Second Careers Rock Out. Top Career Changing Tips

Thanks to US News & World Report Contributing Editor and author, Kerry Hannon, for posting this on her Second Verse blog on Forbes.com

Who would think that I’d grace the airwaves with Kathy Valentine, bass guitarist for the all-girl, punk rock/pop band The Go-Gos?
But I did– with KBPK radio host Janeane Bernstein on MomzRockTheHouse.
Career change is cool these days.
Last week, I had the opportunity to do an interview about my new book, What’s Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job, and dole out advice on career reinvention on OC Talk Radio with Bernstein. “I’m one of those second act people,” she told me at the get-go. She’s hip to it.
After graduating from Syracuse University, where she studied TV, Radio and Film at the Newhouse School of Communications, she began her career working for a consulting firm designing workshops in the training and development field for banking clients like Chase Manhattan (now JPMorgan Chase).
When she lost her job in a downsizing move, she supported herself with top-paying freelance assignments, but knew she wanted to do something different. It paid the bills, but she was unhappy.
Her passion had always been radio and television. So she decided to head back to school, and began taking a couple of classes in the Media and Technology program at Boston University, while continuing to work full-time. She eventually earned her doctorate there.
It wasn’t, however, until she went to a Syracuse alumni luncheon, where she met an older woman, an actress, that her new path began to take shape. She told Bernstein about radio and voiceover work and gave her the name of her teacher to contact.
And so it began. Bernstein took voiceover classes at night and loved it. When a training workshop video she was handling for Hewlett-Packard needed a narrator, she stepped up. Soon after, she left the corporate world and started her own radio show at the University of California’s independent station.
Two years ago, she launched her current show with the artistic talent of designer and mommy rocker Judy Davids of the Detroit band The Mydols. It features women artists and industry experts talking about everything from their careers in music, to tips on going green and the challenges of getting your kids to eat healthy, and…how to change careers.
She made the right moves:
• She took her time. No rash decisions.
• She went back to school and enrolled in classes while she still had her full-time work.
• She started one class at a time.
• She networked via her alumni association.
• She followed her passion.

I think you will enjoy our discussion about ways to make a successful career change. Click here to download our talk:
US_News_World_Report_Contributing_Editor_and_Amazon_bestseller_Kerry_Hannon_on_OC_Talk_Radio-334546.html


Follow me on Twitter, @KerryHannon
Kerry Hannon is the author of What’s Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job, available here www.kerryhannon.com.