Can a person who’s worked in one industry for 10 years start over in a completely new industry?

Here are some reasons why they can’t:

1. The longer you’ve worked in one career, the more limited your transferable skills
2. Employers prefer to hire younger staff who are eager to learn the ropes
3. It requires a big mental shift to start again in a completely new area

These are all good reasons.

And there's plenty of evidence to back this up.

We all have friends and family who stayed in the same job for 40 years.  We might have stories of people who tried to change career and fell flat on their face.  And we all know you “can’t teach an old dog new tricks”.

So reasons and evidence are everywhere. 

And if you’re thinking about changing careers, it’s enough to make you throw in the towel.

But my claim on the matter is this:

People don’t believe they can’t change career because of reasons and evidence.  Instead, they believe the reasons and evidence because they already have that belief.

Put simply:  it’s not the evidence which informs the belief.  It’s the other way round.  The belief informs the evidence.

This might sound kooky, but it’s a known phenomenon. 

And it’s called Confirmation Bias.

Confirmation Bias says that we all have a tendency to seek out information which is consistent with our beliefs and ignore information which isn’t.

It’s all subconscious, but it’s something to be aware of.  Because it could be stopping you from making a change in your life. 

Here's the original question:

Can a person who’s worked in one industry for 10 years start over in a completely new industry?

Now take the following statements:

1. Employees from different backgrounds have a wide, desirable network of contacts
2. Companies want employees who can bring fresh perspectives from different sectors
3. All careers give you useful, transferable skills which can be applied to future careers

Someone who doesn’t believe it’s possible to change careers after 10 years may read these statements and think “Not sure about that …” or “Where’s the evidence for that?” or even “What a load of rubbish!".

But to my mind, that sounds like their brain discounting ideas which don’t match their belief.

In other words – it could be Confirmation Bias at play.

Let’s try once more. 

Here are 3 people who successfully changed career:

1. Vera Wang started life as a figure skater before becoming an iconic fashion designer
2. Alan Rickman was a graphic designer before switching to acting
3. Greg Davies worked as a teacher before becoming a stand-up comedian

How do you react when you read examples like this?

Maybe you’re thinking “Yes, but…”.

Guess what?  That could be Confirmation Bias again.

And look.  I’m not even really making a point about career change.

Instead, I’m making a broader point about our beliefs.

Every belief has supporting reasons and evidence.  But the opposite of every belief has them too.  As my example shows.

There are very few beliefs that are fundamentally true.  Instead, it comes down to what we filter in and filter out. 

And once we start to filter in what we previously filtered out, things can open up.  Possibilities can emerge.  And doing something new might start to appear less daunting.

That's the bottom line.

Catch you tomorrow.

- Tom

p.s. Whenever you're ready, here are the ways you can connect with me