“I was no longer inspired by work at all.”

What work were you doing previously?

I had been working for large, global IT corporations for over 25 years. 

It has been a varied career, starting in finance then moving across to sales and sales support. For the last few years I was leading a Competitive Business Solutions team across Europe. It was a good role, very much middle management but I had reached the end of my road with this type of work. 

I had no aspirations for promotion or career advancement in these types of organisations, but I was well paid and my team were great to work with.

What are you doing now?

I’m working in a small software company which is growing at a fast pace. 

I’m the sales and marketing director, leading an international team of 25 people. I’m also on the company board, and report to the CEO.

Why did you change?

I had exhausted my desire for career advancement in large corporations. 

I was in a good role, but felt underutilised. I felt like I was stuck in a rut, and the usual route out would be to jump into another large corporate role but that would be moving from one unfulfilled role to another. 

I had already worked for CSC, IBM, HP, CGI and DXC and they were all pretty much the same. It was really difficult to drive change and continuous improvement because of internal bureaucracy and I was no longer inspired by work at all. 

When was the moment you decided to make the change?

There was no lightbulb moment, it was more of a thought process spread over a few months and years where I’d try to mentally map an escape route. 

Everything seemed risky though. I was on a high salary and it’s easy to get too comfortable with that even if you don’t find the work fulfilling.

This led to me joining the Career Change Launch Pad pre-pandemic, and over a few months I worked with Careershifters to build up an idea I had to build a consulting business from scratch. 

Then the pandemic came and I had to put this to one side, but I was still hoping I could find a new path eventually.

The route I wanted to explore was to work with technology start up companies, as my 25 years of experience could really help. As well as the sales experience, I have been a divisional CFO and am a Chartered Accountant. 

I had an idea to find the right one to join and get in early, taking some equity in exchange for a lower salary but higher reward in the future. 

Are you happy with the change?

Very happy. 

It’s my dream role. I have a lot of autonomy to drive change and improvement, and there’s a lot of trust between myself and the CEO. It’s very busy and fast paced but a good place to work, and the team I have are a great bunch to work with. 

We’re in the growth phase of the business which is exciting.

What do you miss and what don't you miss?

I’m not sure that I miss anything, really. 

I haven’t had a chance to look back and reflect much, as the focus is now on what lies ahead. 

I wish I’d made the move earlier, but on balance, this job found me at the right time – when I was ready to make the move, and when they were ready to bring someone like me on board. 

How did you go about making the shift?

In the end my new career found me! 

At a time when I wasn’t actively looking and was drifting for a bit, I had a call out of the blue from an old work colleague. We’d met 30 years earlier when I started my first job working for a firm of accountants in London. We’d kept in touch and followed each other's careers.

I’d gone off into the Corporate IT world and developed a sales career, while he set up as a freelance consultant and eventually started his own business. 

When he approached me his company was a good size, around a hundred people. They had spent years developing a new software product that had just come to market and he was looking for a sales director who could build a sales team, professionalise it and help grow the business. 

We spent some weeks talking about it, I spent some months doing some consultancy work for them while still in my old job, and then a year since we had the initial conversation I made my shift. 

How did you develop (or transfer) the skills you needed for your new role?

Thankfully, I already had the core skills needed for the role. 

I just had to adapt from a large corporate environment to a small company one. I’d say spending some months working in parallel, where I was still in my old job but doing some hours on the side in the new company, enabled the transition to be smoother. 

When I started the role I already knew key people in the company and already had an idea of what I wanted to do on day one. I think that period also allowed both sides to do their due diligence, as it was a risk for both of us if my move didn’t work out.

How did you handle your finances to make your shift possible?

It was a big step change for me in terms of compensation. 

Most of my income now is technically variable as it is linked to company performance, and I was used to a comfortably high fixed salary. But I also have the opportunity for higher earnings as the company grows. 

But in the short term I did have to make some financial adjustment to reduce outgoings, including extending my mortgage and getting rid of a car.

What was the most difficult thing about changing?

I procrastinated too much. 

Being in a safe job on a comfortable salary can really hold you back from taking risks. Having been stuck in a rut for so long, the most difficult thing was managing the mindset shift. 

It was moving from comfort and safety to a different level of risk. But after all that it has been fine, and I wish I’d done it sooner. All the stuff I learned through the Career Change Launch Pad helped with that.

What help did you get?

It took a year from initial discussion to actually starting the new job, and a lot of that was me stringing things out because I didn’t want to make a decision!

Thankfully my new company were patient and prepared to wait for me to make up my mind, but if I’d been more decisive about the move I could have started a few months earlier. 

What have you learnt in the process?

Dare to dream. 

Be bold about your thinking. Map out your ideas and possibilities. Get out of the comfort zone from time to time. 

But most of all, be patient. It took me over 4 years from when I started actively working on my shift to actually getting my dream role.

What would you advise others to do in the same situation?

When the opportunity comes, seize it. 

By all means, check it thoroughly, do your due diligence, make sure it’s the right fit for you but follow your instinct and be a bit bold. 

Sometimes you have to take a short term financial hit and some risk, so it’s good to be prepared to be flexible about that. 

Glyn took part in our Career Change Launch Pad. If you're ready to join a group of bright, motivated career changers on a structured programme to help you find more fulfilling work, you can find out more here.

What lessons could you take from Glyn's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.