Behind the scenes of Fred Purcell’s career transformation: How a career leap of faith can make you fly

Are you feeling stuck in your industry?

This podcast provides an inspiring example of how you can make dramatic change in your career and find genuine fulfilment. That's what Fred did.

When I met Fred, he was a senior manufacturing engineer in the sugar industry, who often worked on continuous improvement projects. He was ready to make a change but could not see a clear path out of manufacturing. He received job and interview offers and mentoring advice, but these were all for another manufacturing role. And Fred knew that wasn't the right direction for him to continue in.

Are you like Fred? Do you look at job search websites, like the look of roles but are unsure on how to bridge the skills/experience gap and submit an application that will hit the mark? This interview with Fred will inspire you and show you what really is possible.

I encourage you to listen to the whole discussion. However, if you want to jump straight to the bits that particularly interest you, I've listed some topics and times below.

• 5:30 Discover Fred's secret weapon for job success
• 7:00 Find out whether Fred had loads of ideas or NO idea about his next dream life best fit role
• 9:00 Hear Fred's why and top 5 strengths that helped him to transition from manufacturing to community/international development
• 9:40 Mini-experiment #1: How Fred went from dreading networking to (3 months later) really enjoying it, and what changed his mindset
• 15:25 Discover how Fred came to speak to the director of an agency he wanted to work for
• 19:00 How networking gets you in front of people before the emerging roles have been decided
• 22:30 Mini-experiment #2: a 4-day intensive international aid immersion
• 27:58 Mini-experiment #3: Masters in International Development
• 28:30 The immersion: the Masters' experience as a mature aged student
• 33:20 Mini-experiment #4: Volunteer experience in Nepal
• 38:00 My simple 3-step mini-experiment framework to help you gain clarity and momentum
• 39:00 Fred's biggest worry with his career change and how he overcame it
• 44:00 How Fred's colleagues reacted to his significant career change
• 45:22 Benefits of looking at career change sooner rather than later, and how giving yourself 12 months to make the transition can take some of the pressure off
• 48:38 Fred's top tips for career change
• 49:30 Fred's top life tip
• 51:00 How and why fortnightly accountability during the change process served Fred well.

We spend around one third of our lives working. Are you genuinely happy with what you're doing?