Service allows individuals seeking career guidance to test-drive job

By Lauren La Rose, Canadian Press (online edition), December 13, 2011, TORONTO. Photo Credit: Pawel Dwulit

Steve Craig was ready to hit the reset button.

The Toronto resident had devoted three years to being a stay-at-home dad when his now-adult kids were younger.

But after splitting from their mother and returning to the workforce, Craig hadn't been making the career advancements within companies he had hoped, nor had he found the type of work he felt truly tapped into his skills.

What's more, without a university degree — which he describes as "one of the great regrets of my life" — he found that a lot of doors had closed in front for him.

"I've been spinning wheels for maybe 15 or 16 years, and it feels like every time I have a chance to get something new, I just take whatever comes up," said Craig.

Several months ago, the 50-year-old put out feelers on Facebook, asking friends for their opinions on the courses he should consider taking to help with his future career.

One suggested that Craig talk to Lisa Taylor, the founder of Challenge Factory, to help him better focus his thoughts on his possible next step.

Craig looked into signing up for Taylor's career program, which offers a variety of packages at different price ranges. Sarah Gledhill, his partner of 12 years, eventually asked to meet with Taylor as well to see if they felt it was the right fit for Craig's needs.

Challenge Factory offers support and guidance to individuals hoping to make a career transition. But rather than leaping feet-first into a new line of work, clients have the chance to dip their toes in by spending time test-driving careers.

The typically one-day experience is with an expert who has been professionally trained in mentoring to give individuals a warts-and-all, bare bones view of a particular job, she said.

"It's a day in the life that's not an idealized day but it's a very realistic day," said Taylor.

"They come away from that with a real sense in their gut, in the pit of their being to say: "You know what? I really loved that' or `I really hated that' or `I loved this part or `I need it to be in a bigger company' or `I liked everything except for a particular aspect.'

"It really gives them that information that then can go back in and inform the coaching work that they've done and they know with clarity what they want to do next."

While principally targeted towards the career-minded, the service also appeals to those seeking to cross items off their bucket lists. Anything related to food and travel rank "quite high on the list," such as those who've always wanted to run a winery, own a bed and breakfast or spend a day working in a bakery, said Taylor.

"While the experience may only be one day, just that opportunity to get out and do something you've always wondered about will fuel that person with all kinds of positive energy for a very long time," she said. "It's a very personal, very exciting and very impactful way to recognize you know somebody to their core."

There are several steps before reaching the test-drive phase. First, individuals are set up with online tools including access to a private blog to record thoughts.

They're then matched up with a coach and start exploring four different areas: what they love, what they are good at, where there is a market and what do they need.

Combining online journalling and blogging, individuals work with a community of others going through the process and with their coaches until they narrow down to two or three potential jobs that meet the four conditions.

Piers Steel, associate professor of human resources and organizational dynamics at the University of Calgary, said getting a chance to test a potential career offers unique benefits to job-seekers.

"A big component of success and job satisfaction is having a fit between who you are and the work you do, and there isn't a lot of good information about that out there," said Steel, author of "The Procrastination Equation."

"A lot of vocational counselling tests — they're antiquated, they're approximations and they're often not that good. So getting first-hand experience really helps to kind of close the deal.

"If you can find something you're passionate about, the odds of being successful at it go up immensely."

Craig, who has been a hockey coach with peewee kids for 10 years, said he feels he has been very happy and successful in jobs where he has been mentoring other people.

He believes the area of work he is likely headed towards is in the communications field, whether it's teaching young people communication skills or communicating to them.

"If there was a job for me that I would really, really enjoy and that would be life-affirming, I'd be doing it now. I mean, I'm not finding them," he said.

"I don't think I'm looking in the wrong places: I think I'm just not focusing properly and it's possible I have to create that job."
Even if he doesn't end up pursuing a specific line of work observed while participating in the test drive, Craig said at the very least he will walk away with contacts and the experience of seeing workers in their element.

"Just getting that one day out there where you're actually dealing with somebody that's doing something if not exactly what you're doing (but) incredibly similar — I mean, there's no way you can lose," he said.

"There's no possible downside to that because you're seeing people live."

While Craig determines what he plans to pursue, Gledhill said she notices that he is not as "scattered" and there is a greater sense of assuredness as he begins plotting his path.

"There's less panic in the way that he's searching," she said.
"Now it's systemic, and definitely there's more focus and he is more confident."