From Finance to Counselling | Careershifters

What work had been you doing beforehand?    

I used to be the Monetary Controller of a small telecoms firm for 10 years. 

What are you doing now?    

I am now the Finance Director of a charity referred to as the Thalidomide Belief. 

In 2023, after 4 years of coaching, I certified as a counsellor, and lowered my hours on the charity so I may work half a day every week in my personal follow. 

Since January 2025, I am now doing this for one full day per week.

Why did you modify?

I used to be totally depressing in my job in telecoms. 

The individuals had been pretty, and there have been components of the job I loved, nonetheless there was no funding in worker wellbeing.

Actually the whole lot was about maximising earnings. The message from the highest of the organisation was to make workers work tougher, to be arduous on them, with the idea everybody was lazy.

However the truth is, they had been pretty individuals who needed to do job. We had been all the time under-resourced, and there have been no pay will increase for 4 years, not even inflationary will increase.

Making an attempt to encourage individuals in these situations was extraordinarily demanding, and I repeatedly felt I used to be letting individuals down. 

Day-after-day I wore a masks to attempt to be that arduous impassive supervisor that I used to be instructed I ought to be. I believed I hated the job itself, however later I might realise it was the values of the corporate that didn’t match my very own.

I used to be being inauthentic day-after-day, attempting to play the position of somebody that the corporate needed me to be. 

When was the second you determined to make the change?    

I used to be a single mum to my superb daughter, who’s now 25.

I began on the firm in 2009 when she was 9. I had labored extremely arduous to qualify as an accountant from 2003 to 2009, motivated by a need to offer financially for my daughter. 

I desperately didn’t need her to really feel she was lacking out in any manner by having divorced mother and father.

Because of being fully depressed and anxious in my job, and dealing 60+ hours every week, I joined the Careershifters Profession Change Launch Pad in Feb 2015.

It was sensible and I realized a lot of worth however the one impediment I couldn’t get previous was that I had nobody to assist me in paying the payments.

This was the largest challenge for me. I felt that any profession change I made would require me to return to an entry-level job and an enormous drop in pay.

I had no financial savings to fall again on. Regardless of how unhappy and determined I used to be, I couldn’t see a manner round this. I felt completely trapped.

Nonetheless, as time handed, I by no means forgot the issues I’d realized on the course, one in every of which was to attempt issues out that you – ‘act it out, don’t assume it out’.

I might all the time had an curiosity in Psychology. My faculty didn’t provide Psychology GCSEs after I was there, and I believed the one strategy to work on this space was to spend years and a fortune getting a level.

I couldn’t afford both the time or the expense. Nonetheless, in April 2018, I got here throughout an Introduction to Counselling course at an grownup studying centre near my work; it was solely £100 for 10 weeks so I made a decision to attempt it out.

I completely cherished it, and found that I may grow to be a counsellor through a distinct coaching pathway. It will nonetheless take a number of years however can be loads much less cash than a level and I may do it at night lessons.

I began my Stage 2 coaching in September 2018, with the intention to vary careers fully as soon as I certified.

I imagine that it was by means of the early few months of my counselling coaching that I began to grow to be conscious of a few of my very own self-limiting beliefs, and what was really attainable.

A good friend of mine labored for a tremendous charity (the Thalidomide Belief) the place, not solely did they’ve an overarching objective of maximising the standard of lives of their beneficiaries, however that they had a real want to create a optimistic atmosphere for his or her workers.

Sooner or later she mentioned the position of Finance Director had come up. My preliminary response was ‘I’ve by no means labored in a charity earlier than, and will probably be such an enormous step up for me, I received’t be capable to do it’. However someplace inside me, one thing had shifted.

I felt able to push myself outdoors my consolation zone, and I made a decision to offer it a attempt, with a ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ mindset.

Are you proud of the change?  

It is no understatement to say that my life has reworked. 

Earlier than, I used to be completely harassed and depressed, fully depressing and barely hanging on. Now I am comfortable and motivated in my job. 

I work with a improbable bunch of individuals. Everybody genuinely cares and works arduous to make a distinction within the lives of our beneficiaries. 

As a member of the Senior Administration Workforce, we imagine that worker wellbeing interprets instantly into elevated motivation and productiveness. 

It is massively optimistic for our beneficiaries and we actively search to make sure that workers are heard, revered and really feel valued. Ultimately, I did not should take a pay lower to make this modification. 

And, as a self-employed counsellor with my very own personal follow (simply at some point per week for now, however hopefully in time two), I’ve fulfilled a lifelong ambition that I truthfully by no means thought I might ever obtain. 

I am fascinated by the idea and follow of psychotherapy, by understanding how we’re all formed by occasions in our lives and the way we kind unconscious beliefs. 

I am additionally fascinated by how we inform ourselves tales that may each assist and hinder us, and the way, with assist, we will work on ourselves to remodel our personal lives. 

How we will unleash the potential that all of us have inside ourselves to dwell authentically and in methods we might by no means have thought attainable. I am dwelling proof of this! 

I am extremely happy with what I’ve achieved and I completely take pleasure in this new a part of my life.

What do you miss and what do not you miss?

There’s nothing I miss from my previous life pre-charity.

Specifically, I do not miss the mindset of earnings above all else, and on the expense of the individuals who really make issues occur. 

I realise that I am not motivated by cash in the way in which different individuals may chase a bonus.

Whereas I wish to be pretty compensated for the work I do, I am motivated by making a distinction to individuals’s lives, and by being a part of a staff that I respect and by which I really feel revered. 

How did you go about making the shift?

I utilized and was one in every of two candidates who bought to last interview.

I didn’t get it; the opposite candidate was far more skilled within the charity sector and was thought-about a safer pair of arms.

I used to be gutted, however undeterred, and I wrote a letter to the Director of the charity, thanking them for his or her time and expressing my continued curiosity if one thing ought to come alongside in future.

I utilized for one more comparable position and the identical factor occurred: last two candidates and the extra skilled candidate bought the job. While I wasn’t wavering, some of these jobs weren’t ten-a-penny, and some months handed with none alternatives coming alongside.

After which, in early December, I bought a telephone name from the Director of the Thalidomide Belief. The one that’d been supplied the job had tendered their resignation after simply 6 months (they determined it wasn’t for them) – and if I used to be nonetheless , they want to provide it to me.

I jumped on the likelihood. My current employer tried to influence me to remain, providing me an eye-watering pay improve and bonus, which really simply made me realise how a lot that they had been under-paying me up till then!

It wasn’t concerning the cash anyway. I wanted to do one thing that aligned with my values and my genuine self.

So in my position as FD of the charity, I now not really feel the necessity to change careers. I get a whole lot of positives from each roles. Working as a part of a staff on the charity, the social interplay and sense of belonging to an amazing organisation.

Counselling is fulfilling and rewarding but additionally fairly solitary, so the 2 roles complement one another rather well.

How did you develop (or switch) the talents you wanted on your new position?

I had a whole lot of transferable abilities from being a senior supervisor within the personal sector. 

The principle hole was studying how funds differed within the charity sector. Utilizing one of many strategies I realized throughout my Careershifters Launch Pad course, I reached out to somebody my good friend knew. 

He was a companion at a neighborhood auditors who did a whole lot of work for charities. I requested if he’d be keen to share some recommendation on one of the simplest ways for me to make the transition between enterprise accounts and charity accounts. 

He was comfortable to have a espresso and in the long run, he spent effectively over an hour with me explaining the important thing technical variations. He additionally gave me some tips on how I may go away and construct my information additional.

This was so useful, and I am unsure I might’ve dared attain out like this with out having finished the Careershifters course. 

By way of my position as a self-employed counsellor, the tutor on my Introductory course was very useful. I reached out to a neighborhood counsellor to ask them about potential coaching centres close to me. 

It was a totally new space for me and I labored actually arduous within the evenings and at weekends for over 4 years to qualify. Nonetheless, the funding paid off.

What didn’t go effectively? What flawed turns did you’re taking?

I don’t assume I took any flawed turns as soon as I used to be on my manner. 

An earlier model of me may need been delay at being rejected not as soon as, however twice. Nonetheless, I feel I might’ve carried on even when that wasn’t the case. 

How did you deal with your funds to make your shift attainable?    

I knew I may dwell on much less cash than I used to be on, with a purpose to make the change from Monetary Controller to full-time counsellor.

This was my unique intention in 2018 after I began my coaching. 

It will require a little bit of cautious budgeting, however I felt that the change can be minimal and it wouldn’t imply I used to be ‘failing’ my daughter. Ultimately, this wasn’t a difficulty, as my position on the charity meant I didn’t want to cut back my pay in any respect. 

What was probably the most tough factor about altering?

What assist did you get?

I had some supportive family and friends spurring me on. 

What have you ever learnt within the course of?    

I’ve realized that so typically we inform ourselves tales about ourselves that hold us trapped.

We’re able to infinitely greater than we expect.

What do you would like you’d finished in another way?

I want I might not waited so lengthy.

What would you advise others to do in the identical state of affairs? 

Not to surrender. 

It took me some time to seek out my manner. Generally it takes taking a look at issues barely in another way. I believed I hated Finance and that the one answer was to vary careers. 

This turned out to be unfaithful. It was the values of the organisation I didn’t like. I really love Finance now that I am working in an organisation whose values align with my very own and by which I will be fully genuine. 

What sources would you suggest to others?

I imagine that counselling (or in some instances, teaching) can assist us to grow to be conscious of, problem and overcome unconscious self-limiting beliefs that hold us trapped. 

As a part of my counselling coaching journey, I had a whole lot of private remedy and have let go of a whole lot of my previous that was now not serving me. 

Suzanne took half in our Profession Change Launch Pad. In the event you’re prepared to hitch a bunch of vibrant, motivated profession changers on a structured programme that will help you discover extra fulfilling work, you could find out extra right here.

What classes may you’re taking from Suzanne’s story to make use of in your individual profession change? Tell us within the feedback beneath.