Sky News: How to make a career change

How to make a career change

Sky News

Corinne Mills Interview

NEWS READER: Now it probably comes as little surprise that 2/3’s of us want to change careers, what maybe more unexpected though, is the list of top 10 dream jobs according to a survey conducted by the internet search engine, Bing. So, let’s take you through them.

1. Visions of becoming the next Damien Hurst paint artist into the number ten spot.
2. Number nine is as much of a surprise to me as it is to you, it’s journalist.
3. In at number eight, budding thespians have got the acting bug.
4. Lewis Hamilton look out. Speeding in at number seven is racing car driver.
5. And following close behind at six is sports trainer.
6. The fifth most fantasy job is to be a musician or a singer.
7. At number four, its picture-perfect photographer.
8. There would be plenty of would be J K Rowling’s out there, writer is at number three.
9. Showing that more of us care about philanthropy than fame, the second most popular dream career is charity work.
10. And for all you high-flyers, jetting in at number one, the most wished for job is pilot.

So, lets chat through that top ten. Corinne Mills is the Managing Director of the UK’s leading Career Coaching company, Personal Career Management, and she’s here with me in the gurkin now. Good evening to you.

CORINNE MILLS: Good evening.

NEWS READER: Did this list surprise you in any way?

CORINNE MILLS: I think what it really showed was people really want to enjoy their jobs and I don’t think that’s such a bad thing to want to do, is it?

NEWS READER: Well no. Do you think that’s the connecting factor? There’s a sense of excitement in some of these jobs, in pilot for example or racing car driver or musician or singer that perhaps they don’t feel they’ve got in their current careers.

CORINNE MILLS: I think so and I think there is something about self-expression in there because there’s musicians and actors and artists, so people want to be creative at work and they want to bring their personality to play as well as being very task orientated.

NEWS READER: I think also interestingly, number two was charity work, do you feel that that’s something you’re seeing more of? If people are going to spend that many hours at work, they want to feel like they’re making a difference to somebody.

CORINNE MILLS: I do, I think it’s very important. As you said, you spend so much time at work, more time than you do anything else aside from sleeping actually and for a lot of people, it’s about what difference are they making and asking, ‘why am I here?’ And if they can do something productive that fits in with their personal values then actually that can make a huge difference to their enjoyment at work.

NEWS READER: I mean I find it a rather sad statistic really that three out of five people said that they would change their jobs if at all possible and they said it was issues over cash or training – being suitably trained up for the job that stopped them. Were you surprised it was such a high level?

CORINNE MILLS: It is a tough job market at the moment so I think people have to be realistic, you know, you still need to pay the mortgage, pay the rent, and pay the food bills so you have to take that into account if you’re thinking about changing career. But there are always possibilities, always opportunities and I think very often, people just cancel them out. They think ‘I can’t do that because of that’ but actually, if they start looking at it, so they might have to go and do a course, or go and do a transitional job but even if they can’t move straight into the job that they really want, all of those things are possible.

NEWS READER: You mentioned the job market, with unemployment rates it’s a big risk for people to take, isn’t it? To start a whole new career that may not work out or may not give them the opportunities that they want, they might feel ‘you know what, I’m earning a living, I’m lucky to have a job as it is now’.

CORINNE MILLS: That is true, but on the other hand, there never is any safety. Actually, you’re no more secure if you’ve got a job now, and you have been there for ten years than if you have started a new job and you have been there a week. Actually, if you’re going for a new job, at least you know there’s a demand there and actually a potential job for the future, whereas I’m seeing in my company, day after day, people coming in who have worked in a job that they’ve not liked for twenty years and actually redundancy has been a whole new opportunity for them.

NEWS READER: And what about all those people watching now thinking ‘you know what, I’m going to hand my notice in’.

CORINNE MILLS: Don’t!

NEWS READER: So how do you go about it if you do want change?

CORINNE MILLS: Ok, don’t have in your notice now, you need a plan of action so you need to sit down, and first of all, read my book ‘Career Coach’, it shows you how to do it.

NEWS READER: That sounds like a good plan.

CORINNE MILLS: But you need to plan it, research it, research the market. Make sure those jobs really are what you think it is, that you can step right into it or will you have to do some training, and you work towards it – but it is absolutely possible because we do it every day with people.

NEWS READER: And do you think that these lists change? Do you think if we looked at this list in ten years’ time it would be very different or does it generally reflect what people want to do?

CORINNE MILLS: I think it’s a bit like an eleven years’ old wish list with some of it, you know like with the pilot. So, I think there are common themes there and I think it’s just about people wanting enjoyment, excitement, and to be able to bring their whole selves to work and I think those are the common themes. I think that’s what everyone wants isn’t it?

NEWS READER: What’s your dream job?

CORINNE MILLS: Oh, I do it, I am very lucky.

NEWS READER: I knew you’d say that, I knew it. Corinne Mills, thanks very much for joining us and sharing your thoughts and views this afternoon.

CORINNE MILLS: Thank you.

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• Read our article on career change resources for the over 50s
• Read information on career change resources for the over 40s
• Read more on our career change programmes

Article by:

Corinne Mills

Article by:

Corinne Mills

Corinne Mills is the Joint Managing Director of Personal Career Management, she is a career coach with 15 years career management experience.

View Articles by Corinne Mills