On a flight from Salt Lake City to Minneapolis a few months ago, I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me. Always curious as to where someone is from and what they do for work, I discovered that Gary has been a registered nurse for a number of years. It turns out that after high school, he enrolled in a pre-dentistry program. Thinking it would be a crap shoot getting into dental school; he shifted gears and graduated with a degree in business administration. After trying his hand at a variety of careers, including seasonal park ranger in the Porcupine Mountains of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and machine operator/machinist, Gary decided to pursue his long-held dream of working in the medical field. A lay-off allowed him to re-train for a different career which facilitated his move into nursing.

Gary felt that nursing seemed natural for him and knew he would be good at it. Nursing allows him to live in a small community in a somewhat remote area that he loves while helping his neighbors and friends recover from an illness, injury, or surgery and take care of the family and survivors of dying loved ones. Gary says, “I’m able to let them know that I care and allow them to feel more at ease with a familiar person helping them through difficult times. I know that makes a difference to them.”

According to Gary, “Whether it’s me as a male nurse, or it’s a female nurse, I think we all know our limits, our strengths, and our weak points, and are able to do our jobs, based on them. It all pulls together for the best possible outcome for the patients.” 

“Nursing is not for everyone, but there are a multitude of options or areas in which to work,” says Gary. He goes on to say, “I would encourage any male to consider nursing if they are at all interested in the medical field. They can always continue on and expand their interests with the options that are available, whether it is as a nurse practitioner or physician assistant.”

I recently read that the need for registered nurses will grow by 580,000 over the coming decade due to the 80 million baby boomers reaching retirement. Nursing will continue to be a high-demand career for years to come.

This blog is for career coaches and counselors along with others who help clients and students explore career options and for job-seekers and career changers who may want to consider other career choices. I’ll provide insight into the benefits and challenges of non-traditional careers, e.g., those that are either male or female dominated. And, I’ll share best practices, trends, case studies, and interviews of women and men working in non-traditional careers.

What is a non-traditional career?  A non-traditional career is defined as one where more than 75 percent of the workforce is of the opposite gender. Basically it’s a career that is either female-dominated or male-dominated. Some examples of non-traditional careers for women include: architect, carpenter, pilot, and mechanic. Non-traditional careers for men include: paralegal, nurse, dental hygienist, and elementary teacher.

For many years now, there has been a push by the government, including the Department of Labor and the Department of Education, to move more women into non-traditional careers. The main reason? Higher pay! These types of careers typically pay 20-30% higher wages (or more) than the traditional “pink-collar” jobs women most often pursue. More recently, men are being targeted to consider a non-traditional career. The growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement age has led to a critical shortage of nurses. Men can help fill that gap.

With the benefits of non-traditional careers also comes its own set of challenges. As a project coordinator on a grant from the Dept. of Labor, I helped move more women into the auto service industry, as auto service technicians, aka mechanics, and service advisors (those that write up the repair order). When meeting with service managers at auto dealerships, I faced resistance to the notion of hiring women in these positions. One service manager actually said to me, “We hired a woman once and she didn’t work out.”  I was astonished. Apparently he felt that that one particular woman represented all women and forgot about the men who didn’t work out. Women aren’t alone in facing obstacles in regard to non-traditional careers. Gender stereotypes about what is considered “men’s work” and “women’s work” is still ingrained pretty heavily in our society. 

The bottom line? I think it’s important for individuals to be aware of all of their career options.

In my previous blog, I asked the question :  which of the three relational categories do you think is best suited to Sales positions?

The client who most enjoys playing the field, meeting lots of new people, and interacting with others at least 80% of their time on the job? Or, the person who is a natural team player and invests most of their time and energy in maintaining relationships so that ties and bonds strengthen?  Or, the solo artist, the person who loves to work about 80% on their own in a concentrated manner on tasks requiring their expertise?

The answer :  all three are suited to Sales positions if they have a persuasive talent for closing sales!  The relational talent is not a selling talent.  A relational talent helps us understand the kind of role our clients might be best suited for in the workplace.

For example, the client who is multi-relational and tells you stories about how much they like to meet lots of new people at parties, concerts, social mixers, conferences, conventions, network marketing meetings, meet&greet nights, and so on, may fit well into the kind of sales environment that is stereotypical of the profession, i.e. cold-calling impulse-driven sales where establishing rapport quickly and easily is necessary in order to make the sale.  Think of telemarketing, and how important it is to establish a personal connection in the first 30 seconds or so in order to make a sale; or the personal rapport necessary between a used car salesperson and a prospect; or, the trust that needs to be established quickly between a real estate broker and a buyer or seller.

Most sales positions are best suited for the natural team player because most sales are Account Management positions, in which a sales person has a group of accounts that they service.  Their job is about maintaining relationships, getting to know their client or their client’s business really well, getting them to open up about their challenges and issues, in order to determine how the products or service they represent can help their client solve problems and attain their business goals and objectives.  Account managers send out birthday cards to their clients, take them golfing a few times a year, do lunch on a regular basis—they maintain the relationship.  Listen to your client’s stories to find out if they love to join teams, professional associations, family gatherings, and make key contributions to building up relational ties in those groups.

The expert who loves to work solo is suited to technical sales, where it is necessary to know a lot about a particular industry or service in order to sell into that space.  If you are going to sell a nuclear reactor, you probably need a PhD in Physics in order to discuss features and benefits with engineers and physicists responsible for the purchase, installation, maintenance, and repair of such complex machinery and equipment.  The expertise required for technical sales is usually acquired through many hours of solitary study and work.  Listen for clues in their stories that reveal them seeking out opportunities to work alone in depth on personal or professional projects.

Of course, all three Sales positions cover a spectrum of experience related to a particular industry but listen as your clients reveal clues to their natural jobfit for different job scenarios.

Yes, we CAN do a job through sheer determination, even struggle.  But when our natural strengths match the job requirements, we tend to excel, and make it look easy.

What your clients do naturally and effortlessly is revealed through stories about times in their lives when they are doing something they enjoy, and do it well.  As career professionals, all we have to do is listen and map those clues to job opportunities.

Military people don’t think often about deferred compensation. I’d guess military people don’t think about compensation much at all while on active duty.

But compensation is more than money. Compensation means time…time to take care of personal and family matters. That is a major factor for people on active duty. They are concerned about the “tempo of operations” (for which you may read number and frequency of deployments and remote tours).

When they reach the end of their active duty service commitments, those day-to-day military concerns fade. After all, they can see the day when they will be civilians. That’s not a time to let down one’s guard when it comes to getting the time they need for that life-changing transition.

The services claim to make time for military members to take advantage of their transition services. But too often, the military member and her culture intrude on that time. Let me explain.

Those who separate, particularly senior members, aren’t easily replaced. They have corporate memories. They have networks they’ve built over years.

Some commanders try to tap into those powerful benefits right up to the day members retire or separate. Given the press of military business, that’s understandable.

The members themselves may be drawn in to the process. Many are reluctant, even anxious, about the change to civilian life. How attractive it is to hang on to the familiar and important right to the last. Some even consider it their duty.

While I admire the dedication, my standards as a career coach require me to relate an almost certain conversation among those who remain on active duty after their colleague separated: “Who was that guy? I can see his face. Boy, he knew everything there was to know about IOT&E.” My message is simple: it’s time to leave, time to let others you’ve mentored take over.

Military people willingly miss anniversaries, their kids’ soccer games and birthdays. The mission required it. But when retirement or separation approaches, it’s time to let the services deliver on their “deferred compensation,” giving people time they need to plan.

Over the years, nearly all the O-6s who have attended my Executive Career Transition Program say they wish they had started no less than year before they hung up the uniform. That sentiment is reinforced when I remind them the typical job search takes about a year.

If you are a retiring or separating military member, take the time the services owe you. I know your schedule is busy. But if you start a year or more out, you can fit in what you need to do with your mission requirements without stress.

If you are a coach working with military members, remind them their personal, career needs are important. After all, many can look forward to 20 years or more in a second career.

The nation needs them just as much out of uniform as they did when wore the green, blue, or “purple” suit.

As career professionals, we spend a great deal of time listening to client stories.  Mining these stories for value can improve our delivery of services.

For example, what does it mean when a client says, “I am a people person”? (You may have used the same phrase; after all, we work in a helping profession!)  However, this is a general and vague statement until we probe more deeply to determine its real meaning.

Try getting your clients to tell some stories not related to work.  Ask them to talk about times in their lives when they are doing what they enjoy most and doing it well.  Individuals will often gravitate to what they most enjoy when they are free to do so, especially during their discretionary time.

Remember, it’s not what they CAN do; we all acquire competence with skills through training or experience.  A natural strength, as opposed to a can-do skill, is something we do effortlessly; something that energizes us; and something that gives us innate satisfaction–in short, when we do it, we make it look easy; when we use it, we are often in a state of flow.

As they focus on those events and activities, listen actively. By doing so, we learn more about our clients, their priorities and preferences.  This can help us better position and package a client’s value proposition, or better coach them to reach their career goals.

Subject Matter

When a client says they are a people person, are they commenting on a preferred subject matter? That is, are they telling us something important about what they enjoy working with and through on a daily basis?

Listen for specific clues to the configuration of their fascination with people. Do they prefer working with individuals one-on-one? Or, working with or among teams?  Or, are they interested in broader groups of people, such as people of a particular culture or religion? populations with particular needs or interests? Or, are they interested in the traditions, beliefs, languages, and habits of other cultures? Or, are they people watchers, fascinated by human behavior, by what “makes people tick,” by the way people think or feel, and the psychology behind what causes people to say or do something?

Try drilling down into the I-am-a-people-person statement with a few specific questions :  How did you get involved with that? What did you do exactly on your own (or as part of a team)?  What was particularly enjoyable or consistently satisfying about that?  Listen carefully for clues that reveal their natural inclinations, strengths, preferences.

Natural talents

Perhaps it is not people as a subject matter that motivates them; instead, they have a natural helping talent–they enjoy tutoring individuals; or, helping others complete their goals or projects; or,  giving advice to others; or, reassuring and supporting others.  Do they have a knack for stepping into situations where they see shortages to fill or needs to be met? Do they actively seek out situations to be useful or helpful (if not indispensable) as they step in and aid others with assistance, guidance, support or tangible resources–not as a job requirement but in their own time because it energizes them.  This helping talent could be leveraged into certain helping professions, or highlighted in their resume and value proposition.

Perhaps they are using an intuitive talent that is only triggered by contact with people. For example, they might have a knack for discerning people’s character quickly and accurately, and usually read people accurately, or are rarely fooled by anyone.  Again, this could have a bearing on the kind of work they are suited to do (e.g. credit loan officer, immigration official, police detective, recruiter, counselor, probation officer), or the job skills that should be highlighted in their resume or brand.

Conclusion

You may find a reservoir of revelations behind the simple statement: I am a people person.  By using the skills we already have for listening, questioning, analyzing, and synthesizing, we can better position, package and coach our clients for success.  They are more likely to succeed if they are motivated, and they are more likely to be motivated when aligning their key success factors with a job that will recognize and reward them for what comes naturally and easily to them.  Each successful client is our best source of new and growing business.

In my next Blog, I will look at what is revealed through personal stories in terms of  Relationship Building and how that correlates with job choices and job search strategies.

Conventional wisdom tells laymen that military and civilian cultures are different in many ways. But as career professionals, we must dig deeper if we are to help our military clients well and establish trust with them from the start.

Perhaps the largest difference goes to the heart of how the uniformed services evaluate and promote people. It’s all about leadership.

When a civilian asks a military person what he or she does, the services want the military person to say “I am a commissioned (or non-commissioned) officer on active duty.” The services want their members to think of the rank or grade they hold first.

Of course, people in uniforms have different MOSs (Military Occupational Specialty for the Army), AFSCs (Air Force Specialty Code), or Ratings (Navy).

These indicate the kind of job each person is holds now. My career is typical. I was, at different times, a flight instructor and examiner, an air operations staff officer, a curriculum designer, a public relations officer, an educational instructor, and an education administrator. But the Air Force, and I, always thought of me as a commissioned officer. And the system used to promote me measured my effectiveness as a leader.

Military professionals know leadership is not the euphemism used in so many parts of the civilian world where it is confused with financial support, political gain, or winning a marketplace advantage.

The military leader feels his responsibility very deeply, and personally, to those who help him or her do the mission. Therefore, it’s completely natural for military clients to say their career field is “management” or “leadership.”

What they don’t realize—what may come as a shock—is there are no such specific career fields in civilian life.

Employers create jobs based on a capability they need. They describe that capability with a job title or career field. Helping our military clients find the one career field (from the many they may have worked in on active duty) that is right for them is our responsibility.

If we don’t guide our clients, they will chase one disconnected “opportunity” after another. That’s because job announcements almost always talk about “leadership,” “people skills,” “problem solving,” “strong communications skills,” and the like. But the military client may miss the skill sets unique to each career field.

For example, a non-profit executive director needs all the skills listed in the previous paragraph. But if she isn’t practiced in cultivating the donors, if she cannot build and enlarge upon a market brand, she won’t succeed.

As a result, our military client will always feel unprepared. Endless “tweaking” of the résumé follows. In the end, even if that person does find a job, how satisfying it will be is open to chance. And since so many Americans are unhappy, or very unhappy, in their work, the chances aren’t good.

You have many tools to help military clients match up with the right career field—as they define “right.”

As you use those tools, reassure your military clients their leadership and management will make them successful in their new careers just as it did when they are on active duty.