Go off Script.

The idea of a career change can be exhilarating and terrifying all at once. How and where to start is sometimes the most difficult thing to overcome. To be clear, a change in career is different than development, advancement, promotion, or growth in your current career path. Career change in this context means a signifiant shift in the kind of work you want to do.

There are two reasons to change careers. The first is when you really don't like the work you are doing anymore, and even doing the same thing for more money or responsibility has no appeal. The second situation occurs when change is caused by circumstances beyond your control; layoff, personal situation, or even changes in the industry, as we are now experiencing in the entertainment business.

The traditional approach to career change is to start with an assessment of your "personality type" (e.g. Myers-Briggs, the DISC, the Enneagram.) Once you assess your type you start looking for opportunities that are compatible with your type. The problem with this approach is that personality tests are basic "input/output" methods. Answer questions, get a result, follow that result. People are way more complex. As I've said before, the test I took in high school suggested I was best suited to be a mortician. Perhaps it's not too late for me, but personally I don't think I have the personality for it.

The traditional approach also emphasizes researching and planning a chosen career and then taking steps toward that goal. It is linear in nature. Find the type of job you want, scour various job board sites and then pepper the world with resumes, hoping for the best. The obvious pitfall to this approach is that it doesn't lend itself to success; employers look for experience, even if in their heart of hearts they are really looking for someone with the passion to do the work.

Author Herminia Ibarra advocates a different approach. Rather than the traditional "Plan and Implement" method, she advocates a "Test and Learn" approach:

Although most of us would prefer to begin with a firm answer to the question, "Who do I really want to become?", the best way to start is by asking smaller, more testable questions, such as, "which among my various possible selves should I start to explore now?"*

The Plan and Implement method is like performing a play--take a script, memorize the lines, and then act out the performance. This "Play Script" method is controlled and predictable. You work your scenes, rehearse your dialogue, memorize your blocking, and play your character. If you fit well in the role and anticipate a long run, great. But if the director doesn't like your acting, or you don't get along with your cast mates, or the play closes abruptly, you're faced with starting over. When you invest so much time in your career only to find out you really don't like the work, it can be very discouraging to think about making a change. And if change is brought about involuntarily, it is akin to being "typecast" in a role. People only know you as a certain type, and may not give you a chance to break out of that role.

Enter the "Improv" method, a more agile and ultimately more effective way to navigate the unpredictable stage of career transition. Imagine you're on stage with an improv troupe. You don't have a script, but you do have a general theme or a suggestion from the audience. You listen, respond to your scene partners, and say "Yes and..." This is the essence of Improv, and is the basis of the "Test and Learn" method.

Starting with the general theme, instead of taking a personality test, perhaps try a self directed, self assessment approach. The Career Expansion/Transition resource, developed by the Behind the Scenes Foundation is an excellent tool, and is specifically tailored to the entertainment industry. This comprehensive resource will help you take tangible steps toward exploring new opportunities. Testing new themes in the form of new career opportunities comes from understanding your skills, abilities, and especially your interests, and formulating a new role for yourself. This means you must challenge the identity of the role you have played for so long in your current job. That role is comfortable and safe, even if you're unhappy, because it's what you know. Testing new themes means moving out of your comfort zone into new, improvised scenarios.

One way to move forward is to think about "career adjacent" (i.e. transferable skills) jobs. Essentially this means you look at your skills and explore how they might be adaptable to a new career. Not all career adjacent skills are a good fit. You might be a skilled stage carpenter, but it doesn't mean you would be happy in the construction industry. You might be happier taking that same skillset and applying it to a facilities manager in a theater, convention center, or other public assembly venue where the "jack of all trades" skill is needed. As for taking suggestions from the audience, it's fine to listen to family and friends, but they are prone to making suggestions based on their current knowledge of who you already are ("Hey you're a stage carpenter, you should work in construction!"). You've been typecast, and it's time to break out of that role. Finally, think about the scene before you think about the role. If you want to work in Marketing, instead of declaring "I want to be a Marketing Director," try "I might enjoy the strategic problem-solving aspects of marketing."

Once you start to develop the general themes, it's time to test and learn. Adopt a low stakes exploration method. Instead of making huge, irreversible commitments to a new career, try small, manageable steps. For example, if you want to know if you'd like arts administration, don't enroll in a costly Master's program immediately. Enroll in workshops, attend conference sessions, and above all, have a dialogue with people already doing the work. This is the audience you want to find--the people that can tell you honestly what the work is like and whether you might be good at it.

Ultimately you will need to try out the new job, since there is no way to really learn how the work is done without doing it. If you've headed in a new direction and you find it isn't for you, adopt a "yes and..." approach. Let's say you worked in the marketing department for an opera company, and you've landed a career adjacent position in marketing for an entertainment supply company. If you like the company but you've learned that a role in marketing doesn't suit you, perhaps there are other opportunities within the company that might be a better fit. You've earned a position as a trusted employee, and so you might be able to "yes and..." yourself into a new position, if you are open to the change.

Career change doesn't have to be a terrifying leap into the unknown. By embracing the Improv method, you empower yourself with flexibility, resilience, and the freedom to discover a truly fulfilling path, one collaborative scene at a time.

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*Ibarra, Herminia. Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career. 2003. Harvard Business School Press, p. 18.