They Got Their Dream Job

She Knew She Was Destined For Something More

Jessica was a chronic job hopper, she went from personal assistant to event planner, to sales consultant, and back to personal assistant. She moved from state to state, and even countries. She did love to travel and that was the only thing that she enjoyed about any of these experiences. She simply could not find her place.

Her family and friends were telling her to slow down and settle down. But this was not possible for Jessica. She felt unsettled and struggled to fake it. With every new job offer she thought to herself ‘this is the one, this one will stick’. Six months later she was one foot out the door and sharpening her resume.

Then, one day, at a party she met a couple. Both were pilots. They started telling her about their life and how their work took them around the world. The more she heard, the more her eyes became wider and wider. That is it – a pilot. That was her calling! She felt it in her bones – her stomach started to do flips. She finally knew what she wanted to do and be. It was the perfect blend of work (she needed stimulation and excitement) and travel that she was looking for.

She started off slow. A taster if you will, to see if she did enjoy flying. She took a few private lessons and fell in love…in fact, she was a natural. She wasted no time, she signed herself up for pilot school with Qantas. A course in Commercial Aviation and Air Operations Pilot. But it was not easy to get in. She had to pass a test. Which she failed. That did not stop her, she waited 6 month before the next test and took advantage of the time to study harder. She did not let any set-backs hold her back.

A year later, she was graduating after what was an intense study period. She would stay up until 2am studying, at 6am she would be up for flying lessons…repeat that every day with no days off for a year…she worked harder than she ever did before. But she did it. A few short months after completing her course she was offered a job with an airline, and her dream career came true.

How old is Jessica? She is in her 30s. In her 30s she made the career change. She was the oldest in her class, but she did not care. It simply took her that long to find her calling. But…is it not better later than never at all?

Where There Is a Will, There Is A Way

Charley wanted to become an Engineer. For him, this was his career change from manual labour work. He enrolled into various courses and after time, he started to apply to different roles. He was given an interview for a position as an engineer with a construction company. However, due to his lack of experience he did not pass the testing he was asked to do, and was not given a job offer.

After a few weeks, this company called him and said they do need some people in construction with experience (which he had) and if he wanted to accept another role with them. He accepted it as he needed some sort of work to support his family.

After almost a year, he approached the engineering manager and asked if he could work one day a week for free in his department. The manager approached senior management to discuss the idea. Since Charley was a loyal and hard working individual, they did not want to lose him. So, his request was accepted and off he went, once a week working and learning and getting practical hands on experience at head office.

After a few months, the manager offered him a full time role in the department as a junior engineer. Charley was thrilled. Finally, his dream of becoming an engineer came true.

The road was not straight – he had to accept different opportunities before he could land on the right one. He did the extra work and found ways to learn the practical skills he needed and it paid off.