Changing careers for the better, spurred by the pandemic

When Melbourne shuddered to a halt in the early weeks of winter, Victorians retreating into their home offices and abandoning the city's once-lively cafe scene, Daniel Wright no longer had a job to do.

Mr Wright, the frontman of local band The Rollercanes, had a day job at music-rights organisations APRA AMCOS and OneMusic, handing out licenses for music to be played at restaurants and cafes. When the opportunity came to him in May to take a redundancy, as his job had, indeed, become redundant, he took it as a chance to more seriously pursue his true passions.

In the last six months, Mr Wright used the temporary stability, offered by the redundancy package and unemployment supplement Jobseeker, to release new singles for The Rollercanes and set up a new music consultancy business.

He is not by any measure alone. The arrival of the Covid pandemic gave people the time and opportunity to take stock in their careers, resulting in some taking a leap to make career changes for the better.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated 2.7 million people were affected by job loss or reduced hours, between March and April, when Australia entered lockdown. Almost 600,000 Australians lost their jobs, and according to analysis by the ABC, the number of jobs at that time shrank by 7.5 per cent. Job losses were the heaviest in the hospitality industry, followed by arts and recreation: both industries dominated by young people.

One out of three Australians are considering changing jobs post-pandemic, a May report from financial services corporation ING found. According to ING, that's three million people that want a complete career change, with one in six feeling insecure in their jobs.

But a change may be in the cards for people not just out of necessity.

Yvonne Kelly is a co-founder of Glow Up Careers, a Sydney-based social enterprise that provides career coaching services. Ms Kelly estimates that across the pandemic, eighty per cent of people have thought about changing their careers, with one to two in five people actually acting on those thoughts. She believes Jobkeeper and Jobseeker have made a huge difference, taking some pressure allowing people to transition more comfortably.

"[The pandemic's] had such a profound impact on people to reassess their whole life," she said.

"In relation to actually doing something, sometimes a redundancy is the trigger to making  big changes because you're forced into it, because otherwise, people like to be comfortable and they'll stick with what they know. I would say one to two in five are actually doing something about it."

She says that there are two groups of people making career changes during this time. The first group was initially forced into short-term changes due to pandemic-related shutdowns. But months later and short-term becomes long-term, it becomes clear the pandemic will not ease up on those industries anytime soon. "So they're now starting to really take a longer-term view as to what types of industries and roles they can use their skills to transition into," Ms Kelly said.

This is the process former Imperial Hotel bartender James Hine went through, when the Melbourne rooftop bar shuttered its doors and sent Mr Hine home to collect Jobkeeper wage subsidies.

At 24, Mr Hine found himself reflecting on his previous roles—in and out of different jobs since leaving university after two years of study, working in disability and healthcare, then two years bartending at the Hotel—and thinking about his future a little more. Thinking about saving up and buying a house, and thinking about finding a full-time role to work towards that.

After months of interviews, aided by the free time offered by the pandemic to fix up his cover letter and resume, Mr Hine landed a role with VicRoads as an Incident Response Officer. He started just three weeks ago, as one of twelve new officers out of 700 applicants.

"I think it's something where I can give back. I enjoyed pouring beers, and people got a lot out of me giving them beers, but I think this is something where I can definitely help a lot of people and improve Melbourne's infrastructure," he said.  

The stability of a full-time government job offered him peace of mind too, something he realised the importance of during the pandemic.  

"I was just at that state in my life where I wanted to find full-time work and something that was ongoing where my position was secure. In hospitality, particularly with what's going on now, they could just say, 'Nah, you've got no shifts this week'. And it's hard to live life calmly with that sort of stress, if there's always a chance that could happen."

The second group Ms Kelly observed, which Mr Wright falls into, are people who have used the time in isolation to reflect and realise they are not happy with where they are. With extra time in lockdown, they can plan and lay the groundwork to throw themselves into what they're really passionate about—"following their dreams", as Ms Kelly puts it.

Since taking the voluntary redundancy in May, Mr Wright has been focussed on setting up time-management systems for the band and the business in the future—spreadsheets, he mentions, is the key. The extra time has given him chance to experiment with audio production, making him more confident in his creativity.

The pandemic has aided him in another way: it became a buffer zone allowing him to assess his own motivations.

"I think that for any professional transition, you always want a bit of time to think. Under normal circumstances, you give yourself such a small amount of time to actually go, 'Am I okay with this decision? I guess I am,' and jumping in. Whereas with this, it's been a really nice period to just go, 'Let's not rush that through. Let's just have a think, let's talk to some people," Mr Wright said. 

Taking stock in what he has accomplished in the six months since taking the redundancy, Mr Wright lists off an impressive number of accomplishments: mixing and releasing singles, making merchandise, applying for a grant... He says he feels well prepared for when Melbourne's music scene roars back to life.

"I feel good! It's exciting to think that in six months, the music industry is going to be in a better place, " he said, "I really just wish we could go out there and play some shows now!"