When I was younger, I read that the average person has nine careers in her lifetime.
“That is insane,” I thought at the time. “I am not a cat with nine lives. I’ll always be doing exactly what it is I’m doing now.”
But as I look back on my various careers, I have to confess that whoever first coined the nine-career maxim was truly onto something. In one sense, I’ve had only one career: I’ve always been a writer. But in another sense, my writing skill has transported me through many careers.
I started writing poetry at the age of seven — a career that I relinquished before I’d graduated from the seventh grade. After penning odes to solitude (I was an only child), I moved into journalism at the age of 14 by helping one of my schools restart a dormant newspaper. I was a sportswriter at various school papers. (I can’t believe it either!) By the time I reached college, I was writing feature stories for the daily paper at the University as well as restaurant reviews for a published guide.
I had interned at Conde Nast in Manhattan during the summers and found that I loved working in the promotions department of various women’s magazines, such as Vogue. But I wound up not getting offered a full-time job there — a story for another day.
My first job was as a receptionist at the direct response division of a Fortune 500 New York ad agency. After that, I was promoted to secretary for five busy account people. An assignment for a telephone sales script floated across my desk. I wrote it; it generated $2.5 million for the client. Overnight, I became a junior copywriter.
Counting these as separate careers, then, by the time I was 22 I’d already had six careers: poet, journalist, promotions specialist, receptionist, secretary, junior copywriter — plus I’d been promoted to something called “traffic” prior to the copywriting job, so that would make seven careers.
My eighth career began when I transferred into what was then called “general advertising.” Basically, that’s the field most people consider advertising. That is, I wrote TV spots, radio commercials and print ads for a variety of clients at several different Manhattan-based ad agencies. At a certain point, I decided that I’d rather use my writing skills to help people rather than just using my talents to make companies rich. So I wrote six career books — launching my ninth career.
In 2020, I applied to and was accepted by a rigorous MFA program in Manhattan where I interned for a political website. Today, I’m using my writing skills as a nonfiction editor at the online journal associated with the program. So, I’m well into career 10.
From my experience of reinventing myself for these various roles, I have some ideas about refashioning one’s career, which I hope you’ll find helpful.
1. Listen to your inner jealous child. When your friends talk about their careers, try to assess which stories make you seethe with jealousy. I know there have been times when friends would tell me about an exciting new job offer they received, when I thought, “I can do that.” If you think you can do it, you most definitely can do it! Not only that, you should.
2. Don’t heed anyone who says you can’t. From your well-meaning friends to your overprotective mother, chances are you have some loving naysayers in your life. It’s critically important to block their nagging worries from your mind. For make no mistake: reinventing yourself takes a leap of faith. When you’re taking that leap, you don’t want any Debbie or Dirk Downers on the sidelines screaming about how you’d better “look before you leap,” or you might never attempt the leap.
3. Take baby steps. What can you do right now, today, that will put you closer to your goal? I have volunteered for many organizations including charities and LLCs. In a volunteer role, you can amass completely different skills than the ones you are using at your current job. For example, I’ve learned quite a lot about fundraising and event planning without ever having done either professionally. Still, I know I now could do both well.
4. Find the people who will show you the way. You are not the first person who ever switched careers from marketing manager to hospital administrator. Or from actor to hedge fund manager. Or from investment banker to ballet dancer. All around you, people are making these incredible leaps to pursue their dreams and passions. Befriend these people, and find out how they did it.
5. Keep your day job. Maybe you dream of writing the great American novel. Doing so will take years and years. If you give up your job, you reason, you could churn out the novel in just a year — right? I don’t want to be a dream crusher, so I will just say this: when the rejections roll in, you won’t be as concerned if you’re reading them on a full stomach.
6. Consider going back to school. For me, living a full life means continuing to learn and grow in new ways. My motivation for pursuing an MFA was my desire to take my writing into new frontiers — and the program delivered. Not only does continuing your education help you gain new knowledge, but it opens up a new network of peers and professionals who you can tap for exploring career paths you hadn’t realized were available to you.
7. Start a buddy support group. Hitting roadblocks along the way to your next dream job isn’t the exception, but the norm. You may not get an offer after several grueling interviews, or you may accept a job that you quickly find is a bad fit. Getting together with friends or acquaintances to commiserate when any of you come up empty handed will help take the sting off. Granted, the world won’t always open up its arms to embrace you — but being able to rehash your efforts with a supportive group will help you get over the snub and move on.
Change is inevitable. Even if you feel you’ve landed in the perfect role, it is unlikely that you will want to do the same type of work year in and year out. Your employer is bound to grow in new and even unexpected directions.
Or, you may wake up one day and realize that you’ve outgrown your current position and yearn for something new. Reinventing yourself is a way to keep growing and discovering — whether you reach the average nine careers or, like me, exceed it.
Drop me a line and let me know of your progress.
Vicky Oliver is a leading career development expert and the multi-bestselling author of five books, including 301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions (Sourcebooks 2005), named in the top 10 list of “Best Books for HR Interview Prep,” and Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots (Sourcebooks, 2008).
She is a sought-after speaker and seminar presenter and a popular media source, having made over 901 appearances in broadcast, print and online outlets. Vicky Oliver is the Nonfiction Editor at LIT Magazine, the Journal of the New School Masters in Fine Arts Creative Writing, and teaches essay writing at the New York Writers Workshop.
For more information, visit https://vickyoliver.com/.
Article published in The Relatable Voice Magazine - March 2025.
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