The Importance of Information and Clearing Misconceptions About Tasmania: Joe's Advice

Please note: the name in this article has been changed at the request of the participant for privacy reasons. 


As a careers counsellor, Joe wants you to know that working in a field different to your degree is fairly common.

“Most people over their lifetime will move on or change,” Joe said. “If you’re a teacher, you might get sick of teaching; social workers and nurses can burn out. Fifty percent of students change what they’re studying.”

According to Joe, there can be a number of reasons why students change their careers, including:

• ·         Low level of self-awareness when it comes to your career. As Joe says, “It’s hard to know who you are. You have to try different things. It can be sometimes related to experience. Something might sound great but then you can have a change of heart.”
• ·         Low level of career knowledge. “Career knowledge isn’t as high in Tasmania because most schools don’t do career developments.”
• ·         Fewer choices in Tasmania. “People being versatile can work in multiple industries and are adaptable. Tasmanians have wider experience from the younger age.”

 

In helping a student who comes to him, Joe asks several questions to understand the student’s story and their reasons for wanting to change. Initially, Joe might ask what brought them to this decision.

“It might not be what they think,” Joe said. “It could be a personality clash, bad experiences or rejecting the whole thing. Working out the reason is important so you can give options. They could stay in the same industry and go somewhere else, or move to a different industry.”

Careers counsellors also provide an important, neutral third party, which most people don’t have. They also have industry knowledge, and can break down your feelings so you’re dealing with the real problem.  “After that, we would give them options based on interests, values, skills and education.”

Seeing a careers counsellor is important, because being reactionary can lead to another thing you don’t want to do. Therefore, Joe has students who come to see him do research, which can involve talking to people who work in the jobs they’re interested in and researching the industry.

Research isn’t just limited to the industry, but to the location of Tasmania as well.

“Tasmania has more opportunities than people think. There are jobs in Tasmania using similar skills that people haven’t even thought about,” Joe explained, using his own example of switching to careers counselling from being a caseworker at a refugee settlement. “Building relationships and trust with people is a core skill in both fields.”

“People overestimate Tasmania’s limitations, but you will find humps,” Joe explained further. “Theatre, for example, is very restricted and you may not get a paid job, but it’s all about information.”

Information, for a location like Tasmania, is vital.  “You have to network,” Joe emphasised. “Finding jobs through networking works well in Tasmania because a lot of jobs aren’t advertised.”

Changing careers can be daunting, but Joe says the worst thing you can do in the situation is to tell yourself you don’t want to do it and do nothing about it, as it can lead to breakdowns and stress.

“It is not actually hard to start researching and gathering information,” Joe said. “getting information is the best thing you can do in this situation.”

“Talk to lots of people. Network,” he said. “Gather lots of information from various sources to open up possibilities and opportunities. Talk to people in the industry, because that’s how you get jobs.”

 

As you can see from Joe’s advice, there are more uses for your skills than you may think, and more opportunities in Tasmania than you may be aware of. Researching your industry, gathering information and making connections in the industry can be a significant help in making the transition easier.