“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17
I’m often asked, ‘how long does it take to make a career change?’
And my answer is “well that depends ….!”
Because God made everyone unique, and each situation is different.
What I have noticed, is that there tends to be a catalyst that causes change.
Often this is redundancy or risk of redundancy, or it could be a nagging sense that you’re in the wrong job.
And another, that God is in all the details, He’s in the past and He’s in the future, and he leaves us clues about how to get from A to B.
Take, Josh*, who contacted me recently with exciting feedback that he’d recently started his dream job, 5 years after realising that he wasn’t flourishing in the job he was in.
The backstory – uncertainty and lack of clarity.
Josh had a really good job which he enjoyed for several years but following a management change felt he was going nowhere. There were pay freezes and no growth opportunities. After Covid it became isolating and boring.
He felt there must be something else, something better aligned to his skills, strengths and values, but he couldn’t get a clear sense of what that might be, and he couldn’t see the way to get to the kind of job he wanted to get to.
Then came a constant threat of redundancy increasing his unsettled feelings and sense of being undervalued.
He spent months pushing doors, going for interviews and it would always end in a protracted disappointment knocking his confidence and leaving him questioning “Am I ever going to get anywhere? Am I ever going to progress?”
What was God saying?
Josh is a man of prayer, and a close friend of his prayed with him and sensed God was saying “Wait.”
Josh felt the relief of not having to keep applying for jobs, but he still didn’t know what would come next or how long he would have to wait.
Around that time, Josh came to the launch of my book, God’s GRACE for Your Career, and purchased a copy to help him discern the way forward.
He was intrigued by the idea that remembering your childhood gifts could give you clues about your career purpose.
As he discussed what he was doing as child when he lost track of time, he remembered how he used to love to play with toy cars.
Aged 3 he knew all the names and makes of cars on the road.
His grandparents used to boast about his encyclopaedic knowledge of cars.
There was something about his passion for cars that resonated with him.
But still nothing changed in his work situation.
God speaking in the waiting.
The theme of cars continued when Josh was praying about his career. God reminded him about his Dad’s old car, a Renault 25.
Very few of these cars still exist and yet, God helped Josh see the value in all the old cars because they provided necessary transport for 10000s of people, even though there are now very few still in existence.
There was value in their construction, in their function of getting people from A to B.
Josh realised there was value in just serving God and doing the work that God had placed him in at that time and he felt really encouraged by this word from God during his time of waiting.
He felt it was time to trust God in the waiting, and he began to do this.
God’s plan.
Fast forward a year and Josh now has a fantastic job, buying and selling vehicles, managing the fleet of vehicles for an organisation he’s proud to be a part of and who value his contribution. He spends time talking with lots of people, he’s in a growing team and he has fun at work.
He comments, “I think it will keep my busy for a lot of years in fact. It’s good!”
“Looking back, the exercise that resonated the most was what made me tick as a child. It’s fascinating to see how my childhood passion is now being fulfilled in my job.”
God had a plan through all of this, but it required trust, and time for this trust to grow.
We don’t always see the end when we start out on a career change journey and it might take several twists and turns before we end up somewhere we can flourish.
So, if you’re somewhere in the middle of chasing a career change, and wondering what it might look like or how long it might take, I want to encourage you to keep going, keep exploring.
The clue might just be found in your childhood experiences.
*name changed for anonymity