双语新闻：王牌握在手 转行占先机
Tap Existing Skills When Changing Your CareerAfter working 16-hour days for seven years as an investment banker, Rachel Thebault decided to follow her dream: a career in baking. All it took for her to decide to go from banker to baker was a batch of chocolate truffles.
Ms. Thebault had been baking as a hobby since she was a child. But the demands of her full-time job gave her little time to bake for fun -- let alone for a living. That all changed after she cooked up some chocolate truffles for a New Year's Eve party. Almost immediately, friends began putting in orders of truffles and cakes for their parties and weddings.
In 2004, Ms. Thebault decided to leave her job at Bank of America Corp. for culinary school, and now, with the help of her financial background, she has her own bakery. 'It was a huge step for me to give up such a lucrative career that I was successful in to go back to school in a new field,' says the 32-year-old Ms. Thebault.
Leaving a steady job in hopes of making a career out of a personal passion has its challenges. But leveraging what -- and who -- you already know can make the transition easier. Ms. Thebault regularly taps her investment-banking skills as she works to build her own baking business. 'Being able to understand income statements, balance sheets and how the financial structure of a business works has been very helpful,' she says.
After graduating from culinary school, she rented space in a commercial kitchen to make special-order cakes, cupcakes, truffles and cookies as a way to ease into commercial baking. As an investment banker, Ms. Thebault spent years working with retail and restaurant clients and had a strong idea about what made the successful ones tick -- and what doomed the lackluster ones. When she decided to move into a storefront shop, Ms. Thebault says her finance background gave her the know-how to set up a business plan and determine her target market. Her previous career also gave her a valuable resource: contacts and colleagues from her banking and college days she could call for tips on marketing and strategy, and legal advice. Using that bridge from her old career, Ms. Thebault opened a bakery, Tribeca Treats, in New York City a year ago.
Ms. Thebault isn't alone in taking that big step to switch careers. A study by outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. found that nearly 40% of all job seekers in 2007 weren't just looking for a new employer, they also were hoping to switch to a new industry. And a survey of job hunters conducted last year by Salary.com revealed that nearly 60% of respondents wanted to change careers.
While Ms. Thebault's path might seem long -- about three years -- it is quite typical. A career reinvention takes an average of three to five years to complete, says Pamela Mitchell, founder and chief executive of the Reinvention Institute, a coaching and consulting firm in Miami. Ms. Mitchell advises clients to stay in their current careers -- and continue to draw a salary -- for as long as possible while they develop a clear plan for their next profession.
In some cases, you might be able to use that time to look for experiences in your current job that you can take with you. One client Ms. Mitchell worked with wanted to become a full-time writer after a 10-year career in the nonprofit world. 'When she looked around at her current job, she realized that she could work on internal projects that would connect her to contacts she would need to know in the future,' says Ms. Mitchell.
Finding part-time or volunteer work in your dream career can be a low-risk introduction to a new industry -- and will help build experience. Nina Storm, 33, always had a passion for causes and wanted to join the nonprofit world. She was working as a casting coordinator for Universal Pictures when she heard about and became interested in Global Green USA, an environmental nonprofit. She joined the group's new Los Angeles committee as a way to learn more about the organization. 'As a volunteer, I formed relationships with the staff and I became more confident in skills which -- at that point -- weren't represented on my resume,' Ms. Storm says.
After volunteering for a year, including working as a planner for the group's Pre-Oscar Party, she interviewed to be the group's event coordinator. She landed the job and now, a year and a half later, Ms. Storm is Global Green's events manager, producing six or more large events around the country each year.
Dipping your toes into a new career while still collecting a corporate paycheck also can open your eyes to a reality Ms. Thebault warns of: 'When you turn your passion into your career, it becomes a job.' That may mean dealing with budgets, marketing, hiring and firing -- the less-scintillating aspects of the work that you probably never faced when, say, baking for friends and family.
To avoid a rude awakening, it is wise to look before leaping, experts say. Talk to someone who does your dream job to help determine whether you can be satisfied by being part of the process -- working to keep your bakery running rather than doing all of the baking yourself. Ask them about the downsides. 'Otherwise, doing the thing you once loved will be the worst job you've ever had,' says Ms. Mitchell.
That isn't the case for Elizabeth Vianna, 41, who turned a recreational interest in wine into a career she loves. She decided to leave her job as a clinical toxicologist at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center after a particularly good glass of French wine Sociando-Mallet. Ms. Vianna had been going to tastings for years when an idea hit her: She could put her background in science to use in making wine. She abandoned her plan to attend medical school, moved to wine country and enrolled in the graduate program in enology at the University of California, Davis, a decade ago. Ms. Vianna worked through two internships and held two assistant winemaking positions before landing her current job as winemaker at Chimney Rock in the Napa Valley in 2005.
'Work doesn't feel so much like work anymore,' says Ms. Vianna, who primarily makes Bordeaux varieties for Chimney Rock. 'Like any job, there are times when it's stressful, but at the end of the day, I'm amazed at what an enchanting way of making a living I have found.'
王牌握在手 转行占先机
在投行界没日没夜地干了七年之后，蕾切尔?黛博(Rachel Thebault)决定开始追逐自己的梦想：在糕点糖果界闯出一番新天地。而这一切转变都只因一炉松露巧克力。
出于兴趣，黛博从儿时起就开始制作糕点和糖果。不过因为工作的关系，她很少有时间以此作为消遣──更不用说以此为生了。这一切在一次新年晚会之后就都改变了：她为晚会制作了一些松露巧克力，随后朋友们纷纷开始为各自的晚会和婚礼向她订购松露巧克力和蛋糕。
2004年，黛博决定辞掉在美国银行(Bank of America Corp.)的工作，进入烹饪学校学习。现在，依靠自身的金融背景，她已经有了自己的蛋糕店。32岁的黛博说，放弃这样一个己有所长又财源滚滚的工作、重新回到学校进入新的领域对我来说是迈出了一大步。
放弃稳定的工作，基于个人爱好闯出一番事业要面对许多难题，但凭借已有的知识和人脉能够更轻松地实现这一飞跃。黛博在创建自己的糕点糖果生意时就经常用到她在投行业的经验。她说，能读懂损益表和资产负债表，并明白财务架构如何工作对我非常有帮助。
从烹饪学校毕业以后，黛博在一间商用厨房里租下了一片小天地，为客户定制蛋糕、杯形蛋糕、松露巧克力和小甜饼，为进入商业糕点糖果领域做准备。作为一名投行人士，黛博和零售、餐饮业客户打过多年交道，深知生意成功的秘诀，也懂得什么是业务萎靡的罪魁祸首。当她决定开家店面时，黛博说，自己的金融背景让她知道该如何制定商业计划，确定目标市场。从前的工作也为她带来了有价值的资源：银行界的同事和大学时期的同学，她可以向这些人征求有关市场营销、战略和法律事务方面的建议。利用这层关系，黛博一年前在纽约开办了一家蛋糕店──Tribeca Treats。
迈出重新择业这一步的并不仅仅是黛博一个人。职业咨询公司Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.的研究发现，2007年近40%的求职者并不仅仅在寻觅新的雇主，还希望进入新的行业。去年Salary.com对求职者所作的一项调查显示，近60%的人希望重新择业。
黛博的职业转型似乎历时漫长──用了大约三年时间，不过她的情况却颇为典型。迈阿密辅导咨询公司Reinvention Institute创始人、总裁帕梅拉?米切尔(Pamela Mitchell)表示，职业转型平均需要三到五年的时间。米切尔建议客户在为下一个职业作出清晰计划之前，尽可能在原公司多工作一段时间──并继续赚工资。
在某些情况下，你或许可以利用这段时间挖掘现有工作中那些有助于你未来发展的经验。米切尔的一个客户在非营利组织工作十年之后希望成为全职作家。米切尔说，她重新审视现有工作的时候，意识到自己可以从事内部项目，这能够让她有机会认识今后需要打交道的人。
在梦想职业里找份兼职或者志愿者的工作是进入全新领域的一条低风险通道──还有利于积累经验。33岁的尼娜?斯托姆(Nina Storm)一直对公益慈善事业满怀热情，希望能够进入非营利组织工作。斯托姆听说并开始注意非营利环保机构美国环球绿色组织(Global Green USA)时，她正在环球影业(Universal Pictures)负责演员协调方面的工作。她加入了环球绿色组织新建的洛杉矶委员会，为的是进一步了解这一组织。斯托姆说，作为志愿者，我和该组织的工作人员建立起联系，我对于自己的能力──当时这些能力还没有在简历中体现出来──更有信心。
在做了一年的志愿者后──其间她作为计划专员参与了该组织在奥斯卡前举办的晚会，她参加了环球绿色组织会务协调员的面试。她获得了这份工作，如今，在一年半以后，斯托姆成为该组织的会务经理，每年在美国组织六场以上的大型活动。
尝试新领域的同时仍坚守原岗位还能够让你看清一种现实：正如黛博所说的一样，当兴趣成为职业，也就变成了一项工作。这或许意味著和预算、营销、招聘、解聘这些工作中不那么光鲜照人的方面打交道，这些事情在为朋友和家人做蛋糕时或许永远不会碰到。
专家表示，为了避免这些冷冰冰的现实，在跳槽之前多了解情况是明智之举。和那些从事你梦想职业的人们谈谈，这有助于你决定自己是否甘愿成为机器上的一颗螺丝钉──确保蛋糕店各项工作正常开展，而不仅仅是做糕点。问问他们这个工作有哪些缺点。米切尔说，否则，你曾经热爱的事业有可能成为你最糟糕的工作经历。
41岁的伊丽莎白?维亚娜(Elizabeth Vianna)没遇到这样的问题。她将对葡萄酒的业余爱好变成了自己热爱的工作。在品尝过一杯上好的法国葡萄酒之后，她决定辞去在纽约医院康乃尔医疗中心的临床毒理工作。有多年品酒经验的维亚娜一天忽然意识到：她可以将自己的科学背景运用到酿酒之中。她放弃了去医学院上学的计划，移居到酒乡，进入加州大学戴维斯分校(University of California, Davis)学习葡萄酒酿制的硕士课程，这已经是十年前的事情了。在2005年以酿酒师身份加入现在的公司、地处纳帕谷(Napa Valley)的Chimney Rock之前，维亚娜有过两段实习经历，还曾两次出任助理酿酒师。
维亚娜的主要工作是为Chimney Rock酿制各种波尔多酒。她说，上班不再感觉像是在工作。和其他职业一样，有时候压力也很大，不过在一天结束的时候，我总惊讶于自己能够找到这样一种迷人的谋生手段。
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