What sparked your career change?

COVID-19 and the associated downturn of the aviation industry

What work were you doing previously?

Boeing 737 pilot 

What are you doing now?

Risk Insurance Adviser 

Why did you change jobs?

I wanted to give myself certainty in a new industry as I could foresee aviation wasn’t going to return to what it was for a long time. With little desire to uplift my family and move to a new city and having had a long term unscratched itch to try self-employment once an opportunity presented itself I felt it was a natural choice to start down a new path. 

What process did you go through to decide to change?

A string of career coaching and soul searching while holding down a casual job labouring just to remind myself of what some manual work looks like

How did you go about making the shift?

Enlisting the opinion and expertise of the LME Coaching team then going headfirst into the new role without looking sideways. This gave me certainty and removed distractions from looking elsewhere and helped remove doubt from decisions. 

What help did you manage to get?

I had good conversations with friends that have businesses, conversations with Richard as well as a heap of positive self talk!

What was the hardest part of changing careers?

Managing friends and family doubt around leaving my old hard earned career behind. This led to some periods of self doubt that needed to be managed and quashed. 

What have you learned in the process?

The immense reserves of resilience most of us hide away that we can call upon when our livelihoods require it. 

Are you happy with the change?

I am happy to be laying down a path that will give me certainty into future years where my old life didn’t. 

What do you miss and what don’t you miss?

I miss the regular paycheck, nothing else. 

What do you enjoy most about your new career?

People contact. Being given the opportunity to utilise my interpersonal skills more widely and working in an area that could potentially be life-changing. 

What do you wish you’d done differently?

Although I needed to give myself the time to explore options and reassess what would work it would have been great to jump into my new role 6 months earlier!

What 3 tips would you give advice to others in the same situation?

Back yourself

Don’t listen to the doubters

It will all work out in the end, just give yourself time