around for his PhD. He felt that he had found his place; he

described himself as a university brat because he felt that was where he belonged given

the emotional, cultural, and intellectual fit he found in the university setting.

Liking school and enjoying be

was a factor in pursuing further education

a teacher said that one of her primary motivations for going into education was that she

really liked being in school: she liked to learn, liked to “infect others” with her

enthusiasm for learning. Another former educator said that he enjoyed school and also

had a flair for it and did very well. Overall, the positive experiences and exposure to

children, as well as enjoying being in school, were very important factors for the

respondents as they decided to go on to their future careers.

The various factors presented in this section were important to the research

participants in terms of negotiating what career fields they wanted to pursue. They were

63

important for them when considering the different things that they enjoyed about their

previous experiences as well as how they felt their skills and personality would fit within

their future vocations. These people were using a wide variety of information about

themselves as derived from their experiences and personal self-perceptions in order to

gauge what future career would be a good personal, intellectual, and environmental fit.

This r

discussed the im

r role models and wanted to either make a similar impact

on others, or wanted to em

charact

career chers were

ational decision-making process worked for most of the interviewees who

employed it.

The Influence of Role Modeling and Mentoring

Another key component for understanding people’s motivations for pursuing their

careers is the longer term guidance of role models and mentors. Many of the respondents

portance of role models in helping them decide who they wanted to

become and what careers they wanted to pursue. The research participants who fell in

this category looked up to thei

ulate them because of their desirable qualities and

eristics.

For many respondents, these guides were important in helping them choose their

paths. Three former teachers described how their high school tea

influential in making the choice to become educators. One former school teacher said

that he developed a fascination for modern history that was fostered by his “excellent”

teacher. Another former teacher said that he saw the difference that his role-model-

teachers made in his life, and thought that by becoming a teacher he could pass on that

gift to the next generation of students. This hope of making a positive impact on future

64

generations in the way that their role models had was a strong sentiment held by the

former educators.

Passive family influence also played a huge role in many of the participants’

career choices. Passive familial influence is different from the direct conversations

between parents and children (as was discussed in the previous section) because it is

about family influence as a more indirect, constant, effect that parents’ views had on their

children’s choices. One former lawyer turned professional guitar player said that his

father always hoped that he would become a lawyer. His father was a mechanic by trade,

but had always been interested in the law. While growing up, he and his father would

have discussions about politics. These discussions and his father’s interest in law were

instrumental in directing him toward this profession. Another former teacher reported

that because she did well in school, it was assumed by her family that she would go to

univers

Always Wanted To Be a Law

were clear. Three men: two former lawyers and one former educator, described that they

ity, and this was during an era when it was assumed that she would become a

teacher. She was the first person in her entire extended family that went to university.

This accomplishment was a source of great pride for her parents and her family.

As reported by the research participants, families, role models, and/or mentors

have a dramatic impact on the choices that these people made when they were young.

When the research participants were young they looked to others for guidance and

direction for their own career choices. In addition, the initial occupations that these

people chose were partly through discussing with others the possibilities open to them.

yer/Educator

Finally, for some people in this study, their career paths and occupational goals

65

had wanted to pursue law or education since their mid-teens. One former lawyer said that

he wanted to be a lawyer since he was in the seventh grade, although he could not

remember his rationale for wanting to pursue the discipline. The other two men knew

they wanted to pursue their future careers because of the influence that they could make

on the groups that they would be serving. The former teacher worked as a leader and

Sports Director at summer camps in Northern Ontario when he was young. The jobs

involved working with kids and being a positive role model for them. He always knew

he was good with kids and felt that children felt comfortable with him, trusted him, and

e, pursuing teaching was a natural

enjoyed being around him. As he saw that at the tim

and logical progression. The third man said that becoming a lawyer was something that

he had always wanted to do. The most appealing part of this role was the opportunity to

become an advocate for people. He did not go into law because of the opportunity for

serious financial gain. He was idealistic in his choice. Although he admits that he may

have been naïve because of the nature of the business of law (in terms of billable hours

and having to make money), he still maintains that he had always wanted to be an

advocate for people.

As a group, these men fall at one extreme of the motivational continuum for the

rationale and certainty for pursuing their first careers. All three of these men were happy

they had achieved their occupational goals. They felt fulfilled when they entered their

first careers because they enjoyed most aspects of their work and felt that their vocational

choices were a good fit overall. They remained in their first professions for several years

and felt that their careers were successful ones. One interesting observation is that for

two of the three men who knew that they wanted to become a teacher or lawyer from an

66

early age, they could not remember the reasoning behind following that path. Although

some could not remember why they wanted to become lawyers or educators, these people

fulfilled their adolescent career aspirations and felt that they had achieved success.

Whatever the motivations and/or strategies for deciding to pursue their original

careers, most people were able to discuss the rationales and decision-making processes

that were employed in making that choice. Some strategies were more impulsive and

employed the counsel and guidance from outside people. Others used a more logical

process to decide what future career would be a good personal fit. In sum, most people

gave serious thought to the decision of what career to follow; however the strategies,

rationale, and amount of outside guidance varied.

CONSTRAINTS FOR WOMEN

Many people included in this study were entering university and choosing their

professions in the 1960s and 1970s. According to the research participants, universities

were being built at an astounding rate and jobs were readily available. As one former

educato

However, many of the female former educators described situations where they felt

ngs of limitation were

instrum

r described:

[It was] a time when opportunities to go to university were becoming very open. There was a paradigm shift where that was becoming an expectation: if you did well in school then you should go to university. There were lots of opportunities… It was also a time when new universities were opening everywhere and scholarships were being made available and universities were competing for good students.

limited in regard to the professions they could pursue. These feeli

ental in streaming many women into education.

67

The first limitation that these women felt was how they were encouraged to

pursue careers in stereotypically female-dominated professions including: education,

nursing, and secretarial work. This sentiment was echoed by women educators who were

in their mid-50s more than the younger women in this study. As the women described,

they intended and were expected to go to university because of their academic

proficiency in high school. Although they enjoyed school, were interested in a number of

different topics of study, and felt capable of pursuing a number of careers, they felt that

as women, the only two professions that were available and acceptable for them were

nursing and teaching. One female former teacher who is now the Chief Executive

Officer of a major not-for-profit organization recalled:

It was still during an era when the expectations and aspirations for girls were

would get was along the lines of ‘you should be a nurse or a secretary or a

nurse. That was the atmosphere in high schools. I don’t remember having a

not ever – not once. I was having these conversations with teachers, the guidance

Generational gender stereotyping influenced

limited more than they are now. The kind of advice and encouragement that girls

teacher.’ In my case, I was good in school, so I was advised to be a teacher or a

conversation with anyone about how I could be a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer,

counsellor, my family. It was the environment that I grew up in and the time.

these women to become school teachers.

Although these wom

expressed this sentiment intended to live in small towns where they believed there were

en were recognized for their scholastic capabilities, they were seen

to have great potential within the realm of female dominated professions.

The second limiting factor that prompted female educators to pursue their careers

in education was partly due to the geographic location in which they were going to live

after getting their teaching degrees. Two of the female educators said that one of the

main factors for pursuing a career in education was to set themselves up for a

professional job that was available to women in rural settings. The women who

68

limited job opportunities for professional women. They wanted careers that were

challenging and where there would be a personal reward from the work. One female

former elementary school teacher, now dog groomer, explained that the only jobs she felt

were open to her were either being a nurse or teacher. She was interested in education

anyway, so she pursued that path. This sentiment was echoed among the women who

lived in rural areas.

THE LIKES AND DISLIKES OF INITIAL CAREERS

For most people, the jobs they chose to pursue were good personal fits for their

launch into the working world. There was a general consensus among most of the

research participants that they enjoyed their jobs during the first several years. Everyone

d disliked about their jobs. Even though there

were n

rs. More specifically, this section explains what people generally

disliked

The Di

t like about their jobs, there were clear divisions

the lawyers was that of having to

work all the time. One former civil litigation lawyer recalled a conversation with the

could find things that they both enjoyed an

egative aspects of their jobs, in many instances the enjoyable aspects of the job

were what kept the participants in their work situations for extended periods of time.

The following section discusses how the research participants felt once they were

engaged in their caree

and liked about their initial jobs.

slikes

In terms of what people did no

between what job characteristics were unfavourable to the lawyers and educators.

However, there was one thing that was disliked by both the lawyers and principals: the

number of hours worked. The situation as described by

69

princip

as a normal practice. However,

one for

said tha

12 to 1

T

“billable hours”. Although lawyers often make considerable salaries over their careers,

traps of law as iden

al lawyer to whom he was assigned: “I remember him telling me in the first week

or two [of my articling position]: ‘Don’t get any smart ideas about what you may find in

the labour standards act about hours of work or the requirement of lawyers to be paid

overtime.’ He said that: ‘There is a specific statutory exemption for lawyers about this,

so suck it up’”. This was generally the case for most of the lawyers; they would often

report that the long hours and dedication to the firm meant that they did not have much of

a social life. Most lawyers reported working between 50 and 90 hours per week, with

some working weekends on a regular basis and others working weekends only sometimes.

Most lawyers saw this as normal, and worked tirelessly. Everyone around them in their

firms was doing the same thing, so it seemed like that w

mer lawyer who realized relatively quickly that she was not meant to be in law

t she although she was not afraid of work, she did not see the purpose of working

4 hours a day.

he second major dislike about law for the new lawyers was the practice of

the practice of law is essentially a pay-by-the-hour business. The system of holding legal

representation is built on a billable system whereby the more billable hours charged to the

client, the more money is made by the lawyer and his or her firm. One of the structural

tified by the participants was the billable hour system because one of

the goals for the firm (and by proxy the lawyer) is to charge as many billable hours as

possible. Unfortunately, this also means that lawyers get into a cycle of working

tremendous hours in order to make quotas.

70

One former lawyer who is now the Chief Executive Officer of a large multi-

national logistics company said, “Even when you’re a partner you’re paid by the hour, so

if you want to be financially rewarded you have to work a lot of hours. At the end of the

day that’s the biggest drawback: the hours you bill”. Lawyers are required to keep time

records for the amount of hours worked, often billing to six minute intervals. One

research participant who has been both a teacher and a lawyer compared the financial

aspects of the two jobs by saying: “The difference between teaching and law is that, in

write y

the

“almig

keep a firm open. So that was the

limiting factor in terms of what I could do because I couldn’t always do things that didn’t

ey in them”. Billable hours was the most disliked aspect of the profession

teaching, someone is out there who writes a cheque every month. With law, you have to

our own cheque…You have to earn your cheque”. An aspiring lawyer’s success is

gauged primarily on billable hours. A former lawyer who is now the Executive Director

of a water research organization shared that he had a problem charging for “the big

bucks” required by the firm. He could not work in a firm where he would have to charge

by the minute and for every phone call. His belief is that the law has gone too

commercial when people have to account for all of their time in the pursuit of

hty” dollar and not being able to act for people and make a difference. He also

said, “There was a realization that you couldn’t be as idealistic in law because of the

limitations of having to make enough money to

have any mon

by lawyers, and it was because there was a tremendous amount of pressure imposed on

the lawyers for incurring as many billable hours as possible.

In a similar vein, many of the educators, and especially those who became

principals, felt that the number of hours worked was more than they wanted to put in, and

71

eventually more than they could handle. One female former elementary school teacher

and principal said that the number of hours that were required in the first few years of

teaching were tremendous. Over the first five years of teaching she spent a lot of time in

the classroom. In fact, she noted that during her first year of teaching she was being paid

less than minimum wage per hour for the amount of time she was putting in. She

believed that her situation was very common and is experienced by many first and second

year teachers. Worth noting, she said that the work became technically easier in the

classroom in subsequent years, but she then took on other responsibilities outside the

classroom. The number of opportunities for teachers to spend time working outside the

classroom is tremendous (i.e. supervising extra-curricular activities, being active on

committees and serving in the teachers’ unions).

For the teachers who became principals, the amount of time spent on the job was

thought to be excessive. There were meetings and conferences after school and on

eaching. A former high school teacher said

“Every time there was a principal’s meeting the principal would call a staff meeting and

weekends. The principals felt compelled to attend varsity sporting events such as

basketball and football games. Overall, the time required to fulfill all the duties of being

a principal was considerable, and the time requirements of the job interfered with leisure

and family time.

Another sentiment discussed by some of the teachers was regarding the importance

of having a good principal who promoted a positive work experience and ensured that

bureaucracy imposed by the school board administration was kept to a minimum. A

proportion of the educators said that their bosses and the administration made the job

unpleasant and more complicated for their t

72

say what needed to change, so the teachers would lose more time of teaching time per

class to do this or that”. The teachers relayed that they did not agree with a lot of the

regulations and new procedures that were imposed upon them, and this made for tension

between the teachers and principals. Some teachers discussed how many of the

bureaucratic rules that were imposed on them by their principals were ineffective and

absurd. One former teacher said:

The downside of being a teacher that it’s a very bureaucratic, male dominated

stupid rules and curricula that were inflexible in terms of giving the students what

recite the Lord’s Prayer. I would be in a classroom in New Westminster on a four

everyone saying the Lord’s Prayer. It was so frigging bizarre.

This quote is exemplary of the lack of control over the work and procedures that were

imposed upon educators from the administration. Many explained how they enjoyed the

freedom and autonomy of teaching their classes their way and felt directives from above

impinged on their freedom to teach in the way they wanted or that they felt was effective.

It was interesting to hear the difference between teachers who had good

relationships with their principals and those with poor relationships. Many of the

teachers who were promoted to administrative positions reported that their principals

and/or vice-principals were instrumental in pushing them to get Master’s degrees so that

they themselves could become principals. On the other hand, other teachers reported that

the relationships with their principals were negative to the point where it became a factor

in their decision to leave education.

institution with a lot of huge egos at the top of the hierarchy. There are a lot of

they needed. For example: every morning in B.C. the students were required to

week posting, with three quarters of the room being Muslims and Asians, with

Although these factors played a role in shaping the experiences of the research

participants in their first careers, the negative aspects of their jobs were negligible as

73

compared to the positive. It is important to remember how most people generally

enjoyed their jobs and found them rewarding. As with any job, there are things that

people would change. Even though the negative characteristics of the jobs were present,

most people remained because the positive facets outweighed the negative ones.

The Likes

The early years of their careers were exciting periods in the lives of these

educators and lawyers. They were active, busy with their work, starting families, and

were enjoying their lives. For the most part, the people in this study overwhelmingly

enjoyed their first careers. All the participants, except for four people who knew from an

early stage that their career choice was not going to be a good personal fit (although these

people also

b provided a great sense of challenge. No matter what the job was,

enjoyed their jobs), felt happy and fulfilled in their jobs for an extended

period of time. The participants discussed several themes that kept recurring in terms of

what they liked about their jobs: the sense of challenge, collegiality, feeling that they

were making a difference, the interaction with clients or students, and the intellectual

stimulation of the job.

Being in a new jo

mastering the skills required to do the core tasks and doing the job well was a very

satisfying endeavour for the respondents. As one educator explained: “As with any new

career, it is the challenge of mastering the job that is really interesting. Everything is new:

your colleagues, the core tasks of the job, the new work environment. It is very

satisfying to settle into the position and do a good job”. Not only did the participants

enjoy the challenge of mastering a new endeavour, but many also took great pride and

74

fulfillment in the challenge of the job. One man who was a Crown prosecutor in Ontario

said:

[You] get an opportunity to examine an issue, whatever the issue is, from all sides

to influence that. For instance, in criminal prosecutions you get a file given to

becomes natural after a while, but if someone were to come in and look at it they

you should take… it’s the

in order to bring a conclusion to an objective that you want. You have the ability

you by the police and you have to design the process related to that file. It

would say, “well, where do you go with this?” you eventually learn which route intellectual challenge of taking a set of facts that will

have an objective at the end, which is to ensure the facts get before a judge so

Clearly

of chal

job and

cowork

most lawyers want to reach is partnership within the

firm.

there is a just decision.

, education and law were seen to be dynamic and varied occupations that were full

lenge and excitement. Most people believed that this was a really fun part of the

felt motivated by mastering a new environment and new skills.

Collegiality, or the positive interaction and camaraderie with coworkers, was

another primary factor the interviewees identified as instrumental in fostering their

occupational fulfillment. Many participants said that they developed strong friendships

with colleagues in their first career situations, and many are still friends with these

ers. For the most part, the lawyers made stronger connections with their

coworkers because of the long hours spent together at work, working on the same team-

managed files, and often taking coffee and regularly going for lunch with colleagues. In

fact, many of the lawyers described the camaraderie as one of the best benefits of being a

lawyer. It is interesting to hear that lawyers within a law firm have such strong

connections with one another considering the adversarial nature of the profession and its

promotional structure. The position

This title brings with it higher levels of pay because partners share in the firm’s

profits. There are more management duties, and partners generally get voting rights to

75

direct the firm. Not everyone becomes a partner, and colleagues are also competitors for

partnership. Although this was a reality that all the lawyers were cognizant of, most

lawyers said that they loved being around the other lawyers, mostly because they were

smart, interesting, like-minded people.

The collegial scene was generally not as tightly knit for the educators, although

itive aspect of working in education. All the educators in this study

enjoyed the staffroom

petitive rugby player, and he liked being a teacher

this was still a pos

banter during their first years of teaching. Some people even

found themselves in a school situation where they felt privileged to work with their

coworkers. One former band teacher felt that the school he was in was “a really special

place”. The administration hired all young teachers, so coworkers were of similar age:

just married, mostly male, and everyone got along really well. They would work together

during the week and party on the weekends. He said that he hated to leave that

environment because the staff was such a unique group of people. Another male ex-

teacher said that he was really close with the people at the school, and his colleagues

were part of what kept him at the school for so long. One former educator who taught in

Northern Ireland said that he was a com

because other teachers were also competitive rugby players. This enjoyment of being

around like-minded people was experienced by all the interviewees in this study.

Having a positive influence on others was important for several of the participants

in this study. Five participants indicated that making a difference was important to them.

Helping others and making a difference in people’s lives was an area where these people

found a lot of their occupational fulfillment. In regard to this, one former civil litigation

lawyer said:

76

I had experiences of genuinely helping people or corporations work out their issues that were satisfactory in the end. It wasn’t by any means all the time, especially when people who won thought they lost, but I had no doubt at all that in a large percentage of the work that I did I was making lemonade out of lemons.

contrib

very sa

“you made a real difference in our child’s life this year.” Another former

teacher/principal said that in education, she liked best (upon reflection from her old job)

that she had so much positive influence over the development of people, including

students, teachers, and parents. In looking back, she said that was the core of her

satisfaction. She realized that because in her new job she is out in the community a lot

and bumps into grown-up students. This gives her an opportunity to see how they saw

their past experience and they are often very complimentary. She said it is a wonderful

feeling to realize that she has made a positive difference in their lives.

Interaction with clients or students was another key factor identified by both

lawyers and educators as something that they found enjoyable. For many of the

educators, the fun and interaction they had with the students, either child or adult, was

part of the core fulfillment of the job. As described earlier in this section, many of the

teachers expressed that the first few years of teaching were mostly spent in the classroom,

and this was the most rewarding time in their educational careers. The educators

generally experienced positive feedback from the interaction with students and parents.

One former high school teacher explained that “I liked the kids, partly because I’m a kid

Over and above the financial rewards and whatever else, that was a satisfying thing.

It was very important for these people to feel as if their working lives were

uting to the betterment of others. One former teacher and principal said that it was

tisfying and fulfilling to have the parents of his students’ affirm him by saying:

77

at heart so I identified with them…although some of them were real jerks, but every job

is full of jerks and assholes!”

In addition, regarding the interaction with clients, one former lawyer who

practised both intellectual-property law and criminal law at different phases of his legal

career

nted to

a judge

ing up with a specialized curriculum for a student or figuring out

said: “[You] get a variety of different factual situations. Some could be related to

a family issue, others related to an intellectual property issue, so there are a whole variety

of facts that come your way. You get in people’s lives as a lawyer because they have to

come to you and share what they’re looking for”. No matter whether the lawyers were

working on civil litigation, securities files, or criminal cases, they generally described

that the interaction and relationships that were developed from working with clients was

for the most part positive and enjoyable. They were treated with respect and courtesy by

their clients, and felt that they were generally appreciated for the work that they did.

The final major theme of enjoyment and fulfillment for participants in their first

careers was the intellectual stimulation that they got from doing the core tasks of their

jobs. The intellectuality of education and law were extremely rewarding. Some people

liked the intellectual challenge of designing new programs and finding creative ways to

fund those programs. Other people loved the creativity that they could bring to the job.

One former lawyer described how she once wrote up a factum that was to be prese

in the form of a story. When she sent it to the principal lawyer on the case for

review, he told her that he would bet that no one had ever presented a document to a

judge in that form. Other people really enjoyed problem solving. Again, this involved

being creative in order to come up with viable solutions that would be acceptable to all

parties. Whether com

78

how to

educati

According to the research participants, these five key aspects of work were partly

responsib

FAMILY AND PERSONAL SITUATION

best present a case in court, the respondents found the intellectuality of law and

on to be extremely fulfilling.

The various components discussed above were identified by most people.

le for generating their occupational fulfillment.

During the initial years of their careers, most of the people in this study were

getting married and some were starting families. As a result, many of the people had

young children at home during the first years of their careers. Several women said that

they did not have children while they were working. Some people described that the long

hours at work kept them away from their families, but they were working hard to be good

financial providers. Some people described that they were emotionally, physically, and

mentally tired when they got home from work. As a result they sometimes seemed

disconnected from the family because they were either tired from a long day at work or

were preoccupied with work issues. One former lawyer who is now a Chief Executive

Officer of a large corporation shared:

I also had marital issues at the time because there was stress on my relationship

to work at 7AM and go home on most nights around ten or eleven at night at least

barely saw my kids at all. My way of rationalizing and validating things was that

families. One woman said that her routine was to come home and sleep while her

because I was never home. I was working like a dog where I would literally come

six days a week. If I wasn’t in the office on Sunday I’d be working at home. I

I was making more money and that somehow made it seem worth it.

Whether it was because of a lack of physical presence because people were always

working or because they were exhausted at the end of the day, these careers took a toll on

79

husband who had been working as a doctor all day would come home and make dinner.

He would wake her up, they would eat, and then she would clean the kitchen. That was

their ro

ver

they c

utine. One woman went so far as to describe herself as having “no life” because

she was working all the time. These sentiments were echoed by both lawyers and

educators, although the lawyers and principals were the groups that complained most

strongly about the toll that work took on their selves and their families.

Although many of the participants were extremely busy with work, maintaining

relationships between themselves and their children was still a priority. A few of the men

were particularly vocal about how big a priority their children were to them. These men

said that they were always involved dads, no matter how busy they were with work.

Generally speaking, this meant coaching their children’s sports teams and taking them to

team practices and games. They also tried to be available for their children whene

ould. The women also identified themselves as having strong and positive

relationships with their children. Some women chose to exit the workforce after their

children were born in order to raise their children (and subsequently returned to the

workforce after their children were older).

People were feeling fulfilled by their jobs, but were also feeling the pressure to be

good parents. At times, juggling work and family was difficult, and some people

sacrificed time with their families in order to be good providers. Many women did not

want to have children while they were working, so that delayed them from starting

families. Even though there were these difficulties present, most people described their

family situations as generally close and good.

80

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION

The purpose of this chapter was to provide a descriptive overview of the general

finding

h participants that described

different facets of their situations before they went into law and education and what

career direction. These different motivational

categor

set into

for having different motivations. Approximately 50 percent of the participants identified

s for why people decided to pursue their original careers in education and law, as

well as to discuss in general terms what people enjoyed and disliked about their jobs.

There was an array of stories provided by the researc

happened once they got there.

As can be seen in this chapter, there was a diversity of different motivations for

choosing a career path. The continuum of people’s motivations shows that there are

many ways of making career and life decisions that lead people to fulfillment in their

occupations. Although diversity existed in the motivations for choosing a career, the

variation in these reasons was not especially broad. As can be expected, most people

used a number of different reasons or strategies for choosing their career paths, although

they also used other categories to a lesser extent. For instance, the people who primarily

used a rational choice strategy for choosing their careers still had discussions with family

and friends; when it came down to it, it was their rational decision-making that ultimately

compelled them to follow a given

ies are important because they identify the personal and social characteristics that

motion the respondents’ career trajectories.

It is interesting to note the proportions of people that fell into different categories

some sort of rational choice strategy as their primary motivation for their first careers.

This is not surprising considering this is the middle–of-the-road approach to making a

81

choice. Fifteen to 20 percent of the respondents reported falling into one of the other

more extreme categories: having a clear design for their future careers or having no idea

what direction to take. It is interesting to see a comparison of the different proportions of

people in the different categories because it shows that most of the people (those between

the rational choice and always wanting to be a lawyer or educator) made contemplative

and reflective decisions about what career to pursue. These choices were generally well-

though

a different career path for their own reasons,

they al

edly. To speak generally about their likes

and dislikes, one of the major findings is that the features people enjoyed about their jobs

t out. As was discussed previously in the chapter, there was overlap between

categories in terms of people’s strategies for choosing their career trajectories. However,

the only strategy that had considerable overlap was rational choice. Although it may

have been used by all or most of the people in some respect, for half of the respondents

this was their primary strategy.

All of the people included in this study had their own diverse reasons for entering

their fields, although the similarity between their stories is relatively pronounced.

Wanting to make a career change can happen to anyone, no matter how strong and

determined his or her motivation to become a lawyer or educator. What is important to

remember is that although they all started on

l ended up making a career change. Even though there was a general sense of

enjoyment and fulfillment in the jobs that the participants held, and many of these people

felt that they had found their place in the occupational world, those sentiments were not

sufficiently strong to keep them there.

In terms of the likes and dislikes of the respondents once they were in their jobs,

there were key similarities that came up repeat

82

reinforced a positive self-identity. These features included a sense of challenge that

brough

ar respect, the parts of the job that people did not like

impede

e period of starting and working in

their fi

t about feelings of triumph when accomplished, collegiality and feelings of social

belonging, the intellectual stimulation, the interaction with clients or students, and to a

lesser extent, the feeling of making a difference in other people’s lives. Overall, people

in their early years of work were focused on self-interested aspects and benefits of jobs –

things that brought about a sense of personal success, as well as intellectual, professional,

and social growth. In a simil

d them from achieving feelings of individualized success. Other features that

people identified that they did not like about their jobs were those that made them feel

unsuccessful, such as ineffectively balancing work and non-work time. Another thing the

interviewees found disagreeable was the restrictions that prevented them from doing their

jobs in the way they wanted to, such as the pressure to maximize billable hours and the

imposed bureaucracy of education. However, it must be stressed that the dislikes of these

people were heavily outweighed by the positive aspects of their jobs. In their earlier

years the respondents liked their jobs and enjoyed what they were doing. This was a

happy period in most of their lives, filled with new experiences, new challenges, and the

potential for growth and success.

On a broader plane, the information presented in this chapter allows us to achieve

a greater understanding of people’s values during th

rst careers. At this point in their lives, people were for the most part looking to

engage in an occupation that they felt they would be good at as well as finding a career

where they would find feelings of personal success. In addition, being social and

developing friendships with colleagues were some of the biggest enjoyments for people

83

at this stage of their lives. Although a few people identified that they wanted to make a

difference in the world, very few people discussed this during their first career stage.

Overall, the decisions that people made in terms of their career choices were self-focused.

These people were looking for personal fulfillment from jobs that were enjoyable,

interesting, and challenging. This is not surprising, considering the life stage they were at

in regard to their professional, personal, and family lives. Some people had no children

and no partners, and those with families had the desire to make better financial situations

for their partners and families. This meant working hard and trying to be professionally

successful.

In sum, these people all found some enjoyment in their jobs, and almost all of

them found occupational fulfillment. These people thought they were in good jobs that

were prestigious. From an outside perspective, for most of the participants, there was no

reason to want to leave their jobs. What, then, happened to these people that brought

about the desire to leave their jobs? Was making a positive impact on others more

important for these people as they grew older? Why was it that they wanted to take a risk

by leaving their stable jobs in order to pursue another occupational venture? How did

families play into this phenomenon? Where did they go after leaving their jobs?

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CHAPTER V

THE TRANSITION

So far I have explored the first careers of lawyers and educators in general terms.

I have described why they pursued their first careers, found out what they liked and

disliked with their jobs, and identified that the participants were generally happy and

fulfilled in their jobs. For several years each of these people remained in their respective

jobs; they were productive and generally content. However, for various reasons all of

these participants desired a change. This chapter focuses on the transition between the

first and second careers of the people in this study. I will identify some of the underlying

factors that encouraged them to consider leaving their first profession. The factors that

discouraged them from leaving will also be discussed. Further, a discussion of the

motivational push and pull factors that led participants to change careers will be

introduced. This chapter will also discuss the importance of interpersonal support to the

individual making a career change and the security strategies that were employed before

85

making the transition. Finally, two procedural strategies will be identified for how

lawyers and educators change careers.

UNDERLYING ISSUES FOR PEOPLE TO PURSUE SOMETHING NEW Within any job there are characteristics that make people wonder what other

opportunities are available. These issues do not necessarily prompt people to quit a job

and move on to a different profession. However, the combination of these factors leads

to decreased satisfaction. The characteristics presented in this section help to produce the

underly

role in stimulating the participants’ desire to leave their jobs in search of something new.

Invasiveness of the Job

The invasiveness of the job was a serious issue for seven people. Three educators

and four lawyers felt that they could not get away from their jobs no matter whether they

were at work, off on the weekends, or away on holiday. Their jobs consumed much of

their overall emotional, physical, and mental energy.

ing situation that made the decision to pursue a different career easier. These

factors did not cause the respondents to leave their careers; instead they helped weaken

their occupational devotion and commitment. These characteristics are necessary as a

precursor to a career change because they allow people to examine their present work and

personal situations, and to potentially consider other occupational ventures.

Many factors encouraged the interviewees to look at other work opportunities, but

three major themes emerged. They were the invasiveness of the job, a change in

collegiality, and a change in the bureaucracy of education. These three factors played a

86

For all of the people who identified this as an issue, working long hours played a

role in making these participants feel like they could not get away from the job. One

female former lawyer said that she worked so much that she felt she had no life. She

even said that she did not celebrate three consecutive birthdays because she was working

all the time. Another male ex-lawy ow he was required to field a call

from a client on his wedding day. He was a defence attorney and the sentencing of a case

earlier in the week had gone terribly askew. The wedding preparations were underway

and he was getting calls from the client’s parents saying: “What the heck happened and

when are we going to get him eplied that it had to wait until

Monday, and on Monday they did “get him out”. This story demonstrates how lawyers

are often at the mercy of the client. This former lawyer also discussed how clients were

becoming so demanding in his final years of practice that if he had not replied within half

an hour to emails that they had sent him, clients would be on the phone demanding an

explanation as to his lack of contact. According to him, the structure of the legal system

has made it so that lawyers must always be connected to the office and to their files. He

said that in many respects the lawyer is at the will of the client for their representation

partly because of the billable hour structure as well as the time requirement that it takes to

process files in a timely manner.

The principals also found the job of administration to be a tremendous burden.

As described by the research participants, being a principal means that you are the top

ranking person in a school. All issues come to you. All the problems are to be solved by

you. The principal is responsible for the well-being of every student in the school as well

er told a story of h

out, it’s Saturday?” He r

87

as ensuring a positive work experience for his or her staff. Include implementing all the

directives imposed by the school board and you have a very difficult and taxing job.

Principals work long hours solving problems within the walls of their schools

s and on weekends. In addition to the time spent working on the job, the

ve to be able

ant said that when she was a principal,

during the day, and then often have to go to meetings, workshops, and conferences in the

veninge

principals stated that they never really left work ‘at work’ because they were always

thinking about problems that needed to be resolved, or because they were troubled by

arguments with irate parents or conflicts between staff members. One former principal

said that the most challenging years of his career were when he was a principal. He was

in a large school that had staff problems, and the children had exceptional needs: there

were lots of difficulties with the students that required added attention. He realized that

although he was good at what he did, it was taking a toll on him. He said:

Being a VP [vice-principal] or assistant principal is okay, but being a principal the buck stops with you. You carry the weight of a school of 500; it was tougher on me than was healthy…To be a good administrator and leader you hato leave the problems at work. When you have a serious situation, sometimes an irrational out of control parent, you have to leave the anger they bear toward you that you feel is unjustified…[It] was felt on the weekend. The weight of that would take its toll on me... Eventually when I felt the weight from different places it took away from the joy of the job because the problems seemed to outweigh the joys.

As this man said, the problems that the research participants encountered on the job were

taken home and thought about. Another particip

the work was never out of her mind. She would fall asleep from exhaustion and sleep all

night, but her last thought at night and first thought in the morning would be whatever the

immediate situation was at school. She said: “That could be a difficult parent, difficult

student, a difficult teacher, implementing something I didn’t agree with; trying to do the

88

staffing… mostly the worry was because of the students. They were always hard things

to deal with”. All the principals agreed that this was not a healthy way to live: being

consumed by issues and problems at work. When they were at home they were mentally

preoccupied with school-related concerns instead of being mentally present with their

families.

The all-consuming nature and personal invasiveness of the job was a major

drawback that seriously reduced the fulfillment of some of the research participants.

Many worked long hours, but the invasiveness of the job refers to something different. It

is about never being able to get away from work, whether that is through physical,

emotional, or mental distance.

Change in Collegiality

A change in collegiality was a factor that was experienced by four of the

educators and one of the lawyers. It consisted of a reduced sense of camaraderie and a

sense of dwindling support. Although this factor was experienced by a smaller

proportion of participants in the study, it did play a large part in pushing some of them

out of education.

At the beginning of his or her career, every person felt a positive sense of

got along very well with the other teachers. In the final years of her career she found that

there were no more “fun teachers” left in the staff room. She felt the new people who

collegiality, and many people spoke of friendships with their peers. However, as time

went on, half of the interviewees who identified this as a factor in their desire to change

careers said that they were less connected with their peers than they once were. The

woman who was most vocal about this issue said that in the first years of her career she

89

came into teaching were not interesting people. New teachers were coming out of the

Faculty of Education and only talking about teaching methodologies, which she thought

“was a

out change in

the rela

of a ca

feels c

aggress

courtes etween lawyers during the early years of his practice, even

bit of crap” because she thought she was successful at teaching without

subscribing to a particular method. “You present the work, if you see puzzled faces you

try it another way. Give tests… take a look at the tests. If you see something that didn’t

seem to work you hammer at it again. I didn’t need the Faculty of Education to tell me

that”. These sentiments arose mostly from her feeling that the educational and

experiential backgrounds of the new younger teachers were becoming less diverse. All

the new teachers had to go through the Faculty of Education in order to become certified

to teach, and this woman felt that their delivery methods were “cookie-cutter”

methodologies.

The lawyer who identified a change in collegiality was expressive ab

tionships and communication between the lawyers representing the different sides

se. Although this former lawyer admits that law is by definition adversarial, he

ommunication between lawyers does not have to be, and it was not always as

ive as it was when he left practice. There was a certain level of respect and

y that was shared b

though it was still a competitive environment. He noted:

I found over the years that what I liked the least was lawyers who felt that their job required them to be as confrontational as possible, as rude and as obnoxious as possible… Over the years litigation became increasingly confrontational, and that had the effect of eroding the other thing that I liked: solving the problem. Once a personal fight develops between two lawyers everything just slides into the ditch. Some clients don’t know it, and some think that it’s great because they think that they’ve got a lawyer who’s a tough son of a bitch… what they don’t realize is that costs them money because the solution to the problem got that much further down the road.

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This quote clearly suggests that over the years the mutual respect between lawyers has

diminished, thus reducing the collegiality between lawyers. Overall, being in a situation

where the relationships deteriorate between colleagues is difficult, because it reduces the

enjoyment that people identified in the previous chapter as pleasurable and important in a

fulfilling work environment.

wyer mentality is an ideal-type of what a

lawyer should be. These women identified such qualities as a person who works very

he firm, who is driven by money, and who finds a great deal of

prestig

practice, and she explained that she loved (and still loves)

law int

Structural/Cultural Factors

Another factor that three of the female former lawyers identified as an issue that

discouraged their commitment to law was that they could not accept the lawyer mentality

and how they should operate. To explain, this la

hard, who is a slave to t

e from the title of being a lawyer. Overall, the sentiment felt by these women was

that they did not want to fall into this trap. One former female lawyer turned professor of

law explained that she did not approve of the way lawyers conducted their lives. She

never worked that hard when she was working in her downtown firm, she was never

particularly committed to the

ellectually but did not get caught up in the “being a lawyer shtick”. This sentiment

was echoed by all three women who believed that no one needs to make as much money

as lawyers do, and they did not see the point of working twelve to fourteen hour days. In

fact, most of the women talked about law as being a trap, where the cycle of hard work

and money escalates to a point where lawyers get locked into the routine of long hours

because they develop sizeable debt loads that require them to continue working. Overall,

these women did not embrace the lawyer culture of work, spending, and extravagance.

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Three female educators specifically identified another structural change in

education. These women believed that there was a negative change in the education

system, when over the years, more bureaucracy and accountability were introduced.

These women discussed how in the early years of their teaching careers they were left on

their own to develop curricula that were effective and congruent with their personalities

and teaching styles. Two women said that their classroom was like an island, where they

could teach what they wanted and how they wanted. This gave the women a great sense

of autonomy and independence. They were at the school to teach, and the large majority

of their time was spent in the classroom.

Over the years there was a change in the overall school system. Structural

alterations were put in place to increase accountability. This translated into a large

increas

made teachers feel they were

wasting

bureau

commit

a negative feeling about work included a mediocre quality of life, the glass ceiling for

e in bureaucracy and paper-pushing for the teachers. They were mandated to

follow a general curriculum. One woman said: “The more administrators the system

brings on, the more busy work is made for the teachers, and made teachers do all sorts of

things that had nothing to do with teaching…Things like compiling statistics for someone

to make a point of how successful the schools were”. Doing a lot of “busy work” and

having more systematic guidelines to follow took some of the fun and creativity out of

teaching, while also making for more mundane tasks that

their time.

The invasiveness of the job, the change in collegiality, and a change in the

cracy in education were partly responsible for draining the dedication and

ment of the research participants. Other secondary circumstances that engendered

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female lawyers, and a feeling of not being fairly compensated for the work being done.

These issues ignited curiosity for what else might be out there in the working world.

However, these issues were not the major causes motivating the respondents to search out

new careers. Rather, they established an interest in wanting a different work situation in

the general sense. They created a work environment that was not as fun, enjoyable, and

exciting as it once was. Overall, most of the people identified at least one (and

t prompted them to lose some of the devotion they had

MOTIVATIONS FOR PURSUING A CAREER CHANGE: THE

sometimes several) factors for wha

to their profession. However, it took more to make people engage in a career change.

PUSH AND PULL PEOPLE The previous section identified aspects of people’s jobs that made them less

satisfied, fulfilled, and committed to remaining in their occupations. These types of

conditions are necessary to weaken their devotion so that they become open to the

possibility of a career change. However, there are other external factors that prompt

people to take the plunge toward making a career change.

Among these participants, there is a distinct qualitative difference in the

motivations different people have for finally committing themselves to a career change.

Some people are pushed out of their former careers because of various extenuating

circumstances. These people feel that they have to leave because their current situation is

unbearable. This type of person will be described as a Push Person. Conversely, some

people are drawn to new opportunities because the potential for a better situation

outweighs the security of staying in a career that is good but not wonderful. This type of

person is identified as a Pull Person. While the difference between what motivates a

93

Push Person to leave versus a Pull Person is that unbearable negative situations force the

Push People to leave, whereas positive external factors prompt Pull People to seek out

new opportunities. The following section will discuss the different motivations for these

two groups of people.

Motivational Push Factors

There are several situations that Push People identified as key motivations for

leaving their profession. All of these people felt that they could not continue working in

their positions because the disagreeable conditions there would either have dire

settings that they were in. One ex-lawyer

consequences to their emotional, physical, and/or mental health, or they could not stand

to be in their current situation any longer.

The first push factor, and by far the most common, was the necessity to leave a

job for health reasons. Five people found themselves in situations where they changed

careers, completely or in part because they developed physical, mental, and/or emotional

problems that progressed to a point where they could no longer work in their original

career setting. Ill-health was the physical manifestation of many of the underlying issues

that were presented in the previous section. For personal health reasons, these people

were essentially forced to confront their anguish and make decisions to change careers.

These people could not continue working in the

turned executive director of a lawyer assistance agency said:

In hindsight, they [my issues] were not internal within the company… they were more all more to do with personal issues with me… sort of cycle of stress, depression, and anxiety. I would get stressed out at whatever the job was and that would start a cycle of depression for me… after 10 or 12 years of doing that, the light bulb finally came on and I thought there was a smarter way of living life…

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Some people developed skin rashes, and two people had severe chest pains. One

woman who now identifies herself as a “professional student” (she is a university

graduate student and believes she will do that for the rest of her life) described a mental

breakdown that was the result of many underlying factors. She said:

One day at a staff meeting the principal handed out something about professional

went home and had dinner with friends, and [my husband] pulled out the

I could not stand it: it was my life they were talking about and I couldn’t stand it.

development and collegiality and for some reason I just laughed and laughed. I

document to show our friends. Our friends were making fun of me about this and

I planted my face in the entrée [the meal she had prepared for her guests].

That was the point when she knew that she had to take stress leave. Most of the people in

this category opted to quit their jobs and relied on disability insurance while they got

al and emotional state. Being able to claim medical

of the underlying issues were

boredo

themselves back to a healthy physic

leave was a blessing for these claimants because it allowed them to take the time to get to

a position where they felt well enough to consider and pursue a new career path.

The second major push factor is boredom/stagnation. For the people that fell into

this category there were a number of underlying factors that built up over the years that

drained the excitement out of the job. The most pressing

m from doing the same job for a number of years, decreasing interest in their field,

the environment in which they worked had changed, and/or the job had lost the

dynamism that it once had, and their job was all-consuming. To a large degree, this

group of people felt restless and stagnant. More so, these people generally felt bored:

bored with what they were doing, bored with the environment in which they worked, and

bored from the same routine.

An ex-educator said that at 38 he began to wonder whether he was having burnout.

He could not figure out why he should feel this way, and did not show any symptoms of

95

burnout: he still really enjoyed being in front of the classroom, but there was something

missing. His wife brought in a wonderful article that discussed his situation. She said

that it described him to the letter. It said that he was basically bored. This happened to a

lot of people, where their jobs became mundane and repetitious.

The challenge and excitement that was part of what people loved about the job

inimal challenge. One former educator

put in their time and had nothing else they wanted to do. They were trapped. I fifties and mark time until

I’m sixty-five; what a way to live!

Many

retirem

had been traded for something routine with m

discussed how the challenge of the job is diminished with the passage of time:

Things got repetitious and easy, but the human mind is an interesting thing: no matter how complex the task, give the brain time or do something enough times that the task becomes engrained. It’s like how a chess player can look at a board and then come back later and set it up the way it was. They couldn’t do it in the beginning, but that’s the way the human mind works, and after a while it becomes a set of patterns.

These issues were also compounded with a desire to not become like their older

colleagues who seemed “dead inside”. Many echoed this former English professor who

became a physiotherapist. He stated: “Thoreau says ‘he who kills time murders eternity’.

These people were just killing time. They used the same yellowed notes that were being

read to classes and not caring, there was no excitement, they had lousy teaching reviews,

they didn’t care". When this man was a professor in his thirties and surrounded with

other professors in their fifties, he saw them as having already died. He said:

Their minds had already died and their bodies were waiting to catch up. They’d

saw that and never wanted to be like that, to be in my

people saw their older colleagues as wasting their lives watching the clock to

ent tick away.

96

Many people had to make a conscious choice to uproot themselves. Although

they could have remained in their original jobs and could have been successful, the

burden of wasting time and being bored was enough to unsettle them out of their jobs and

into a search for another vocation. For others, the necessity to leave because of illness

was en

healthy

The Pu

ering a

around and say, and lawyers do this a lot, I don’t like my life like this. Lawyers

but that ain’t going to get you anywhere. You have to have an alternate vision of

wanting to be something other than what you’re doing might lead you to quit but

h the security of remaining where they are, otherwise

people

ough to make them consider other career options that would be more suitable for a

lifestyle.

ll People

Contrary to those in the Push People category who felt that they did not want to

remain in their current work situation until retirement, the Pull People had generally

positive alternatives that attracted them to their new employment. It should be noted that,

technically speaking, these people should be known as Push-Pull People because there

were still the underlying factors that made them feel restless and open to consid

career change when the time was right or when an opportunity presented itself. A former

lawyer said:

You need an alternate vision of what you want to do with your life. You can’t sit

are the best at that, there’s no one better at whining about their work than lawyers,

‘I want to do this particular other thing’, and then you go and do it. But just

it will never lead you to a meaningful career change.

As can be seen from this quote, in order to be pulled toward something new, there must

be a potential end that people want to pursue. People must feel that the gain from the

desired outcome will outweig

may stay where they are.

97

The first major pull factor for people is the desire to pursue a hobby, passion, or

dream in a full-time manner. These people practice some type pastime as a leisure

activity outside the sphere of work, and as time passes these people feel that they want to

pursue their hobby or passion on a full-time basis and try to make money at it. Three

work and

their in

appeal

hobbies

employment a pleasurable and positive vocational option. One former lawyer turned

professional guitarist explained

anding

than it

decreas

g music was better than a good day practising law.

people in this study fell into this category (one male lawyer, one male educator, and one

female educator).

These three people all discussed the inverted relationship between their

terest in their hobbies, where the interest in the work was diminishing while the

and attraction toward pursuing their hobby was increasing. The draw to turn

into full-time work made the transition from a leisure activity to a paid

that for him, there were two main things that encouraged

him to move to a different career. Over the years he had gotten a deeper connection with

music in terms of becoming a more skilled musician, resulting in situations where he was

playing with musicians who had only played music for their whole working lives, and he

liked the environment and activity of playing music. At the same time, he was getting

tired of the confrontational style of law and of lawyers, and was getting tired of the high

client expectations. He felt that the cultural climate of law was a lot more dem

was earlier in his career. He identified two trends: satisfaction with law

ing, enjoyment of music and modest success in it increasing. He said that there

are a lot of things about being a musician that are unpleasant, but by the end of his law

career, a bad day playin

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This was the general situation for the Pull People who fell into this category.

They felt that remaining in their original careers became less and less attractive as the

negative aspects wore on them. At the same time, these people were achieving some

success with their serious leisure activities to the point where there was the potential to be

economically successful. One woman looked to her interest in showing her dogs as

inspiration for becoming a dog groomer in order to leave elementary school teaching.

Another man had a side-business doing magic shows while he was a principal. His

, so he decided to take a risk and perform

agic shows on a full-tim

this study there was a situation where, although they felt that

they w

Howev

search prof motionally, and

of relocating to a different city. Although she was not

administrative position was taking a toll on him

his m e basis. He started doing motivational magic, which he

describes as magic with a message (with themes like anti-bullying, being a good friend,

and daring to be different). Generally speaking, these people had leisure activities from

which they derived profound fulfillment. They wanted to extend their passions into their

working lives, which in turn would eliminate the negative aspects of their existing jobs.

The second motivational pull scenario concerns people being tempted by a new

venture. For four people in

ould be open to a career shift, they were still happy in their former occupations.

er, for this group of people, unexpected opportunities piqued their interest.

Two of the people in this category were recruited to new positions by executive

essionals. One former principal was feeling physically, e

mentally drained by her job as a principal, but was not interested in changing positions

within the education field. She had been presented with other offers in the past, but the

benefits of a new job were not attractive enough to leave her position as principal and to

expose her family to the potential

99

terribly

d was an organization with which she was already familiar as she had

been a

at there was a

timing matter where the search professional piqued his interest about the potential job,

satisfied with her former work situation, she did not believe that she would be

better off elsewhere. It was not until she was first approached by a head hunter that she

was intrigued by the possibility of working in the position of Chief Executive Officer of a

not-for-profit women’s organization. She said that the opportunity interested her because

it was in a completely new sector, would have been a big change, revolved around

women’s issues, an

volunteer there in the 1980s and had previously sat on the Board of Directors. It

was also in Calgary, which meant that her family did not have to be disrupted. She felt

that the new job was everything that she could have hoped for. The benefits were enough

to tip the scales in favour of leaving her job for a new position that would be a new

challenge.

Another male ex-lawyer was approached by a search professional to be recruited

to work for a North American trucking company. He was a partner at his firm, liked the

work that he did, and felt that he worked with a great group of people. Normally he

would not have entertained calls from recruiters, but at the time he was contacted he was

going through the firm’s annual process of divvying up the year’s profits between the

partners. He had more billable hours than anyone else in his year and was given more

points than other colleagues at his same level, but not as much as he thought he should

have. He was upset about his share of the profits because he felt that he deserved more

compensation for the amount of work that he had put in over the year. In hindsight, he

felt it was a fair allocation of points and he was given an increment above others, but

when he was 32 years old he had a different view of the world. He said th

100

and tha

congru

er his

post. H

t he took the opportunity to look into it (but had no intention of leaving; he just

wanted to check it out). He also felt the head hunter did a very good job of making the

search a competition. He figured that he “might as well try and win the job, even though

I really didn’t want to move anyway, but if you’re going to do something you might as

well try and be successful in it. At the end of the day it was an attractive offer because I

perceived that it would be good on the home front because I would have more control

over my hours”.

Both of these examples show how, although people may not search out a new

occupation initially, if an attractive opportunity unexpectedly presents itself, people may

accept a new position.

The other two people who fit into this category were offered new positions when

they indicated to their superiors that they were intending to leave their posts. The interest

of these people was piqued by their superiors offering different positions that were

ent with what these career changers were looking for. Both stories are similar, and

led each person to pursue a different occupational field.

One of these people held a lead position in a large provincial government agency.

After nine years he felt that it was time to step down and let someone else take ov

e met with his bosses and told them that he intended on taking a position with a

private law firm and that he would be stepping down from his position. At first they tried

to convince him otherwise, but then offered him an opportunity to be the Chairman of a

major public regulatory board. He was aware of the organization because he had done

some work with them in the past, and thought it was a good fit for him because he would

be able to use his university degree in engineering as well as his legal training to

101

effectively manage the organization. He was also aware of some difficulties that the

board was having in amalgamating two different agencies, and he thought that he could

be an effective agent of change because he could bring his experience of merging public

organizations. He accepted the position instead of following his original plan of working

for a law firm. He got what he wanted (leaving his former organization) while also

taking on a new position that was in a different field.

All of these people were offered positions that took them in career directions that

they did not intend. There was a certain element of serendipity for the people in this

category because they were approached out of the blue by others to fill these positions.

What was required of them was to be open to the opportunities and to be willing to try

something new. Overall, the Pull People had something that drew them toward

something positive instead of away from an unfavourable situation, which is what

motivated the Push People.

TRIGGERS

As was discussed in the literature section, some researchers have identified the

importance of triggers, or specific events, that prompted people to dramatically re-

evaluate their lives and consider a career change (Hutri, 1996; Shaver & Freedman 1976;

O’Connor & Wolfe, 1991). The difference between a trigger and a motivation is that a

trigger is a historical event that unsettles a person’s occupational commitment, thus

causing the consideration of a career change. Conversely, factors that motivate us are the

things that give a direction and move us to take some sort of action. It is more of an

overarching structure of cause that prompts people to want to make a career change. The

102

participants in this study were asked about the influence of triggers on their decisions to

change careers. While some people responded that triggers had an effect in pushing them

to commit themselves to a career change, not one person described a trigger as the

primary motivator for changing careers. Although they were not the key factors in

people’s decision-making process, they did play a role in reshaping people’s thinking

toward trying something new.

For two people, the death of a relative or close friend was important in helping

them g

id that he watched his friend over the course of his cancer, and it

pushed

ssional magician. He had put in

his tim

ain perspective about their lives and come to the decision that they wanted to make

career changes. The people in their lives were dying of cancer, and it was a slow process.

One former educator sa

him to decide to pursue his long time dream. This man shared a quote that

inspired him during this reflective time: “Don’t die with the music still in you. Share it”.

He felt that he did not want to live out his life without trying to fulfill his dream. His

friend was not an old man, and he said that while he was at the funeral he thought about

how he should pursue his aspiration of becoming a profe

e as an educator and felt that he had the dream, and to live the dream would be

ideal. The death of his friend was the trigger.

Another former educator said that her final decision as to whether she was going to

take her new position or stay working as a principal was to be made on September 11th,

2001. She got up early to go to the school to get a faxed copy of the offer of employment

for her new position. She wanted to pick it up so she could get it back home to leave it

with her husband before they talked about it over the phone prior making her final

decision. By the time she was back home her son was at the door telling her about the

103

terrorist attacks in New York and how “the whole world was blowing up”, and she

suddenly worried about her son going off to school, and how he was upset by this. She

started thinking about the events of the day and her family. She said that she stood there

and thought, “My life can change just like that, what am I hesitating about? I have

nothing to lose. It’s a good offer, I don’t have to give up my school position, I could take

a leave of absence, I could come back if I didn’t like it. What did I have to lose?” She

said to

Two lawyers also had specific events that helped them to see the occupational

law. Both men’s triggers had to do with money. As discussed

herself, “My goodness, take a little risk.” She says that she is generally very

cautious about making life choices, but that experience made her think, “Why not take

the risk, why not give it a try? What’s to lose?” So she called the organization and

accepted the position. She said that if she had not had that experience that day, she

probably still would have taken the position since she was already leaning to yes.

However, she felt that her decision was triggered (or made easier) by the events of that

day.

world outside of

previously, one lawyer was dissatisfied with the dividing up of the firm’s profits because

he felt that he was not properly compensated for his work. The other man’s story also

involves money, but is about acquiring considerable wealth from an investment outside

of law. At the same time as this lawyer was practising, he got involved in a

manufacturing business that built kidney dialysis solutions and microbiological testing

systems. The company became profitable and he sold it to a public company in a

takeover bid. This sale generated enough money that he and his wife would not have to

work if they did not want to. A world of opportunity opened for him because he then felt

104

comfortable to pursue other interests that did not pay as well as law. If he had not

received the payout from his investments, he said that he might not have been able to

have as much occupational freedom and would have remained practising law.

As can be seen with these examples, a trigger is not necessary to prompt people to

engage in a career change. None of the people who negotiated a career change did so

because of a trigger. Instead, the triggering events acted either to solidify a desire to

follow a dream or acted to upset people’s feelings of commitment of staying in their

current situation. Overall, these people did not need a trigger to push them into making a

career change; it made the decision to engage in an occupational shift easier and clearer.

Only a few of the people interviewed for this study pointed to experiencing a trigger. For

those that had this experience, they all said that that they probably would have changed

careers anyway, but the triggers were important for framing their lives in a manner that

encouraged them to venture onto other career paths.

FACTORS THAT DISCOURAGED A CAREER CHANGE

It must be acknowledged that deciding to make a career change is not easy. There

are many factors that need to be considered. Granted, there are many potential benefits to

making a transition, but the thought of upsetting one’s occupational situation in favour of

‘what could be’ is scary. The uncertainty of success, the potential hardships for

individuals and their families, and questioning whether one has the personal strength to

endure a major life shift are all issues that need to be addressed when making a career

change.

105

The first, and most prevalent, discouraging factor was considered only by

educators. Six of the educators identified pension eligibility as a serious concern.

Considering the age group on which this study is based, most people had been working in

the education system for a number of years. As such, most people were less than ten

years away from retirement. The security of a pension was highly appealing, and all

considered remaining in their education positions and waiting until they could collect

their pensions at age 55. They would lose money by exiting the education profession

before putting in their full work term. This threatened their plans of retirement and their

post-teaching futures.

Similar to pension issues, five former educators were also concerned about the

financial risks associated with venturing into a new occupation. Some people became

entrepreneurs: one couple went into pig farming, another man started up his own

performance company, one woman needed to find another avenue of work, and the last

man started up several businesses. All of these people faced some type of financial risk

when starting up their new business ventures. For some people there was a need to

borrow for a capital investment. For others it was the financial risk of giving up a

monthly pay cheque in favour of unpredictable financial success. Financial concern

seemed to be more of a worry to the educators; the lawyers did not identify it as a

problem other than that their incomes would take a significant drop. However, because

lawyers are paid only for the work that they do, perhaps this is a reason for why it was

not as concerning for them.

The final factor discouraging a career change concerns family disruption. For

many of the participants the potential impact on the family was not a serious factor

106

because their children were grown. However, for those who had children in the home,

making a decision to change careers forced parents to ask themselves and their partners

what impact a major shift would have on their families. Four people identified that a

r children. His wife moved in May

in a deliberate attempt to get the children into school so that they could make some

hildren were

thought that she would hold off on making a transition until her son was in

university. Two of the possibilities that were offered to her would have involved moving

potential disruption to the family was a reason weighing against engaging in a career

change.

Because their job change would also include relocating to a different city, two of

the participants were concerned about how their career shift would affect their children.

One of the former educators went through with a relocation that moved his family from

Manitoba to Alberta. The family was moving because the man’s wife had been offered a

new job in Edmonton. He was also ready for a change, so he and his wife decided that

they would make the move. He said that the well-being of his children was the most

worrisome aspect of moving. There were a lot of factors that they had to consider before

relocating, including finding the best schools for thei

friends before summer holidays. When they went out to buy a house the c

taken along to make sure that they felt comfortable in their new home. His son said when

they got there that he was having a nightmare – that moving was a nightmare. It really

crushed his son to move (at the time), but it worked out for the best because his son

eventually found a tremendous group of new friends.

Conversely, the other woman who was offered a position in another city did not

take the position. She knew that moving from Calgary had been an upsetting idea to her

son. She

107

to Quebec or Toronto and putting her son into a private school. She was very concerned

about where they would live, where her son would go to school, and how a move would

make their situation better than it was. In both cases it did not seem to be better. As a

result she did not take the jobs. In the end she took a job in Calgary in an attempt to

make a positive career change for herself while not disrupting her family.

Two male educators said that a discouraging factor for career change was their

feelings of responsibility to provide financially for their families. These concerns were

discussed at length with their wives. One man made a deal with his wife. The agreement

was that he could take whatever risks he wanted, but that he would not relocate their

lty. The financial well-being of these men’s families was a

children or put them in a position that would be risky. His wife said that she would be

supportive of any endeavours he engaged in as long as they did not put at risk the

lifestyle of their children; she was not willing to go through the uncertainty of feeding her

family, or finding a home. He was in full agreement, realizing that there were certain

things that he would never put at risk: he was never going to venture into a business

opportunity where his family could be put at a disadvantage. The other man was in a

slightly different situation because he was the only breadwinner in his household. As a

result, there was more pressure on him to succeed because he was responsible for

providing for his family. By leaving his job he was putting the well-being of his family

at risk. He and his wife discussed the issue at length, and she was fully supportive. He

was able to take a year’s sabbatical from his position and would be able to go back to his

job after a year with no pena

serious concern. If they had not been confident in succeeding, they would have been

much more apprehensive in proceeding with their career changes.

108

The factors presented in this section are discussed because they were issues that

made people consider not changing careers. The unknown of a new career brings the

potential for reward; however it also carries the risk of failure. Also, the potential for

uprooting and disrupting one’s family is of great consequence because it brings with it

considerable stress and anxiety for all family members. The question becomes: is it

worth it to take the risk, to upset your work, financial, and family situation, to try

something new? There are always reasons to discourage an adventure such as a career

change, but clearly the potential benefits for these people were undeniable. There were

not many discouraging factors that were identified by respondents. In other words, there

were not many factors that constrained these people from chasing a new career.

HOW IT HAPPENED

No matter what factors brought about each person’s feelings of a need for change,

every person involved in this project reached a point where he or she came up with an

idea or fantasy of what would be a more positive work situation than their current career.

For these people, the potential gains within themselves (e.g. increased satisfaction,

happiness, a new challenge, and detachment from work at the end of the day) lured them

into taking a proactive role in enacting change in their working lives.

Spousa

more fulfilled in their lives and careers. The people involved in this study not only had

l Support, Experimentation, and Security

Although people may fantasize about pursuing an alternate career dream, the

group of people that have participated in this research project are unique because they

have taken conscious steps to pursue what they thought would make them happier and

109

an idea or dream about what they wanted to do in a new career, they also saw themselves

having the foundation of a supportive spouse and a level of security from which they

could begin their career transition. All but three of the participants were married at the

time of their career change. Further, every person in this study who was married

perceived that their spouses were supportive of their career changes. As well, nearly all

Spousal Support

Although making a career change is often an introspective, individualistic

decision, having a supportive spouse has been instrumental in moving prospective career

changers toward developing a plan and taking action toward achieving new career goals.

Interestingly, 17 of the 20 research participants were married to their first and

only spouse at the time of their career change. Also, all of those research participants had

been married to their spouses for several years (often decades) before making their career

change. Many had met their partners either in high school or university, were married in

their early to mid-twenties, got their original jobs, and started families. As such, the

research participants had considerable time to develop, negotiate, and establish their

partnerships before asking their spouses for support during their career change.

Every person interviewed who was married at the time of their career change

explained that he or she either would not have pursued their career change, or would not

participants had the freedom to experiment with their new career opportunity and had a

solid structure of spousal, financial, and familial security in place. By having a

supportive spouse, the opportunity to experiment with career options, and having security

in place created a situation that laid the foundation from which these individuals could

then engage in a career change.

110

have pursued their future career aspirations with as much fervour, had his or her spouse

not given a supportive go-ahead. One former male teacher conveyed that he had

communicated with his wife every time he wanted to take a risk and his wife has

supported him every step of the way. He said that they have been very fortunate to

communicate and to move in the same direction at the same time. His wife’s support was

really important, especially in the first move. It was easier in subsequent moves, but her

support was always really important.

Although there was often considerable dialogue between couples regarding the

implications for the family and the course of action that would be required to make a

serious career transition, every respondent believed that her or his spouse offered support

to pursue her or his new goals. In fact, often the spouse (generally the wife) was seen as

artners to make changes in their careers. For instance, one

former

ake money and put

money away for retirement…” Even though changing careers often meant making

ownsizing and/or limiting spending,

most sp

instigating or pushing their p

male lawyer, now a professional guitarist, reported that his wife was so supportive

of his career change from law because she was a “practical girl”. His wife really enjoyed

her work and could tell that that he did not really enjoy his (especially in the latter years

of practice). She pushed him with her simple, though not simplistic, observation of “if

you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, then don’t do it”. He would often reply (until he

decided to make the change) with “sure, that’s fine, but we need to m

considerable lifestyle and situational changes and d

ouses were willing to make those accommodations in order to allow their partners

to follow their occupational dreams.

111

Although some participants engaged people other than their spouses for advice

and support, their partner’s advice and guidance was the most important. Other friends

and family members would often discourage the research participants from pursuing any

changes. For many, leaving their careers did not make rational sense: they wanted to

give up high paying jobs that had stability and (for the teachers) a good pension. Many

people were advised that they were putting their families at risk by wanting to upset their

current situations. For example, when one couple told their parents that they were

quitting teaching to go into pig farming their parents thought they were daft. They were

leaving secure jobs even though they had little children and the wife was pregnant.

However, these discouragements still did not dissuade them from making their career

changes. What was important to all of these career changers was to have a desire and an

idea to move to something else and a supportive spouse to be by their sides and support

them through the transition.

Two Security Strategies: Financial and Experimentation

One of the interesting differences between lawyers and educators was the way in

which they found security before engaging in their career changes. Security was

something that almost all of the Pull People and all of the Push People (except those who

left because of the manifestation of illness) had in place to fall back on in case of a career

change failure. It was used as a measure to lessen the gravity of their decision and make

the negative consequences of a career change less severe. However, the chief security

strategies were different between lawyers and educators.

The security measure used most often by lawyers generally focused on financial

security. These strategies ensured that they had enough money so that they and their

112

families would be financially stable in a life lacking the high income gained from

practicing law. Keep in mind that the lawyers who were interviewed were in their

midlives – they had spent several years practising law, developing their practice,

achieving partnership within their firms, and also developing sizeable assets. The

lawyers generally developed a financial plan where they and their families would have to

downsize their spending and lifestyle habits in order to make the new work situation

financially feasible. One former lawyer who is now a professional guitar player stated:

the country. We’d gotten tired of it anyway, but we needed to adopt a different

the city and were tired of spending six hours cutting the grass. Once one makes

that need to be done.

nancial spending habits and still living

comfortably was viable. This cushion allowed the lawyers to make career transitions

with greater ease than the educators.

The process during making the transition meant that we had to sell the acreage in

way of life in order to make this new lifestyle work. We wanted to come back to

that decision to switch, there are all sorts of business things and personal things

Because lawyers are self-employed (they must generate their own business, and

there is no steady monthly salary) they often started at an early point in their career to

save money for the future and for retirement. These people made investments that often

provided substantial dividends. As discussed previously, one man who moved from law

to being the executive director of a not-for-profit organization made an investment in

medical technologies that made him substantial money when the company was bought

out in a takeover. He said that his income was not a factor to change careers because he

was set up fairly well due to the selling of the company. It gave him the opportunity to

look at other options that did not pay as well. He was in a position where he did not have

to practise law in order to pay the bills. Because of the large incomes that lawyers often

receive, taking steps to downsize their fi

113

s in between career changes. That was the only security she

felt she required.

Instead of relying on a financial nest egg and making an absolute decision to leave,

the educators opted to take a leave of absence from the education jobs that they were

trying to exit. This was a fairly widespread option for educators. This ‘experimentation’

allowed teachers to go out into the world outside of education in order to try out new

career aspirations. All were able to take leaves, whether they were one-year voluntary

leaves of absence or medical leaves. One former teacher/guidance counsellor turned

entrepreneur joked that he probably held the record in the Calgary Board of Education for

the most leaves of absence. Every five years he would take a year off in order to

“recharge his batteries” so that he could come back with a fresh attitude and a

Although the female lawyers did use this strategy, they did so slightly differently.

For two of the women, financial security was not an issue because their husbands made

substantial incomes. As one woman who is now a professor of law noted, if she had

stayed practising law, she would be making five times as much money as she does now.

She also articulated that the articling students in her husband’s law firm make

approximately the same amount as she does. The two women who identified that money

was not an issue said that because of their family’s financial situation with savings and

their husband’s income, they did not have to work if they did not want to. They work

because they enjoy what they do. The other female ex-lawyers had various feelings of

the necessity of security. One woman had faith in her ability to find work that she

wanted. Another woman was happy that she had taken a pay increase at every career

change that she made. Her advice was that it is important to have enough money to not

need to work for a few month

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reinvigorated passion for his job. After he exercised that option several times, he was

ready to leave the profession permanently.

As discussed previously, the main concern for educators was that they wanted to

leave the profession before they were 55 but, in doing so, would not collect their full

pensions. The strategy of experimentation allowed them to maintain their seniority,

pension contributions, and teaching or principal positions for a one-year term to try and

make a successful attempt at their new aspirations without fear of being unemployed or

destitu

the wo

situatio

decision as to whether or not she or he was going to return to her or his educational life.

Almost all d

te if their career change failed. It also allowed them the freedom of returning to

rking life of education in the event that they did not like their new working

ns. Once the year of experimentation was over, every educator had to make a

ecided to stay in their new careers after they had been out of the education

system for their one year experiment (with the exception of the former teacher mentioned

above who took more than one sabbatical before eventually leaving permanently).

The combination of using a security strategy and having a supportive spouse help

to create a strong foundation from which career changers can engage in the proactive

pursuit of their new career goals. Without these supports in place it would be much more

difficult or discouraging for people to make the leap from thinking about or wanting to

make a change to actually going after what they want. Spousal support validates an

individual’s occupational desires and allows each person to reduce the feelings of

responsibility for providing for their families. The security measures that are drawn upon

take the long term pressure off the individual so that he or she can still feel that the family

will not suffer from his or her ventures.

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DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS

Deciding to make a career transition is often a complex and difficult decision.

There are many reasons to make a career change, as well as many factors that create an

underlying physical and emotional environment that makes people feel that it is time for a

change. The purpose of this chapter was to provide a snapshot of the conditions that

make work less desirable, as well as to identify the motivations for why people ultimately

decide to engage in a career change. I have also talked about the encouraging and

discouraging factors that go into the interviewees’ decision-making process as they

consider making a career change. Finally, some of the strategies for how people make

career changes were discussed, as well as the importance of interpersonal support and

security in making these shifts.

Making a career change is a complex process that involves the negotiation

between personal, professional, and interpersonal factors. There are many complicated

issues that are considered when deciding to commit to and engage in a career change.

These issues include the invasiveness of the job, a change in the collegial scene, the

manifestation of health-related concerns, a change in the bureaucracy of the education

system, the importance of spousal support, the fulfillment generated from the core tasks

of a job, the measures of security in place that minimize the risk of failure on individuals

and their families, and generally how work, finances, and family are all impacted by a

career change. Also, there are two key points to consider in this process of career

transition in addition to those just mentioned. First, the passage of time is important in

the transition because it plays a part in the rise and fall of the importance of the different

factors at the unsettling, decision-making, and actual career change transition stages.

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That being said, the overarching process of career change is not much different between

lawyers and educators. However, on an individual basis there is a diversity of paths

which

ging

careers

people can follow depending on their individual job situations, the structure of

their professions, and their personal situations.

To explain in greater detail, the unsettling underlying factors, motivations, and

triggers are all important for people to decide that a career change is desired. As

discussed in Chapter IV, every person in this study enjoyed his or her job in the early

years of practice. Over time various issues emerged that made the general work

experience less desirable, thus creating a situation where people had less commitment to

the job. For the majority, these issues were not sufficient to motivate a career change;

however they were significant in lessening the enjoyment and fulfillment of the job. The

underlying issues made their jobs less satisfying, and the added incentive created by the

motivations gave them the additional assurance necessary to proceed. If these underlying

factors were not present, these people may have had less reason to consider chan

. These people were then more open to the consideration of a career change once

the underlying factors had produced a situation of low occupational commitment. At this

stage the motivations to make a career change become more attractive because people are

no longer excited or passionate about their jobs. People are open to the potential of a

career change at this point because their commitment to their former jobs was unsettled.

Also, contrary to the literature, the importance of triggers is secondary in prompting

people to change careers. Instead, triggers act as solidifying events that reinforce the

decision to make a career change. In combination, the effect of the encouraging factors,

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the motivations to leave, and the triggers make for the development of a desire to explore

d be noted that the participants in this study are people

different possible career avenues.

In addition, the feelings of fear and anxiety about the perceived severity of the

discouraging factors are in many respects the ’what ifs’: ‘What if I fail?’ ‘What if my

family suffers?’ ‘What if I don’t have what it takes?’. The people in this study placed

minimal emphasis on the discouraging factors. However, this was not done intentionally.

Instead, for these people the potential of success far outweighed the potential of failure.

Also, the idea of remaining in their former careers was not appealing. Perhaps the

potential of reviving the feelings of fulfillment, challenge, enjoyment, and success that

these people had in the early years of their careers was enough of a payoff to make the

risk worth taking. Also, it shoul

who have made a successful career change. In hearing about their accounts

retrospectively, the discouraging factors may be downplayed by the participants because

they feel triumphant in their career shift.

In addition, the feelings of security and interpersonal support diminish the

perceived severity of the discouraging factors. The feelings of spousal support alleviated

some of the pressure of providing financially for their families. Having a spouse share

feelings of support regarding a career change was inspiring for the participants. Having a

spouse who has faith make people feel more confident that they can succeed in a new

venture. Feelings of security, whether it be financial security or job security, are also

important because they let people feel that they will not create hardship for their families

or themselves if they make changes. Security gives people a feeling that there is a safety

net in case of failure. In many cases the people felt that they could return to their old life-

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situations if things did not work out with their new ventures. The educators could go

back to work after their sabbaticals and the lawyers could still practise law because many

kept paying their dues to the Law Society. Also, having an adequate amount of financial

savings gave people the flexibility to make the transition from their first to second career

withou

growth becomes more desirable.

t suffering considerable financial hardship.

People often have changes in values when they decide to make a career change.

Whether they look for better work-life balance or want to leave a positive footprint on

society, people generally have a change in their outlook on life. However, having a

change in values does not prompt a career change. The development of different

principles may come about during the original job for some, but those principles do not

precipitate a career change. Instead, being unseated from one’s commitment to a job then

provides an opportunity for people to examine their lives and consider what changes they

would like to make. If people love what that they do, they will remain doing it. But if

the situation is not ideal, people may reconsider and re-evaluate all of the aspects of their

job and their life. Whether that be not spending enough time with family, not wanting to

do a job that has no positive impact on the world, or even not having enough time to

enjoy leisure activities, these desires and changing values may become more important in

people’s lives once they have reached a point in their careers where they no longer feel

that they have something to prove to themselves or to others. For some individuals, they

have enough assets that they can live comfortably on their income without having to

strive for more money. Once people reach this point in their lives where they have

enough money to live comfortably, other things that allow for higher levels of personal

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In many respects the data collected during this research show the two-way

interaction between the individual and the family. The desire to make a major change in

one’s l

ll the people in this study remained cognizant

of their

ife is a very inward-looking and introspective process. It involves acknowledging

that there is something missing, something is negative, or something within a person’s

life is out of balance. A person with a desire to change her or his life situation must then

figure out how to remedy the problem(s). If that means changing careers to pursue an

unrelated passion or to leave an unhealthy working environment, a person must then

figure out in which type of situation he or she would be happier. At this point people are

generally in positions where they have the desire to move to different jobs other than

their current occupations. Once this process has taken place within the individual, the

prospective career changers must engage their partners or spouses for the purpose of

creating a feasible and practical plan that will not endanger the family’s well-being.

Although making a career change can be individualistic, the process carries

serious implications for the family unit. A

roles and responsibilities as parents and husbands or wives. So, even though each

person had to make their career change based on their own interests (whether it was for

self-preservation, health issues, or following new interests or passions) he or she did not

forget that there would be implications for his or her family from this transition. This is

why it is so important to have spousal support and a security structure in place. By

having those measures in place, people who engage in career changes can do something

for themselves while still feeling like they are being good spouses and parents. The

closeness of the family and the direct impact that a career change has on their lives may

explain why the spouse and children have a much larger impact on encouraging a

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potential career changer to modify their working lives than other people who voice their

discouragement and apprehension (i.e. parents, friends, siblings). The lives of those

outsiders who offer their best advice (and often negative advice) do not have as large an

impact on the career changer’s decision (compared to a spouse and children) because the

person offering advice is not directly affected by the risk of trying a new occupation.

The transition from one career to the next is a complicated phase in a person’s

lifetime career. It involves risk, contemplation, discussion, and communication. It also

requires strength, commitment, and faith in one’s abilities. So what does it take to make

a career change? What are the benefits of making a career change? Do people see

themselves as better off from their first careers? How does a career change impact

people’s families? If they could do it again, would they make a career change?

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CHAPTER VI

THE NEW JOB

In the previous chapter I discussed the transitional phase of midlife career change.

This included a description of the underlying factors that unseat occupational

commitment to people’s careers, the motivations that pushed and pulled people to new

careers, and the securities and strategies that they negotiate when making an occupational

shift. In addition, I identified various encouraging and discouraging factors that influence

people’s decisions to engage in a career change.

As was seen in the previous chapter, the transition from the first career to the

second is a complex process that involves the contemplation and negotiation of many

different factors. The following chapter will provide a discussion of the participants in

their new jobs in terms of what types of employment they took up, as well as the reasons

for choosing those jobs. Also, the consequences of making a career change will be

identified in terms of the professional, personal, and family outcomes that emerge from a

successful midlife career change.

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WHERE THEY WENT AND HOW THEY GOT THERE

There was a myriad of new vocational positions that the respondents entered into.

With regard to this sample, there were people who took up such occupations as

professional guitarists, chief executive officers, hog farmers, physiotherapists, dog

groomers, and wealth management consultants. It is important to identify where these

people

People Holding High-Powered Positions

Seven people entered new careers that carry power and authority, and all are at

the heads of the organization for which they work. Specifically, there are three executive

directors, two chief executive officers, one general director for the arts, and one chairman

of a government regulatory body. Beyond this, it is interesting to see to what type of

organizations these people went. Of these seven people who are in positions of power

and influence, five are the heads of not-for-profit organizations, one leads a governmental

regulatory board, and one heads up a public company. This is of note because it ties in

with the recurring sentiment among the participants in terms of how they really enjoy the

feeling of making a positive societal difference through their work. Overwhelmingly,

these people were motivated to enter their new careers by the possibility of doing a public

good and feeling a sense of purpose from their work. One man who is the Executive

Director of a provincial lawyer assistance program said that he pursued his position

’s working lives took them and what ultimately made them choose to take up and

remain in their new positions. For the most part, there are two distinct forms of work that

people have entered. These areas are either positions of authority and power or jobs that

allow for more personal control and have ties to earlier interests. Interestingly, an equal

number of people from law and education fell into these respective categories.

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because of his desire to help other lawyers, as well as to make sense of the 12 years of his

life spent as a lawyer. His law career was riddled with episodes of moving into and out

of jobs and law firms because of stress, depression, and anxiety. His inner motivation to

do the lawyer assistance job was that he wanted to do something that he knew would

“feel right”, thus answering his per ure that a service was available to

help other lawyers overcome issues such as stress, anxiety, and drug abuse. The not-for-

profit avenue was a good choice for the people who followed it, because it allowed them

to use their experience and expertise to affect change on a large scale. These people liked

being agents of change and ha ork toward making a positive

difference for others. Another person who is the director of a large governmental oil and

gas organization said:

I’ve always taken a position in my career that I think one should work in the

and here [oil and gas organization] dictate that you keep the public interest in

interest. I’ve also in the course of my work up there [in Edmonton, Alberta] and

work in non-profit organizations, and I do. I continue to work with a social

board of that agency. I’m on the board of the Y[MCA] here and many other non- role in these organizations, and partly

because I want to contribute beyond the media view of the job that I have.

enjoy and dislike about their jobs. Four of them described how they enjoy working and

agues in order to solve problems and come up

sonal calling to ens

ving the power to w

public interest, and these jobs both in justice [where he was in his previous job]

mind because that’s part of our raison d’être, which is to work in the public

my work here [in Calgary, Alberta], because of these positions you’re invited to

service agency that I worked for many years in Edmonton and I am still on the

profit boards. I do them partly because my

As for the composition of this group, four men and three women entered high powered

positions. Specifically, five lawyers and two educators took up high-profile positions.

There are several other commonalities regarding what these high-ranking people

interacting with other people over the course of the day. First, these people talked about

how they enjoy working with their colle

124

with strategies. One CEO said that the best part of his job is getting to work with the

ng people

identified that learning was a major part of the enjoyment of their jobs. One of the

other people in his company. These people like being team players within their

organization, working together to solve problems, and creating visions for their

organization. Second, these respondents say they enjoy interacting with others outside of

their companies. Because they are the figureheads of their organizations, these people

are required to interact with all types of different people, including clients, volunteers,

performers, politicians, academics, and the media. The interaction and communication

with others is a fulfilling component of these people’s working lives.

Another occupational commonality among these people was that they loved

learning and the challenge of mastering knowledge. Four of the high-ranki

respondents said:

One of the best things that gets me out of bed in the morning is learning. There is a big learning curve at this job because I need to understand the research that goes on and be able to understand and communicate with researchers that are conducting research on a very narrow field. I need to understand what they’re talking about and relay that to others. So I learn a lot on the job.

As was discussed in the chapter on pre-change careers (Chapter IV), the challenge of

learning and mastering a new occupation brings about a great deal of fulfillment.

All of these people greatly enjoy the careers in which they are engaged. However,

there are still things about their new jobs that they dislike or that they would prefer to do

without, but these issues are annoyances rather than serious troubles. First, most of the

respondents who work in government and not-for-profit agencies complained about the

speed at which business is conducted. In their former professions, issues were dealt with

quickly, such as educators needing to deal with situations regarding their students or

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deadlines that lawyers needed to meet in regard to different cases. However, in their new

not-for-profit work environments there is a considerably slower pace at which business

happens. This is partly due to the bureaucracy of working with governments, working

within the system of academia, and having limited resources because of budgeting

constraints within not-for-profit organizations. Second, three people did not like the

amount of travel that their jobs require. Travelling is generally required to meet with

clients, colleagues in other cities, and stakeholders. Although these people do not mind

working once they get to their destinations, the time, effort, and energy required to travel

is something that they would prefer to do without. Third, although it was not a serious

issue, four people noted that they still work long hours. In fact, most of these people

identified that they work more hours than they did in their previous jobs. However,

respon

this for

works

the wo

their re ations.

s

dents do not feel resentful about having to work long hours. In fact, many echoed

mer lawyer turned Chairman of a regulatory board in saying: “any professional

long hours, it’s the nature of the beast. I don’t begrudge the time because I find

rk fascinating and I hope to be contributing something”.

One of the most interesting commonalities held by these high-level people is in

trospective understanding of how they ended up in their current work situ

Four of the people in high-powered positions can see that when they look back on their

careers there is a natural progression leading them to where they are. For them, it ha

been a combination of their formal and experiential education that has provided them

with the expertise as well as the opportunities to hold the high-ranking positions that they

do. For all of the people included in this category, they had no preconceived notions or

goals of reaching their current positions. However, they can see how their university

126

educations in law, engineering, business, and education have provided them with the

formal training necessary to be successful in their jobs. More importantly however,

according to the participants, the experiences that they had earlier in their careers

provided them with the knowledge and understanding to do their present jobs well, while

also making themselves known in their new fields. When it came time to appoint people

to those positions, their names were on the lists of candidates. For example, one woman

who is now the CEO of a women’s organization in Calgary had sat on that agency’s

Board of Directors in the 1980s. Another woman who is now the General Director of a

ajor

re is a tight similarity among the participants in their key motivations

for eng

position

long ho societal policy-

People Whose Jobs Follow Earlier Interests

Thirteen people entered new jobs because they were following earlier interests.

These people chose to do the jobs they are in now over anything else because of

established interests. For some people this meant pursuing a hobby or passion in a full-

time manner for pay, while for others it meant taking jobs that allowed them to have a

desired lifestyle or live in an area that was desirable. Each person had something that

m Arts organization in Alberta sat on several Boards of Directors for similar

associations. These people all felt that their formal education and experiences have made

them better able to do their jobs.

Overall, the

aging in their jobs, their likes and dislikes, and the ways they came into their

s. These people also enjoy their jobs tremendously; they work hard and work

urs. They hold tremendous influence in the community and on

making. In general, their work is challenging but makes them feel fulfilled.

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pulled him or her toward the new job, and every participant highly enjoys the work that

he or she now does.

Five people had earlier hobbies or interests that they turned into full-time paid

work. As discussed in the previous chapter, these hobbies were partly responsible for

pulling them toward their new careers. They are now extremely happy and passionate in

their new vocations. The new jobs and the people now engaged in them include two

former lawyers – one who is now a bluegrass guitar player and the other a university

professor of law, and three former educators – one former principal who is now a

motivational magician, a former teacher who is a dog groomer, and an ex-

teacher/guidance counsellor who is an investor and entrepreneur. For these people the

career change was fairly easy because they had both a dwindling desire to remain in their

former careers as well as an increased interest in pursuing their hobbies or interests on a

full-time basis.

Three people decided to follow their new careers in part because of an interest to

live in a specific area. One couple who used to be elementary school teachers took up

hog farming because they wanted to move to a rural area north of Calgary, Alberta. The

husband had taken some outdoors training and fell in love with the region. They were set

on living there and looked for business opportunities to get involved with so that they

could live where they wanted. They chose hog farming because a friend of theirs said

that they could potentially make money at it. The couple had little farming experience;

however they took on the challenge of running a farm of 2500 hogs. The other man who

pursued his new career did so partly because he wanted to move to Canada from

Northern Ireland. For him a lot of things came together that made him want to leave

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Ireland and come to Canada: he had been in the same place for 14 years, the politics in

Northern Ireland in the 1970s were “rotten”, and the weather was unpleasant. In addition,

he had some friends in Canada whom he had visited, and he loved the country. While

living in Belfast, he had a dream where he was walking through the streets of Victoria,

British Columbia. It was the early morning and he was carrying a briefcase going to his

office. He came to Canada with his wife and went to law school because he was not

granted entrance into the country as a teacher (he was overqualified as a teacher but

under-qualified as a university professor). While living in Victoria he recalled

remembering his dream years later and thinking “holy shit, this is actually happening!”

after having his dream five or six years previous.

The final five people entered their new careers because of interests that developed

through

ity professor

became interested in physiotherapy because his daughter was receiving treatment for an

d started talking to other people about it.

their life and career experiences. Over the years these people had experiences

that led to an interest in pursuing their current jobs. This includes one former lawyer who

was living as an expatriate, which led her to become a wealth management consultant for

other expatriates. She saw there was a need for someone to manage clients’ financial

portfolios while they were living outside of Canada. Also, a former univers

injury. He was curious about the profession an

The more he researched the profession the more he got excited about becoming a

physiotherapist. A former high school math teacher became a habitual graduate student

partly because she found a set of peers at the university who were interesting and

enjoyable to be around. This camaraderie filled a gap that she found was lacking in her

latter years as a teacher. She missed the collegiality of other interesting teachers like she

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enjoyed in her early years of teaching, and finding her peers and professors at the

university helped her find her place. All of these people developed interests over their

aching and doing research.

you’ve got camaraderie and that you laugh together and have fun together, it is a

life course through the experiences that they had. Through exploring different

experiences these people were able to find something that was a good personal fit for

them, which in turn has also made them happy in their jobs.

Similar to the people found in high-profile positions, these respondents have

similar reasons for enjoying their jobs. Overwhelmingly, the participants identified that

what they like best about their new careers is doing the job’s core activity. These people

find the central actions of their jobs to be highly enjoyable and fulfilling. For instance,

the hog farmers and dog groomer love engaging with their animals – central to their

fulfillment is being with the animals and tending to them. The motivational magician and

professional guitarist love performance, and love practising their crafts. The law

professor loves te

Many people also love the camaraderie of their colleagues and peers. The

professional guitarist said that within the music culture, musicians have much greater

levels of interdependency than do lawyers. He likes how they work together, cooperate,

and help each other. Another woman who is a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome specialist who

was a principal said that she really enjoys being in the school environment and the

relationships that she has developed with her colleagues. She no longer has the negative

aspects of her old job interfering with her life, while she gets to keep the collegiality of

teachers in her new role. Regarding camaraderie, one woman said:

It doesn’t matter what job you do, if you’re greeted happily and you find that

big factor. The teamwork is the most important; if you have people on your staff

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that you feel are working as a team… it doesn’t matter who it is… if you work

It is interesting to see how a positive collegial scene is important to these people in their

new careers, much like having positive collegiality was central to the enjoyment and

commitment in their pre-change careers.

Similarly, one of the things that these respondents dislike about their new jobs is

that they miss the relationships they had with their former colleagues. This sentiment

was expressed mostly by the lawyers, saying that they miss the social aspects of their jobs

such as having coffee or going for lunch together. Although these respondents often

interact with other people (e.g. clients), they mostly act as lo

well together it’s healthy! It’s huge in job satisfaction.

ne professionals, where most

of the respondents in this category are in

aspects of the high-profiled people’s jobs that were disliked were generally structural in

businesses where they work for and by

themselves. The implications of this situation are that the interviewees in their new jobs

work on their own most of the time and do not have a set of colleagues that they see on a

daily basis. This however was the only major dislike identified by the research

participants who are in new jobs because they pursued other interests. They all generally

enjoy their jobs and feel extremely fulfilled by the core activities of their work.

Overall, it is interesting to see these two different streams of occupations that

people pursued. Both new careers paths involved the utilization of the experiences of the

participants in order to allow them to find a new fulfilling job. In the case of the high-

profiled positions, these people employed their professional skills and experience in

positions where they could have a positive influence on their communities and on society.

The people who took new jobs that were related to developed interests used their leisure

and life experiences in order to enter into occupations that were good fits for them. The

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nature (slow pace of business, requirement of travel, long hours), and it is understandable

that the people who followed new career paths because of interest did not suffer from

these same factors since they have more control over their work, as they are often self-

employed. Being in control of their work means being able to set the terms of their

employment: how much they work, how quickly they work, and where they work. As a

result, they reduce those negative structural aspects of work.

CONSEQUENCES

There are many things in people’s lives that are affected by a career change. The

ultimate goal of making a career change is to alter a previous work situation in order to

engage in a new venture. The impact of a career change on people’s lives is tremendous,

and the change process affects all facets of their lives, including self perception, income,

and the amount of time spent working. The following section will describe the

conseq

ing, all the people in

this stu

experie

experience over a lifetime make people more valuable in the working world. Seven

uences of making a career change in three areas: professional, personal, and family.

Professional Consequences

Overall, making a career change means finding a better fit for one’s expertise and

work experience to maximize the personal fit between individuals and their jobs. Several

similar themes emerged from the interviews with participants in terms of the professional

consequences incurred by a career change. The most prevalent topic of discussion of

professional consequences concerned life-skills. Generally speak

dy feel that they are better able to do their new jobs because of their past

nces. One person called this the “economy of experience”, where maturity and

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people

success if they had not had their previous professional experiences.

skills transferability between people’s

first and second careers.

said explicitly that they would not be able to do their new jobs with as much

Further, many of the participants said that there is no such thing as a bad

experience; they have learned something new from everything they did earlier in their

careers. Part of this feeling stems from feelings of

For instance, a former teacher turned hog farmer said “A lot of

teachers want to get out of teaching, but think that they don’t know anything. They have

so many people skills. A lot of the skills that we [he and his wife] learned as teachers

have been transferable to our other jobs”. In farming, this man got involved in the

Alberta hog marketing board and was dealing with people. He and his wife had

employees to deal with, and the organizational skills and management of the barn and

money were important. He felt that these aspects of his job were easy for him, partly

because of the successful experiences he had as a teacher. Also, the business end of

teaching such as negotiating bureaucracy and interacting with colleagues and parents on a

professional basis gave him the confidence to start up buying real estate. He and his wife

now have several residential rental properties in a rural Alberta area and have also bought

a real estate agency. Another former teacher said that the skills he used in education –

team building and people skills – are used in the business world when he makes

entrepreneurial decisions. Part of his success is that he builds the same trust with his

business partners as he did with his students. One of the female ex-lawyers believes that

“You can draw from all things that you’ve learned and all the experiences that you’ve

had”. She believes that there are often times where she has found herself saying “Ah,

133

that’s why I met that person… that’s why I did that 20 years ago”, because she believes

that everything comes back and becomes relevant in the future.

Not a single person in this study said that their past experiences had hindered

them in their new careers. In some cases having their original careers allowed the

participants to be more successful in their new endeavours than if they had not had their

first careers. The motivational magician believes that without his credentials of formerly

being a principal, he would not be able to enter as many schools and perform. He

usker and wanted to go into schools, other principals would not

school system. The lawyer who became a professional guitarist said that he is glad that

ming a professional musician because he can play guitar

withou

t

believes that if he was a b

readily accept him because they would not trust him as an educator. Because he had 22

years as an educator, administrator, principal, counsellor, and because he “knows

schools”, he believes that principals are confident that when he comes into their schools

the program will be educationally sound, that he knows children and that he can keep

them under control. He also thinks there is a brotherhood among principals that makes it

easier for them to hire him. As a result, he does not regret any moment of working in the

he was a lawyer before beco

t being financially strapped. He said: “Unless I was really lucky, it would have

been a really difficult time being a musician right out of high school. Many musicians

have difficult lives, so I get two kicks at music”. His 25 years in law allowed him to

develop enough of a financial nest egg to live comfortably with the reduced income he

receives from playing guitar. He felt that if tha was not the case he would possibly

struggle financially as many of his musician-colleagues do who have been playing music

all their lives.

134

Overall, the people in this study felt that their previous professional, volunteer,

and per

younger than all the people there…. There were two other lawyers that were

reporting to me. They were more senior than I was and had been there longer

considered for the job and weren’t given the job. Within the executive group I was the youngest, where the next youngest was probably 41.

sonal experiences gave them life-skills that allowed them to be more successful in

their new careers than if they had not had those experiences. For some people, their past

experiences steered them toward their new careers. For others, the importance and

impact of these past experiences were not felt until they were engaged in their new jobs.

What is important is that every person felt that they took away good life-lessons and

developed positive life-skills from their original careers that were useful in their new jobs.

Another professional consequence, felt mostly by the people who pursued

professional careers or jobs within existing organizations, was their feeling that their

professional confidence was shaken by being in a new position. People mostly talked

about how they initially felt that they lacked the skills to do their new jobs. It took many

of the participants considerable time before they felt that they could be effective and

successful in their new jobs. For many, especially the people who took on high-profile

positions, they found that there was a lag-time between the start of their new career and

when they felt competent in doing the job. For some people this meant feeling unsure of

their negotiations within the culture of the workplace. When one man started his job for

a logistics company he felt that becoming part of a team and interacting with the other

people at work was hard. He said:

Anytime you’re with a new group of people there’s a dynamic there, I was way

there already that were in their forties that I was in charge of and who were

than I was. They were both really talented people and in the end they were

135

Having to negotiate being younger, having to manage existing employees in his

department who did not get his position, and having to find his place within the

efore I would have made any serious decisions of any sort I would have been at least six months. In that six-month time frame I went to absolutely

organization were difficult for him. It took time to become comfortable, and he said that

over time he was welcomed into the company and is now pleased with the people he

works with.

For other people the upsetting of confidence came from being immersed in a field

unrelated to their first career. Three people said that there was a huge learning curve that

had to be overcome before they felt comfortable in making decisions and being effective

in their positions. One woman who was a principal and is now a Chief Executive Officer

for a not-for-profit organization said that it took her a long time to see her transferable

skills and how they would fit into her new job. It was such a new environment for her,

which made for a big learning curve. It took her about a year to see which of her

strengths were transferring. There was a shaking of confidence in leaving one place

where she had a really strong sense of her success and strength to going into something

new and being unsettled by it. She said that she did not like that feeling, although she

kept quiet about that and calmed herself about it. To manage it, she used positive self-

talk and sought advice and support. Now she can see the transferable skills, but it took

some time to see their overlay. She imagines this is common in a transition, where it

takes time because people have to develop an understanding of their new job context.

She believes: “When you change completely from one area or sector to something

completely different, it takes you longer to figure out the new place”. Another man who

was in a position of power said:

I think b

136

everything I could go to. There are a lot of invitations that come to this office from various groups for lectures or to social gatherings or to meetings, and I went

down absolutely nothing in that six months, during which time I got a little

started to make some decisions after about six months. But probably to answer

probably close to two years.

three times a week. Swimming was her

primary source of exercise as well as stre

could d

pool on

compu

terms of being able to set how long they work, control the flexibility of when they work,

to everything. From six o’clock in the morning to 11 o’clock at night I turned

familiarity with what was going on and got to meet a lot of the people, then

the question more precisely, to become comfortable with the position, it was

As can be seen from these accounts, the time it takes to feel comfortable in a job is

significant. Considering all of the things that it takes to master a job, it is not surprising

that these people felt insecure in making decisions early in their appointments. They did

eventually see why they were selected for their positions, but it took time for them to

develop the self-confidence needed to take on the full responsibility of their positions. It

is important to note that these people were also very eager and interested to learn their

new positions. This often involved learning and understanding highly technical

information, learning the social and cultural field in which they were working, and

developing an understanding of what was expected of them. Every person that described

this situation said it was a positive, although unsettling, experience.

Two other professional consequences were brought up in conversation with the

research participants. In general, they found that they had lower work stress as opposed

to their first careers, but worked longer hours in their current jobs. One woman said that

when she was a principal she would swim

ss relief, and it was the one activity that she

o where she would not think about work. In her new position she has a swimming

the premises, but her stress level is lower, making it so that she does not feel the

lsion to swim. Other people felt that they had more control over their work in

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and control the people with whom they interact. These people said that possessing the

control over their working lives allowed them to minimize their stress because they were

setting the terms for their work.

It is interesting to note that no participants indicated higher stress levels in their

new work positions, whether they are self-employed or hired on to a new position in a

er change. One woman said that she made six career

change

larger organization. However, only four people out of 20 indicated that they work fewer

hours in their new careers than they did in their previous employment. Generally

speaking, people work as many or more hours in their new careers than they did in their

old professions. This is surprising, especially considering the amount of time most of the

former lawyers and principals worked. Although most people work longer hours than in

their first careers, most feel that they now have more flexibility in scheduling their time.

As mentioned previously, these people feel that they are in control of their working lives,

and as a result, are able to schedule when they will work depending on their work and

non-work agendas.

The final professional consequence that was discussed by many of the participants

was how they experienced a change in income. Eight people indicated that they took a

pay cut because of the transition from first to second career. However, four of those eight

people also indicated that they were sufficiently wealthy that income was not a factor in

making a career change (as discussed in Chapter V, these people either had financial

security through investments and savings or had a spouse who made a sufficient income

so that they did not have to work). Conversely, 12 people indicated that they had an

increased income from their care

s over her working life, and every time she increased her earnings. Another

138

woman

lobbyis

especia

making a career change. The respondents saw the value in their past experiences, felt

stem from a career

change

said that she increased her earnings by $20 000 a year since taking her job as a

t. Overall, making a career change was a good financial move for many people,

lly for the educators.

This section has identified many of the professional repercussions that stem from

unsettled in their new jobs for a period of time, experienced lower work stress, worked

longer hours but had greater control over their work, and generally made more money.

Overall, many of the negative aspects of people’s former jobs were remedied by making

a career change, or the negative aspects directly related to work were reduced in these

new employment situations. Professional hardship was not incurred by a career change,

although many people did find it an uncomfortable process at the beginning of their new

careers because they needed to settle in to their new positions.

Personal Consequences

Along with consequences in people’s working lives that

, people’s personal lives are also altered. Every person in this study said that they

are now generally happier because of making a radical occupational shift. They have

been successful in moving from one career to the next and feel that they are doing what

they want to do as work. One woman described not only being happier, but also being

funnier and felt that she was generally a better person. Another woman said that after

being out of teaching for two years, people started telling her that she looked ten years

younger. Another woman said that she feels happier as a university professor now versus

being a lawyer, which is good for her family life. Overall, people felt that they were

more passionate about their work, were happier in general, and enjoyed what they were

139

doing. They believed that their happiness transferred into all parts of their lives, making

their personal, family, and working lives better.

There are several other personal consequences that have been identified by the

researc

image was never directly tied to her job title. For the six people who

h participants. These effects enormously influence the lives of these people in

terms of how they see themselves, how they view their old jobs, and how they live their

lives. For many people there was a shift in their identity, ego, and prestige. For those

who identified themselves through their occupational status, changing careers caused a

huge gap between who they thought they were and who they were becoming. In many

respects changing jobs also meant changing one’s identity because, through redefining

their occupational positions, they were also redefining their selves.

Six people explicitly talked about how their identities were affected because of

their career changes. Many others discussed how their lives have changed and how they

have changed. Only one person said that her identity did not change, and this was due to

the fact that her self-

did view themselves as having different identities in their post-career change occupations,

several interesting findings emerged.

Three of the six people now identify themselves primarily through their second

careers. These people have since either retired or moved on to other ventures after

working two decades in their businesses, but they still identify themselves to others as

what they did in their second careers. After over twenty years, the hog farmer went back

to teaching band at the high school in rural Alberta because, as he says, the band program

was pitiful and his sons’ musical gifts were not being nurtured. He knew that he could do

the job (because of his teaching experience of leading school bands), so he took it on

140

part-time while also maintaining his hog farm. During that period and after he sold the

farm, he still identified himself solely as a hog farmer. Leading the band was something

that he did but it was not what defined him. Another woman said that leaving teaching

how much complaining

teachers did. She developed a much lower opinion of teachers once she got out of

r educator-identity and crafted her self-

age around being a lobbyist. She now identif

changed her identity. She realized that she was not well-respected as an elementary

school teacher by other people in the community (once she got into adult education). She

also took time off from working to raise her family. She said that she lost a lot of her

self-confidence and sense of identity because she was ‘only a mom’ after leaving

teaching; people treated her differently than when she would get dressed up for meetings.

Because of this, it was hard to get back into the workforce. She lost her tenacity when

she went back to work. She felt unsure as to whether she could teach again after being

out of the education system for so many years. It took her a long time to get back into the

swing of working. She learned a lot. She was amazed at

education and into lobbying. She dropped he

im ies herself only as a retired lobbyist.

Generally speaking, the respondents did not feel that their egos suffered from

making a career change. However, two people did say that they felt a shift in their level

of prestige from making a career change. One woman left law and took a sales job with a

company that sold law-related products (this was a multi-year career before she got into

wealth management). She said that it was a tremendous blow to her ego to take that

position. She went from a position where meetings would not start until she got there to a

position where she would sometimes wait for clients for an afternoon and then would be

turned away because they were too busy to meet with her. She felt that there was a lot of

141

pride and ego that was swallowed in this new job. Another former lawyer said that

becoming a university professor was a step up in her prestige level because she had

previou

s. One dog groomer

when she and her husband were first married and

she wa

sly been a part-time lawyer. She communicated that being a part-time lawyer is

the bottom of the hierarchy of lawyers. As a result, when she went into another job her

status went up. In addition, she said that lawyers are people for whom brains matter, and

being a professor holds that same status. She now has more pride and is better received

at functions where she talks with lawyers.

Interestingly, two of the people discussed how they will always identify

themselves as educators before talking about their new jobs because, although they enjoy

their new jobs, there are benefits to holding onto their old identitie

said that she often attends medical conferences with her husband who is a doctor. She

stated that she will always establish that she is a retired teacher when being introduced to

people before she talks about dog grooming. She says there are no accolades or respect

in dog grooming, although it does bring with it a pleasant lifestyle. She wants people to

take her seriously, and that is why she identifies herself as a teacher. She also mentioned

that her situation now feels much like

s working as a secretary. She felt embarrassed to say that she was ‘only a

secretary’ when they went to doctor-hosted parties. The other person who still identifies

himself as an educator is the motivational magician. As discussed previously, he says

that having been a principal in the past still defines him. He tells people that he is a

former principal when making business calls. In that way he uses it as a marketing tool,

but he also considers himself a principal because that is what he was. He sees himself in

his new occupational role as an educator, a motivator, and a motivational speaker. He

142

also discussed how difficult his new job was at the onset of his new career because he felt

guilty about not going to his school or commuting to a job. He no longer had the

physical requirements of going to a job that defined who he was. In his new job he feels

that he is only accountable to himself, and it is odd not having to go to school every day.

He has since overcome those feelings; however he still defines himself as a principal,

partly because it gives him credibility in his new role.

For these participants, there were varying shifts in their identities, their feelings of

prestige, and their egos because of a career change. For them, perceptions of pride and

prestige either increase or decrease depending on how they view the differential in

prestige associated with the first and second careers. For instance, the person who went

from being an elementary school teacher to being a dog groomer felt that her socio-

occupational position had decreased. In contrast, going from a part-time lawyer to a

university professor made that woman feel that her position in the hierarchy of

occupations had increased. Thus, the views of prestige of the jobs that people leave and

then take up have a significant impact on how they see themselves through their identities,

level of prestige, and the amount of pride that they have for their work.

The final personal consequence identified by many of the participants focused on

their development of an inward life-focus. Similar to claims made in the literature

(O’Connor & Wolfe, 1991; Jung, 1971; Hill & Miller, 1981; Krantz, 1977; Gould, 1978),

seven people expressed that they have developed a different focus to their lives in terms

of not being driven by money, social prestige, and climbing the corporate ladder. This

was a broad theme for many of the participants, even if they did not explicitly identify

this inward focus. What these people described was a shift in their values, where the first

143

part of their lives was focused on proving themselves in their jobs by accumulating

material possessions and increasing their positions at work. In contrast, during midlife

the participants found that they were not as interested in the goals that drove them earlier

in life. They are now interested in doing things that they enjoy and not being bothered by

things that they view as pointless. As one woman said, she climbed mountains earlier in

life, and now she can do what she really wants. This sentiment was found in most of the

interviews. These people identified that they are not concerned with what others think of

them.

of 40 you get your education, work through the system, etc. But the second half

someone else (or choosing where you want to work), follow your own journey

I’ve always wanted to live in.

people now that they are in their new occupational positions. They also felt that their

Instead, they prefer to focus their energies on hobbies and doing work that gives

them a sense of purpose and inner fulfillment. One research participant explained this

phenomenon through citing a book he had just read called Half Time: Changing Your

Game Plan from Success to Significance (Buford, 1994). He said:

Many people can be successful, but Bob says this is the first half: up until the age

is the best half, where you should be living your passion, not working for

and passion. [The] second half is significance: where I’m living in the area that

He was passionate about being a teacher and teaching, but he is now free to creatively

live his passion and control what and how he wants to teach.

These people found that they no longer identified themselves through their work

and were no longer interested in being controlled by their careers. Their second careers

(and the future in general) are open for them to explore personal and professional

interests as well as to maximize the enjoyment that they get from their work.

By and large, the interviewees felt that serious changes occurred on a personal

level as a result of their career changes. People felt that they were happier and better

144

egos, identities, and levels of prestige had changed, increasing for some, and decreasing

for others. People were also more interested in focussing on what they wanted to do

instead of working for other people and doing things that they did not feel were necessary.

This inward focus allows them to prioritize their time to spend it on their hobbies and

interests. This is not to say that these people work less, as this is not the case. For many,

the work that they do in their new careers is something they really enjoy. As such, it is

not jus

tions, produced ha

son’s school for parent-teacher interviews. A teacher stopped us who had taught

t a job per se, but is more something that they want to do that also pays them an

income.

Family Consequences

Although the people who participated in this study considered how their change

would affect their family, the impact their career change would have on their family was

not of serious concern when they made the decision to leave. However, making a midlife

career change brought about a series of unintended benefits for the families of these

former professionals. The most noteworthy benefit was that by having a different job

that these people really liked, they also felt different as people, which according to their

percep ppier families.

Most people, whether they were former lawyers or educators, said that their

personalities changed a great deal: they became happier and more passionate adults.

Everyone enjoyed their new work, whether it was being the head of a non-profit

organization, a physiotherapist, or a pig farmer. One former principal, now CEO of a

large not-for-profit organization reported:

That extra emotional and mental energy goes through my entire family life. In grade ten [her son], when I was in my new job, me and my husband went to our

145

our son twice in a row, so he knew him pretty well. The teacher asked how my

really happy about it. I didn’t realize. The teacher said that our son seems so

the teacher and believed it to be true because my son is really emotional and

settled. He had really benefited from me having more time for my son and being

presence.

People’s senses of accomplishment and self-esteem soared because of the success each

person felt in accomplishing their vocational transition. As a result, every person

described having more mental, emotional, and physical energy at home. Even though

parents were always present in their children’s lives during their former careers, the

people interviewed were proud to say that they had become more engaged parents. This

change in mood and connection was felt to have echoed through ent

new job was going. I said it was great. The teacher told me that my son was

much more relaxed and at ease. That really set me back on my heels. I believed

really attuned to me... It was very interesting to know that my son was more

emotionally more present. I couldn’t believe myself, the change in my mental

ire families.

good ro

both a

positive values in their children by providing a good example. One woman who became

a national lobbyist would often take her children to Ottawa when she went on business

trips. She would introduce her daughters to politicians and labour bosses and would take

them to the parliament buildings. It was important for her to show her daughters that she

was not just “mom”, but that she had a great job that made a difference. Another

example comes from a former lawyer who is now an Executive Director of a water

research organization; he reported that one thing that is important to show his children is

to be paid in a meaningful way to do a job. “It costs money to work, so you have to make

something at it, and it’s important from our perspective to have a meaningful job as far as

Another interesting result was how important it was for these individuals to be

le models for their children. People followed occupational paths that gave them

sense of passion and a sense of purpose. It was important to these people to instil

146

our kids are concerned because you have to lead by example. Even if you can afford to

sit around the house, you’re not setting a good example for your children”. As discussed

previously, one ex-band teacher even returned to teaching after being a pig farmer for

more than twenty years because the band program at his sons’ school was in disarray. He

wanted to make sure that his sons had a positive musical experience, partly because his

son was a very gifted trumpet player. He did not want to go back to teaching at all, but

he knew that he could rebuild a successful band; ensuring that his sons had a positive

band experience was paramount. In short, being positive role models and attempting to

give children positive life-skills was of great importance to all the parents in the study.

d now have teenage or adult children

rst careers.

ren. In many ways the adults who make a

career

Many of the people who were interviewe

who are less engaged with the family. Most people described their children as ‘being off

doing their own thing’, which was acceptable because many people worked long hours in

their new jobs anyway. As such, the majority of respondents spent less time with their

families since they made their career change and also worked more than in their past

careers. People did however have more flexible schedules that allowed them to be

available when their children were around. The time that was spent with their children

was also of better quality than during their fi

As discussed previously, the positive implications for the family of making a

career change are often not considered by people who are thinking about making a career

change. The career change is something that is done to remedy a work situation in which

an individual no longer wishes to be. As they perceive it, this self-focused decision has

many positive repercussions for their child

change feel that they become better parents. It was sometimes the case that the

147

family

taking

change

meanin

situatio terviewees did not translate into what the research participants thought

en they

are in t

had a reduced income which translated into financial situations that involved not

elaborate family vacations, or not living in as large a house. Making a career

also meant that parents often worked longer hours than in their previous positions,

g that there was less overall time to spend with children. However, the work

ns of the in

of as being bad parents. The men and women included in this study feel that they are

extremely dedicated parents who hold the well-being of their children as a top priority.

These adults may work long hours in their new jobs, but it is because they

thoroughly enjoy what they are doing. The work in which the adults are engaged is

generally enjoyable. These occupational features translate into children having happy

and passionate parents who are emotionally, mentally, and physically engaged wh

he home. They were engaged in new careers that they felt passionate about and

that were meaningful and/or purposeful. These parents were really pleased with this

aspect of work because they were acting as positive role models for their children (e.g.,

by instilling a strong work ethic in their children), while also showing how making

positive choices and taking risks can lead to a happier life. Interestingly, every person

reported being close to his or her children (whether the children were adults or still

dependents) and all of the people included in this study were married to their long-time

partners and have never been divorced. Overall, one of the major implications of this

research is that a parent and spouse who is happy in their job and who is doing what he or

she wants to come to be perceived as being a better husband or wife as well as a better

and more engaged parent. In other words, being happy and passionate about one’s work

148

is perceived to be better for the family than remaining in a job that is disliked in order to

be a good provider.

In general, the people who participated in this study felt that their family

situations got better because of their career changes. Although all the people who had

families said that they were close, feeling happier and more engaged made them feel that

their families were brought closer together. The quantity of time spent with each other

was not necessarily as much as before the career change, but the quality of the time spent

was much better afterwards. Family was very important to every person in this study,

and in many regards the career change was thought to have made family relations better.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS

As described in previous chapters, there is a diversity of reasons and motivations

for undertaking a career change. Also, the strategies and measures of security that are

implemented to maximize the likelihood of a successful occupational shift have been

identified as instrumental. The purpose of this chapter was to discuss the outcomes and

consequences of a successful career change. As discussed in this chapter, there were two

main occupational streams that people followed for their second careers: high-profile

positions and interest-based jobs. For the most part, the people who took on high-

profiled positions stayed the course of an upward occupational trajectory. Although these

people changed fields, they took on positions that could be seen as cross-field promotions,

because they took on unrelated occupational positions based on feelings that it was time

for a change. They had a desire to make a difference, and they made a change when the

opportunity to do this presented itself. They are in senior management positions and hold

149

a large degree of clout within their organization and in the community. These are people

who are in positions of power.

The other stream of respondents pursued jobs that were focused on previous

interests. These occupational shifts were more radical than those leading to positions of

power because they did not necessarily follow an upward course of advancement.

Instead, these people often began working as independent businesspeople who turned

interests or hobbies into full-time positions. They are in control of their work and take

pride in

careers. They are happy and enjoy their work. They may not see their families as much

how their success is largely due to their own hard work and determination. They

enjoy doing things their way and not being constrained by bureaucracy to the extent that

they were in their previous careers.

It is interesting to see the similarity between the two streams of people in terms of

what they like and dislike about their jobs. All of the people in this study said that they

enjoy the core activities of their new jobs and like feeling that they are doing a job that

has more of a positive impact on either their own lives or on society than did their first

careers. Generally speaking, they enjoy their work as a challenge and find that learning

is a key aspect of their jobs. Whether it is learning to interpret academic reports on water

conservation or learning new styles of cuts for grooming dogs, all of these people enjoy

and see the value of life-long learning. When the research participants were asked what

they disliked about their new careers, many were hard-pressed to give an answer to this

question. In many cases they said that they missed their former colleagues, however that

was not a serious point of contention. From talking with the interview participants, it

appeared that the negative aspects of their earlier jobs have been remedied by changing

150

as they would like, but they feel that they are positive role models for their children and

they appreciate having the flexibility to take time off work when they need to in order to

professional elements that were present in their former careers as well as to find a new

ew values. Once the career change is carried

spend time with their families.

In general, these people are passionate about their work because they love what

they do. There is a connection between the three consequential areas discussed in this

chapter: professional, personal, and familial. The evidence presented in this chapter

shows a broad and substantial increase in individual happiness and well-being, where an

increase in the enjoyment, fulfillment, and commitment in one sphere affects the others.

In many respects the career change is made in order to minimize negative personal and

job that is congruent with the respondents’ n

out, the negative factors of the original career are minimized because people have

pursued a job that they want to do that fits with their new values and desired lifestyle.

They feel re-invigorated, enthusiastic, and passionate to be in their new jobs. However,

this excitement also ripples through the other spheres and affects people’s sense of self

and their families. All three spheres of their lives are more in line with their values, goals,

and priorities than they were before they made a career change. They are doing what

they want to do in their work, and that carries a significant impact in shaping the context

in which the rest of life unfolds. In sum, these people are now more passionate workers,

more dedicated, excited parents, and happier people.

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CHAPTER VII

SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS

Seeing midlife career change as a fluid process is something that has not been

studied in a similar manner as done here since the late 1970s. Since then, the world of

work has changed because of things such as the widespread inclusion of women in the

professional world and the integration of computer technology into the workplace. The

purpose of this study was to provide a current foundational account of the phenomenon of

voluntary midlife career change of lawyers and educators to gain a further understanding

of the motivations, processes, and consequences of making a radical occupational shift.

Information collected through one-on-one interviews with men and women who have

made a successful career change was used to identify the motivations and factors that

were required to prompt people to make a career change, to discuss the transitional

process through which people negotiated their career shift, and the consequences of their

successful occupational shift. The purpose of this chapter is to link the myriad topics

discussed throughout this project, to examine the implications for organizations, and

152

identify future areas of research to further the concatenation of knowledge regarding

career change, midlife, and professionals.

This study has explored the career change of two professions: law and education.

For the

One aspect of career change that must be recognized is that people tend to go full

circle in terms of what they look for in their new jobs. Nearly all of the people in this

study were happy, fulfilled, and committed to their original careers in education and law

most part, there were few substantive differences that separated the experiences

of the educators from the lawyers. Generally speaking, the respondents were all looking

for the same things from their work: enjoyment, fulfillment, a friendly work environment,

and the opportunity to engage in interesting and varied work. The evidence presented in

this study suggests that although there are profession-specific structural factors that

influence people’s working lives, for the most part these professionals are people looking

to achieve a common set of intrinsic rewards from their work.

Career change in its most basic sense is about being happy and fulfilled in a job.

Specifically, career change is the vehicle by which people strive to achieve an invigorated

or reinvigorated sense of happiness and excitement from new job opportunities. This is a

complicated process during which people must negotiate difficult decisions that affect

their livelihoods, their identities, and their family’s financial security. Many earlier

studies have examined career change in a fragmented manner, focusing on specific parts

of the process of making an occupational shift. However, this research shows that we

must look at career change from start to finish as a continuous process in order to truly

understand why people want to upset their old work situations in order to pursue new

career paths.

153

during their first years of practice. They felt challenged and intellectually stimulated by

their work, they enjoyed the collegial scene and interacting with clients or students, found

their work environments to be positive, enjoyed learning on the job, were passionate

about making a difference in the world, and found enjoyment in doing the core activities

of their jobs. These were happy people and successful young workers.

This begs the question: what happened to these people that would make them

want to leave jobs that they enjoyed? The answer is that time played an important role in

unseating people’s devotion to their original careers. There were a number of conditions

that changed as particip were external, such as

changes in bureaucracy or the collegial scene that pushed people to leave. Others were

internal, such as the realization that their jobs were not what they wanted to do for the

rest of their lives, that other interests were pulling them towards other occupational

streams, or that they no longer wanted to be consumed by their work. Something was

different, either within the structure of their business, their perceptions of their

occupation after experiencing it for several years, or something had changed within

themselves that pushed them to start looking elsewhere for new jobs with different

rewards. Some respondents found themselves drifting toward other ventures through an

organic progression where new doors opened up, thus creating new opportunities and

different ventures. Overall, there was an underlying trend, where over time people’s jobs

became routine and they were no longer challenged by what they were doing. They

enjoyed doing their jobs but were not as passionate as they were in the early stages of

their careers. In other words, they were content in their jobs, but were no longer fully

satisfied by or committed to their first careers.

ants went on working in their jobs. Some

154

Also, over the course of their lives, the priorities of the participants changed, to

where they valued different things than when they first started. Many had acquired

sis for pay or engaging in

ing these desirable qualities in their new jobs was enough of a personal

considerable experience, financial security, prestige, and assets to the point where they no

longer felt the need to strive for the next promotion or raise. These people had climbed

the occupational mountain by the time they reached midlife, and they no longer felt the

need to prove themselves through their financial, material, and occupational

accomplishments. Many had enough savings, which meant that they no longer had to

work jobs that provided sizeable salaries in order to provide for their families. At this

stage they were more interested in following career options that actually interested them.

Whether those interests were pursuing hobbies on a full-time ba

a new occupational position, these people were able to look for something else.

The comparison between the likes and dislikes of the participants’ first and

second careers is telling. In terms of going full circle, the evidence presented in Chapters

IV and VI show that people wanted the same things from their new jobs as they had in

the early years of their old jobs. Specifically, it was the intrinsic rewards that these

people yearned for: they wanted a reinvigorated sense of challenge, to find a job where

they could continue learning, to express their stronger passion for making a difference in

the world, and to feel the intellectual stimulation that came from engaging in the core

activities of their new careers. Because the respondents thoroughly enjoyed their new

careers, attain

reward to offset working more hours than they did in their first careers. Although they

found themselves doing different things in their first and second careers, the rewards they

desired from their work remained the same. These people had more experience,

155

knowledge, and financial security at the time of their occupational shift, however they

still want to be challenged, rewarded, and invigorated by their work in the same way as

when they first started working after university.

The link between personal and professional life is also of major importance.

Many of these people identify themselves through their work. It gives them a sense of

ge, considerations about the implications

purpose, a sense of passion, and a sense of enjoyment. In many respects career change is

linked with identity. This change helps people redefine themselves through an active and

empowering process of identifying what it is that they want from life, and going out and

getting it. Although some people did not say that their identities were directly tied to

their jobs, the confidence, enthusiasm, passion, and enjoyment that they achieved through

their success in their new careers played into shaping these confident, self-assured,

dynamic middle-aged people. Most people identified that they would continue working

even if they did not need the money from work (which was the case for many of them),

and most of the participants do not see themselves retiring in the near future. Most of the

people in this study continue working because it is part of who they are and what they do.

The two are intimately connected because what they do is who they are and who they are

is what they do. They identify with their work, they feel fulfilled by what they do, and

they enjoy it.

Beyond this, the relationship between family, interpersonal support, and career

change is of great interest in this study. For most of the research participants, the

decision to make a career change was an introspective process. As discussed previously,

there were issues that unseated people’s commitment to their original jobs which led

them to contemplate a career change. At this sta

156

of a ca

ift. This

view o

reer change on the family were not taken into account to a great extent by the

participants. The early stages of deciding to make an occupational shift were focused on

finding solutions to remedy unpleasant working conditions that were affecting the

individual’s personal and professional well-being. It was not until the desire to make a

career change was in people’s minds that their families became instrumental in the

decision to commit themselves to something new.

To begin, for those who were in relationships, spousal support was fundamental in

making a career change. People’s spouses offered support and guidance, but most

importantly provided assurance to their partners that it was alright to take a chance and

risk upsetting the family’s situation. This view of support was required by most people

before they could take the plunge and commit themselves to a radical career sh

f a spouse offering support to and engendering confidence in the potential career

changer was so important that most people said that they would not have made a career

change if their partners had not given them the go-ahead. Once the feeling of support

was in place between partners, the career changers felt that their family situations would

be alright no matter what the outcome.

This is not to say that the respondents completely ignored the implications for

their families. There were worries about maintaining an adequate level of financial

support for families, but there was not much discussion among the research participants

as to their concern of how taking a risk or making a career change would affect their

families. It is understandable that family-related factors did not play a huge role in

discouraging these people’s decision to make a career change. Making a career shift is

about remedying and re-invigorating the self. The benefits on the family of making a

157

career change are tremendous, but generally unintended. Rather, people are more

engaged with their families after they have gone through a career change and feel that

they are now better parents. They see themselves as positive role models because of the

types o

a sense of adventurousness to take the leap and have faith that everything

will tur

f work they do. People may work more, but their work schedules are more

flexible, meaning that it is easier for them to attend important events in their children’s

lives such as by coaching and watching their children play organized sports, attending

music concerts, going to parent-teacher interviews, or being able to take more family

vacations. All of the people in this study felt they were close to their children and were

involved parents. Their career changes allowed them the flexibility to be around when

their children needed them and also made them feel that they were better parents because

they were more physically, mentally, and emotionally present when spending time with

their families. In general, the spheres of work and family are intimately connected in part

because of the interplay between career satisfaction and role as both spouse and parent.

So what does it take to make a career change? This question was asked during the

interviews, and the research participants responded with similar ideas about what

character traits were necessary, as well as certain specific circumstances that needed to be

in place. First, people said that making a career change requires courage. It takes a

strong will and

n out for the better. Conversely, participants also said that people need a certain

degree of naivety about what they are getting themselves into. Pursuing a new career is

not so much about trying to achieve a new occupational position, it is more about chasing

the possibility of a better, more challenging, and re-invigorated work situation. This

requires a degree of open-mindedness and flexibility in the vision of a future career. This

158

‘make it work’ mentality is essential because it allows people the openness to pursue

opportunities as they materialize. Some people said that they saw many of their friends

and colleagues who seemed “locked in” to following the same track, and as a result they

did not venture far from what they were used to. People also commented that it takes

passion and self-directedness to chase a dream or desired outcome. A bit of financial

padding always helps, and as the participants observed, padding is important for reducing

the fina

tter how much security is in place. The internal

debate

ncial pressures while negotiating the transition between careers. Related to this,

the participants identified how making a conscious decision not to get wrapped up in the

financial and material trappings of high paying jobs is essential. Many people said that

financial security is a major reason for not pursuing a career change, even if people are

dissatisfied in their jobs.

Being a risk-taker was also identified by participants as an essential character trait

in making a career change. There is risk involved in making a shift. There are some

things that reduce the severity of perceived risk, such as family and spousal support,

monetary support, a career to go back to, and certain character traits that have been

identified, but there is always risk no ma

focuses partly on weighing the security of staying in a career versus the potential

for invigoration from getting excited and passionate about a new career. People must ask

themselves whether the potential gain is worth risking the security and predictability of

the life that they have and know. If it is not, they may remain in their first career

positions, whereas if the potential is great enough, they may decide to chase down a new

occupation. Perhaps the risk is weighed differently for people, depending on the degree

to which they identify themselves through their occupational positions and the successes

159

they achieve within those jobs. For many people, work plays into the development of

identity, as well as into their sense of values and accomplishment.

This chapter, as well as this study on the whole, talks about how people actively

pursue enjoyment, passion, and fulfillment from their jobs. These people are inspiring

because they were in life situations that were less than ideal for them and decided that it

was time to make some changes. The career change process is by no means a small

endeavour. The repercussions of being uprooted from one career to move to another

constitute a tremendous undertaking that has an effect on every part of their lives and

families. This study is about doing what it takes to be happy. Every person in this study

found his or her own unique version of happiness. Whether that involved working in

leadership roles or working as an entrepreneur, following a passion or wanting to be in a

healthy work environment, these people took a chance and made a change. When asked

if they would do their career change again, every single person said that they would

absolut

interested in people, in society, and how society operates. If you are you won’t

get tired, because you will get tired if you work hard, and it doesn’t mean at times

slug it out in the office for another 12 or 14 hours. But once you get there it’s

ely make the change. Some people talked about how there are certain moments in

life when people make decisions; the answers come easily and they have the strength to

carry them out. Others talk about how there is nothing to be gained if risks are not taken.

Many people also talked about the need for a positive outlook. One man said:

You have nothing ahead of you but fun if you treat it that way. You’ve got to be

find any time in your life that’s down. It doesn’t mean that you don’t eventually

that you won’t feel that you won’t wake up and feel like you’ve got to go in and

fascinating.

Making a career change is not just about remedying negative aspects in people’s working

lives. It is about taking pro-active steps to create a life full of happiness and vitality.

160

IMPLICATIONS OF CAREER CHANGE FOR MIDDLE-AGED WORKERS

This study shows that some middle-aged workers have tremendous life and work

experience. This knowledge and wisdom is essential for maintaining a productive and

innovative workplace because mid-lifers have nuanced expertise and specializations that

cannot be matched by young people entering the workforce directly out of post-secondary

institutions. Knowledgeable, experienced middle-aged workers should be valued by

employers because they know their industries inside and out. Companies should be

fighting to retain such people to maintain a cohesive and productive workplace. More so,

employers should not only want middle-aged workers to remain committed to staying in

their companies, they should also strive to maintain their employees’ passion, excitement,

and fulfillment about their work. In this way employers will keep people in their

positions, but more importantly, will keep people positive, productive, and engaged in

their work.

Keeping the invigoration and enjoyment for older workers in the workplace is

possible without recruiting mid-lifers who have changed careers. It is important to

remember that nearly all of the people in this study enjoyed the early years of their first

careers tremendously and many were still content before leaving. If companies can

maintain the level of enjoyment and passion throughout their employees’ careers,

workplaces will retain good workers, and promote a positive atmosphere in the

workplace. It is costly to hire new workers – training is expensive because worker

productivity is initially low, recruiting is arduous and time-consuming, and high turnover

can create a work environment that is not congenial, cohesive, or sociable.

161

As a result, employers should strive to make a conscious effort to maintain worker

commitment and fulfillment. Several potential strategies that may help maintain worker

lfillm

nsure that

the wo

life-lon

providi

learning while not costing companies significant money. Many people felt that as they

ay

fu ent and commitment have arisen from this study. One of the main features that

the participants enjoyed about their job was the collegial scene. The educators liked the

staffroom banter and would socialize with other educators outside of work. Many of the

lawyers identified that one of the best parts of their jobs was to be around other lawyers.

They found their colleagues to be smart, like-minded people with whom they enjoyed

spending time. Going for lunch, taking coffee, and working with other lawyers were

some of the activities that lawyers enjoyed doing with their colleagues. Many of the

lawyers and educators said that they still maintain friendships with their former

colleagues. Given these activities, companies should endeavour to promote a friendly,

social atmosphere at work, where people can get to know one another on a personal as

well as professional level. Perhaps having corporate functions where families are invited

would be of benefit because employees’ children and spouses could become friendly with

other colleagues’ families. If colleagues become friends, it may be more difficult for

people to leave a job because they enjoy seeing their friends on a daily basis.

Another strategy for maintaining interested and excited workers is to e

rkplace encourages constant learning. The people in this study were proponents of

g learning, and they enjoyed learning on the job as well as taking courses. By

ng more parallel opportunities, there are many ways of promoting constant

got older and more experienced, the scope of the core activities of their jobs became

narrower. Assigning leadership roles to people on different types of projects or files m

162

help promote on-the-job learning. Many positions within a company are different, and

carry with them distinct roles and tasks. By allowing people to move into these different

positions, it would break up the monotony of doing the same job for extended periods of

time. Some educators used this strategy by teaching different grades within their schools.

This was seen as a great way to challenge themselves and helped them get out of the

monotony of teaching the same curriculum year after year. These approaches, combined

with formal training sessions and opportunities for employees to have company

subsidized education, make for a variety of educational avenues to keep employee skills

current while also offering policies that encourage variety and on-the-job skill

development. Overall, maintaining a work philosophy of on-the-job training as well as

formal education through training programs is a good strategy for maintaining

commitment and fulfillment among company personnel.

The main goal that companies should strive for is a work environment where

employees avoid situations of stagnation. Professional work should be cerebral, dynamic,

and varied. Having workers do the same tasks by working on the same files, teaching the

same classes, and generally having the same routine is what tipped the scales for many of

the people in this study to change careers. Organizational policies and programs should

be aimed at maintaining variety and challenge in people’s working lives while also

promoting a positive and social work environment. This can be done through cross-

department promotions or job rotations, by challenging workers to increase and expand

their areas of expertise, and providing opportunities for employees to be interested in one

another and become friendly. The recommendations presented here will not ensure that

people will stay in their careers; however implementing these propositions may tip the

163

scales

d the work

environ

so that people remain committed to their occupational positions such that they

ignore other job opportunities.

Beyond this, companies should also look to hiring middle-aged workers. The

people who have left their former employers and are looking for new opportunities form

an attractive hiring pool for potential employers. Because of their transferable skills, as

well as their life and professional experience, these people are highly attractive

candidates as they have worked in industry, have professional networks on which to call,

and often have specializations where their expertise can be invaluable to new companies.

By introducing them to work teams, they may bring expertise and insight from a myriad

other occupational spheres. Many employers may see hiring middle-aged workers as

unfavourable because they will still require training but will be staying in the workforce

for a shorter period of time as compared to their younger counterparts. Employers have

to get past looking at looming retirement dates for these candidates and see that, in the

short run, these people will bring nuanced and specific skills to companies. Also, as was

identified in this research, older people who enjoy their jobs and feel deep fulfillment

from their work do not want to retire. If the core activities of the job an

ment are favourable, the new middle-aged employee may stay working even after

he or she has reached retirement eligibility. Overall, it is important to consider these

people as possible job candidates. They have tremendous skills and experience that

younger workers do not. Employers must be alert to the transferable skills that these

candidates have acquired and understand the value in hiring middle-aged employees.

164

OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

This study offers an introductory and exploratory window into the phenomenon of

midlife career change. As a result, this study is intended to be only the beginning in a

chain of concatenated studies (Stebbins, 2001) on career change in general. This study

has focused on a small, purposive sample of middle-aged professionals in two

occupations. Therefore, considerable work remains to be done if a grounded theory of

career change is to take root. Such a theory is likely to be broad, for career change is

experienced by workers in all occupational spheres. Because of this, there are many

avenues for future research for studying career change.

Future research on career change should focus on expanding the types of

professions that were studied in the same manner as in this thesis. We need a broader

understanding of professionals involved in career change, leading eventually to formal

grounded theory in this area. As well as expanding the types of professions that are

studied, it is also of value to examine professionals at different life stages. For instance,

studying educators who leave their profession after less than five years would be of

interest. A study of people in this age group could focus on why they leave, what factors

weigh on them in their decisions to leave, and what types of new professions they

practise.

Second, in order to develop a comparison of different types of employment

situations, it is important to study people who are not successful in making a career

change. This opens up many avenues of research. There is tremendous value in studying

people who have low commitment and fulfillment to their jobs but who do not take the

plunge to venture in a career change. In many ways these people would potentially be in

165

the same situations as the participants in this study in their first jobs, however when it

comes down to deciding whether or not to commit to a career change, the former decide

to stay

Finally, on a more practical note, another area of study that would be of

emendous benefit to both understanding career change and aiding placement of middle-

where they are. This type of study would be indispensable in developing a further

understanding of the motivations for committing oneself to the career change process. A

second related area of study would be to conduct a study of people who engage in a

career change but are unsuccessful. This is of interest because it would help to isolate

what is required to make a successful career change and to also better identify the

obstacles that impede an occupational shift. This study would also be of value in

understanding how people cope with a career change failure and its professional, personal,

and familial repercussions.

Third, research should look at people who are forced to engage in career change.

People who fit into this category are displaced workers, such as those who are laid off

because of corporate downsizing or restructuring. We can also examine people who take

up new careers because of immigration. Why do these people choose to leave lives and

jobs in other countries in favour of working different types of jobs in a new country?

How do these forced career changes affect the identity of workers? Were they committed

to their old careers, and if so, do they yearn for the fulfillment of their old jobs. Another

related topic of study would be to examine where people in their 50s find work if they are

displaced involuntarily. It is of interest to see if their past experience over-qualifies them

for some jobs and under-qualifies them for others. Is it possible to find fulfillment in a

job after being displaced in one’s 50s?

tr

166

aged workers into new careers would be to conduct research to better understand the

terpla

g new middle-aged workers to

ffers. It is about minimizing the negative aspects of work and life and finding

in y between transferable skills, experience, and career success. The value of older

workers could be dramatically increased if future research could report how the acquired

experience of middle-aged people can enhance the productivity and work environment of

companies. There is a potential benefit to companies in bringing in middle-aged workers

who have a broad and diverse set of talents and experiences. Researchers could measure

the value to companies of introducing middle-aged workers to see whether creativity and

innovation are generated from the introduction of new people with new ideas and

practical expertise. Studying the effects of introducin

different companies is of great value because it could identify new ways for companies to

inspire innovation, creativity, and dynamism in their organizations.

It is hoped that greater understanding will be developed by exploring career

change in the various ways described here. This topic is of tremendous importance

because it deals with the fulfillment and happiness of people in all spheres of life. This

study demonstrated how the impact of being in positive and healthy work situations

reaches into all other aspects of people’s lives. Career change is not just about finding

jobs that people enjoy, it is about taking control of life and chasing the many positive

features it o

solutions that make people feel good about themselves. Most importantly, this study has

shown that career change is not just about changing jobs, it is about blurring the lines

between work, leisure, and lifestyle. Most people choose to be extremely involved and

committed to their new careers even though some of them do not have to work. They

work in their new jobs because they love what they do, and going to work is a fulfilling

167

and enjoyable experience. In summary, this project is primarily about how individuals

find ways to remain passionate, involved, and productive in a job. It is also about how

being proactive in acquiring and maintaining those things can promote positive changes

in people’s professional, personal, and family lives.

168

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173

APPENDIX A: INTERVEW GUIDE – Final Version

inaries Prelim

vervi

ld Job

e about being a lawyer” o Position held: Job Title

o Amount of paperwork

o Bosses/management

What did you like or enjoy about your old job?

o Challenge

o Enjoyment/fulfillment

primary motivators for you to practice law? How did you perceive the potential for advancement at your old job?

s with family and friends before your career change?

The TrTell me the story about

this transition occur?

Correct Spelling of name Age

Where they’re from Marital status

Family

ew O Education

o What were your motivations to go into law in the first place? Lifetime general work history

o When did you start/how long did it last

O General overview of old job

o “Tell m

o Work setting o Responsibilities

o Work hours o Collegial scene

What did a usual workday consist of?

What did you dislike about your old job? o Variety of tasks

o Creativity/innovation/inventiveness o Salary/benefits

o Aptitude What were the

What was your family situation at the time (starting off and when before you left) o How were your relationship

ansition

how you switched careers o Pushed out of old job or pulled in to new job?

At approximately what age did

174

What was involved in changing careers?

Was income a factor when you were deciding to make your career change?

to school required? Did your identity change at all when you changed careers

e Belonging

or were you looking for greater fulfillment than you had found before?) Was there something specific, as in a specific event, that made you change

gh your transition? If so, how?

• Did they offer support, guidance, financial assistance, etc.? Did you consider how your career change would affect your family?

What were the biggest pros for shifting jobs? What were the biggest cons for shifting jobs? What factors ultimately made you decide to follow this new path? Did you feel that your priorities had changed as compared to what they were

before? If so, how? Did you think a lot about making your change or was it more of an impulsive

decision? If you could make this transition again, would you? Why/Why not?

New Job

General overview of new job o Position held: Job title o Work setting o Responsibilities o Amount of paperwork o Work hours o Collegial scene o Bosses/management

Have you always wanted to do ________? How did you choose this job over anything else you could have done?

Income prospects vs. old income oo Debt possibilities and start up capital if it’s a new business venture o New training/back

o Ego o Prestigo

Why did you decide to change careers? o (Were you changing jobs to restore aspects that you felt of your previous

jobo

careers (trigger, specific event)? What factors encouraged you to pursue your new career path?

What factors discouraged you from pursuing your new career path? What did people around you advise regarding this decision?

o Friends o Spouse/partner o Family o Parents

Were your family and friends support you throu

175

Wha What do you like best about your new job?

you dislike about your new job? o Variety of tasks

Creativity ts

e uld name a few things, what would you say really motivates you in your

job (what gets you out of bed in the morning to go to work)? do this new job even if you weren’t paid for it, i.e. volunteer?

Qu y job? How about life in general?

Is your fam If so, how? o Marriage/relationships/kids?

y more or less now that you’re in your new career?

Self Mo e e off? Do you feel that you have achieved your new goals? If you were independently wealthy, would you still do this new job for no

fina

t does a usual workday consist of?

What do

o Challenge oo Salary/benefi

ent o Enjoymptitudo A

If you conew

Would you

alit of life Are u yo happier than you were in your previous

ily situation different now that you’ve changed careers?

o Do you see your famil Job satisfaction/fulfillment?

-worth? re/l ss leisure time or tim

ncial benefit?