What alternative career paths have you considered or are interested in?
I found this question very interesting as I have not only considered an alternative career path, I tried several of them, and in different countries.
I worked as a translator and interpreter at Brussels’ committee for refugees and stateless people, as a library assistant during my master education (getting it for free thanks to my job), as a financial analyst of banks and portfolio manager in Amsterdam (five years), as a headhunter in Brussels, as a PHD student with a bursary twice (I dropped out of one in Amsterdam and finished a PhD in England), as a university teacher in media studies, and as university lecturer in marketing. I lived in four different countries, speaking different languages and walking off the beaten path.
I believe that such a rich experience probably allows me to reflect a bit on the topic.
I think that I learned to be anything that I want when I was a teenager first in the Soviet Union, and then in Russia. The old system based in the idea of communism collapsed in front of my eyes, and this led to harsh economic conditions for many people in Russia. We had to queue for bread and milk, and survived almost an entire year on the packages sent to us by the United States, distributed via schools. It contained dry milk, and a piece of disgusting sausage, but at that time it was food, and it was a meal, so that we didn’t die from starvation.
Because of a total change in regime and ideology, many people found themselves out of jobs, or in jobs that were no longer rewarding. Teachers and doctors were quitting their work in masses, in order to earn enough money to feed one’s family. They would try to set up their own business, or start working in a job that had nothing to do with one’s diploma but which would bring food on the table. My own dad and fathers of my friends, they all tried to set up an alternative career path, as continuing in one’s old job wasn’t any longer enough. PhD holders were driving taxi’s, actors would retrain as lawyers, and biology teachers would switch to teaching geography, at better paying schools.
At the age of nineteen, when I left Russia in order to study in Brussels for a degree in languages and translation, I wasn’t looking at the future with trepidation, but with hope. Russia taught me that there were endless possibilities in life. One just needed to work hard and believe in miracles. I got my job as a financial analyst of banks without any diploma or knowledge about finances. I had simply sent a letter to the boss of my future company, very short and concise, and he invited me for an interview, and we connected via discussion of literature. I was offered a job with a permanent contract on the same day.
I also worked as a headhunter. I sent my application letter to a recruiting company in Brussels, as I wanted to move from Amsterdam back to Belgium, where I had studied for my bachelor degree, and they called me ten minutes later to discuss my options. I was thinking of another job in finances, having learned them during my career in finances, but the lady on the other side of the phone, suddenly asked five minutes into the conversation:
“And how about working for us?”
I have to admit that Claire was also quite an unusual person, as I would discover when I got her as a colleague, but her question took me by surprise. Me? Working as a recruiter?
“Yes, yes,” Claire confirmed. “You speak several languages, you are clever and you have the ability to learn new things.”
I accepted her invitation for an official interview, went to Brussels to speak to four different people (including my future boss), and at the end of the day, got a job offer with a permanent contract within six months.
The same was for my PhDs. In life if one wants something, one just needs to try. I thought that I had lost my chance to have a PhD bursary when I quit my doctoral studies at the University of Amsterdam, but the universe proved to be very flexible. I wrote a PhD proposal right after I had emerged from a psychiatric hospital in England, was invited for an interview, and was offered a second PhD bursary, based on my own project of studies. I wanted to analyze Facebook, which I did, and now I am a Doctor of Philosophy.
Cool, right?
I also wonder whether it’s my vulnerability to psychoses that played a role in my life. Maybe, because of my ‘bipolar disorder’ I make a claim at life with more zeal? Maybe it’s because I want to show to the rest of the world that there is nothing really wrong with me, despite being, obviously, a bit weird?
Or maybe it’s just my personality that plays a role. I live each day to the fullest: studying, working, exploring, cooking and chatting with friends. I love life so much that I wake up several times at night, hoping that it’s already the morning and I can resume thinking and reflecting about life.
So yes, I think that one can become anything one wants, one just needs to dare and be able to take risks, and work hard towards one’s dream. Any successful career path asks for dedication, commitment and the capacity to exercise, sometimes, enormous efforts.
That’s all.
(weird me)
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