Member Article

The rise in career swaps

As time passes, it appears as though the working population are becoming less satisfied with their first chosen career paths. This is leading to an increase in the number of people switching careers at some point during their working life.

Back in 1987, The Conference Board found that 60 per cent of people were satisfied with their careers; this figure slowly declined to 40 per cent. With trends suggesting that this figure will continue to fall, it may be this dissatisfaction driving people to take diversions later in life, often resulting in a career change.

Money may be another factor leading people to consider a change in career. After many years, people may find a career which once provided them with enough money to fund their lifestyle no longer does so, particularly if they now have families.

Education has an important role to play when it comes to career changes, particularly as the range of courses for adults continues to expand. With short courses and part-time learning on the rise, it is no longer necessary that a person quit their current job in order to follow a different professional dream. There is a slow realisation that age is almost irrelevant when it comes to the possibility of changing your career.

The stigma around mature study is something that LSBF’s CEO and Rector, Professor Maurits van Rooijen, addressed in a recent article.

He said: “Currently, too many young people who decide to skip higher education don’t consider accessing education later in their careers. There needs to be greater acceptance and encouragement of mature study - it should be the norm for people who didn’t want to move into higher education straight out of school to be able to access it later in their life.”

The MBA is one great example of a qualification which can help people change career paths - or improve within the career they already have. The best thing about the MBA is that you are often able to study entirely online. This makes it much easier to coincide higher education with other commitments, whether they be personal or professional.

As the MBA concentrates on a wide array of topics relating to business management, there are no limits as to the industries you can enter with this prestigious qualification. Not only could it help with a change in career, but it could also make a big difference to the position you fill when you enter a new company.

Worried about taking a risk? If you’re in need of any reassurance that a career change can turn out for the better, there are plenty of high profile examples. Victoria Beckham is arguably the best example; she topped the list of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs last year, with her worth valued at an impressive £210 million.

While money may be a factor driving people towards career change, it may also act as a prevention, particularly if access to higher education is required. Professor van Rooijen, however, has no doubt that higher education will be worth the investment in the long-run.

“I fully understand the cost implications of a huge expansion of access to higher education. But higher education is about more than just money,” he said. “It’s about the future of our society. Higher education is never going to be cheap, but everyone in society can see the wider social and economic benefits that it brings.”

Source: http://www.lsbf.org.uk/blog/opinion-features/pros-of-mba-prof-maurits-responds-to-observer-article/87174

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by InterActive .