Career switches - job options and new industries

[hikaru91]

Hi all,

This thread is targeted at those who is contemplating a career switch - to go into a new industry that is very different from our previous job.

Background - worked in law for 4 years. Degree: law

Career switch - contemplating going into marketing/PR, or business development roles. Interests in the following industries: F&B, fashion, e-commerce.

Anyone is welcome to discuss and share your experiences

Just curious: why are you switching out of law? Not everyone can be a lawyer, but almost anyone can choose to work in F&B and ecommerce.

[hikaru91]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just curious: why are you switching out of law? Not everyone can be a lawyer, but almost anyone can choose to work in F&B and ecommerce.

To try something new and gain a different type of skill

[chancellor]

Originally Posted by hikaru91

Hi all,

This thread is targeted at those who is contemplating a career switch - to go into a new industry that is very different from our previous job.

Background - worked in law for 4 years. Degree: law

Career switch - contemplating going into marketing/PR, or business development roles. Interests in the following industries: F&B, fashion, e-commerce.

Anyone is welcome to discuss and share your experiences

Law is very versatile... you can do almost everything better with knowledge of the law.. Especially business stuff.

And everything comes out alot more credible when you apply your jargon/thoughtflow/eloquence to pitching and sales.

Ultimately, where does your heart want to go? There's always pros and cons in each job.

Interesting. I have a background in law too, have been doing legal-related work till now but am having thoughts of trying out something else. People who excel in non-law roles e.g. marketing, sales, bd...etc. tend to do much much better than the *average* lawyer or in-house counsel.

[hikaru91]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Interesting. I have a background in law too, have been doing legal-related work till now but am having thoughts of trying out something else. People who excel in non-law roles e.g. marketing, sales, bd...etc. tend to do much much better than the *average* lawyer or in-house counsel.

Looks like we have the same thoughts.

My biggest concern is transferability of skills between what we do now and where we are entering. What industries are you considering?

The word underemployment comes when one is earning much lesser than he should be. I have done one professional for 20s year and I am looking at the recent hype of re-skilling from data perspective. I have gone through the work skill initiative and the transformation roadmap and ask myself - reskill is fine if I move from one role pays of 10 to another one that pay at 8k. However it makes no sense to move from 10k to 2k at all. The one size fit all is just to ensure all have work to do and not really starve to dead.

In the past, while I have a full time job, I will learn to reskill myself over weekend. It doesn’t make sense to lose your opportunities cost in area you are skilled in, and move into area you aren’t not. It doesn’t means you can’t be successful. However, the probability is against you.

Originally Posted by hikaru91

Looks like we have the same thoughts.

My biggest concern is transferability of skills between what we do now and where we are entering. What industries are you considering?

My observation from MNCs hiring and even public sectors, you seen recruiting of people who are not skilled in the area just because he or she knows the hiring manager. Yes experience is good however in Singapore context it is still who you know. Look into the LinkedIn and JP Morgan profiles and you understand it is who you know and whether he trust you. Don’t buy into the transferability of skills too much, this isn’t what is happening in the industries.

[hikaru91]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

My observation from MNCs hiring and even public sectors, you seen recruiting of people who are not skilled in the area just because he or she knows the hiring manager. Yes experience is good however in Singapore context it is still who you know. Look into the LinkedIn and JP Morgan profiles and you understand it is who you know and whether he trust you. Don’t buy into the transferability of skills too much, this isn’t what is happening in the industries.

I know what you mean. I have friends who gotten top jobs from people they met at a club one night (they are guys, if it matters). Lol. I am working on the people networking bit - because i know most things aren't very difficult to pick up, it's whether people see you as someone whom they can work with on a daily basis.

Also addressing the post above, I am not planning to dive into a marketing executive role for e.g. that pays 2.5k and is targeted at fresh grads or even uni interns, when I have accumulated PQE in a different field. It's a bit dumb to 'start afresh' - you wonder if you have truly wasted the days in law you did. That's why I am trying to find that area of work where my legal experience can matter - not omitting consulting/advisory work in my job search.

[chancellor]

FinTech? Since that's an area where tremendous growth seems to be in the making and finance requires lots of legal oversight for compliance and contractual work?