Mid-Life Career Crisis & Depression???
itunes: 平井堅, Sentimental Lovers (2004)
It has been nearly a month since I last blog on the New Year's party. Yeah, partying time is over and now I'm back to reality, facing the real work. Indeed, I'm really sick and tired of what I'm doing now. It's definitely a deadend job. I'm 8 months into this job and all I faced a mountain high of shit snowballed from the past. I mean problems that were swept under rug for years, waiting for someone like me who have to lift up the rug, watch dirt and dust blown and scattered into the air and clear them as fast as I can. The burning question here is why my boss can allow such things to happen for years and yet now set deadline for me to clear them???!!!!! So what if I clear them all? What kind of light will I see at the end of the tunnel? What about the things my boss promised me during the interview? Nothing.....the real situation here is not what you have pictured. Yeah all I have to face are the things that were not mentioned at that time. Ironic right?
This is only the first month of 2007 and I'm getting depressed and stressed up over my work and gettin lost with my career direction. In the past, I would just simply find another job and move on. But this time I strongly feel that changing job may not be the best solution. Frankly speaking, I'm most happy to quit my 12 years of Finance & Accounting profession if I can. Realistically speaking, this skill allows me to put bread on the table and live comfortably. Yeah, but I'm not happy at all. We just live once and if I'm not happy, I should change it, simple logic right? Yeah, what nature of job should I move to? For my age, without the relevant industry experience, it's really hard to switch and even if I'm willing to take a massive paycut and start afresh, no one will dare to take me at all. So dead end again.
Hmmm how about doing a Master degree? That may able to make some difference. Yup, I'm interested in treasury. By having a Master in Finance which will compliment my CPA status, it maybe a alternate way out too. What a brilliant idea!!! I wrote an email to my good old friend, CL and asked him for advice since he is in the financial industry....read his reply below:
Hi KL, Thanks for your trust in me. I don't consider myself fully equipped to give advice. I shall try sharing instead, and aim to be as encouraging and as honest as I can be.
First of all, I can understand what you mean by getting tired of doing the same thing day in and day out. It does get frustrating. I left civil service because of this.
Next, definitely learn new things and challenge yourself. Taking a masters or some other qualification will be satisfying personally. You'll have to be prepared though, that it may not be financially enriching in the career sense. It can still be financially enriching if you learn something that will help in personal investing.
The financial industry is a big one. Are you interested in retail or corporate? Commercial banking or investment banking? Insurance, asset management or research? Or maybe credit card issuance? You'll need to figure these out. Check www.vault.com for more details.
Full time study in order to change career. Typically, people go for full time studies for career change in late 20s / early 30s. At that age, employers are still amenable to consider a person for a career change, figuring that he's probably took about 5-7 years after graduation to reach a point of wanting change. Even then, it's tougher in Asia than US. When you finish your studies, you'll be 37. Successful career change stories has happened at that age before, read it in some US MBA brochures. Will it happen in Asia - not sure, pretty high downside risk I'd guess.
One of the programs you considered follows the CFA program. Actually you don't have to go to school to learn that. There are full syllabus available for free on the website. If you pay for books and materials, which I'm sure is much less than full time tuition, you can also get prepared for the CFA. Be warned though - it takes at least 2.5 years. By the time you pass all 3 stages, you'll be 39.
A safer, though not guaranteed route, is to try to get an accounting / financial analysis / internal audit job in a financial services company or indeed any other company, then figure your way forward from there. For that, you can try doing straightaway, without the MSc / CFA. While you're trying, definitely study (part-time recommended - tough, but lower opportunity cost).
Why I recommend part-time: There're lucky stories coming out of full-time studies, and I am very blessed. However, many Asian stories I hear are not as fantastic as what you read about Harvard MBAs. A couple of scare stories about my friends in full time MBA programme. An ex-accountant (mainland China) was jobless for about a year after graduating, and eventually went back to PwC China as some senior or manager. Another ex-HR-manager (Hong Kong) was jobless for about 9 months after graduating.
I must admit the above are short term solutions. Even after you get into a desired industry, desired job, in the long run, you're still going to face disillusion. Either your boss is dumb, or your subordinates are dim, or your peers get promoted over you, or your clients suck. A more sustainable solution, and I've been doing a lot of thinking myself, is to have some extra-curricular interests (horror from school days!)These may be profitable financially (e.g. running your own small business, managing your own retirement funds), or they may be pure activity interest (e.g. dancing ala Richard Gere, build a readership for your blog, write a commentary on The book of Job).
I hope I've fulfilled my objective of being encouraging and honest. I think the above are equally applicable to your friend. Let me know if I've been insensitive.
All the best with the struggle. It'll be tough working it out, but you'll emerge the better for it.
Keep me posted.
Cheers,
CL
Sigh...another deadend. This is really frustrating! It's like getting stuck in quicksand, the more you struggle, the more it drag you in. For the first time in my career, I have never feel lost before. I used to have goals to achieve year after year but in the recent years, everything has come to a standstill, my career is not advancing anymore. What should I do about it? How am I going to do about it? Why am i so uncontended and keep wanting more?
I went to the doctor recently and he suggested that I maybe suffering from mild depression. Wah, that's really something new. I still believe that I'm just facing a periodic emotional downturn, burnt out and a bit withdrawn that's all. Nevertheless, he prescribed some mild tranquiliser for me to have a good night sleep. It will relax my mind and hopefully I may be able to think better after my brain receive a good rest. I have not taken any yet and perhaps I should try it over this weekend.
Sigh....so before I can think of anything constructive to get me out of this situation, I guess the best solution so far is to move on to another job and hopefully a better job.
After all, ambition and aspirations are strictly reserved for the young ones only....
It has been nearly a month since I last blog on the New Year's party. Yeah, partying time is over and now I'm back to reality, facing the real work. Indeed, I'm really sick and tired of what I'm doing now. It's definitely a deadend job. I'm 8 months into this job and all I faced a mountain high of shit snowballed from the past. I mean problems that were swept under rug for years, waiting for someone like me who have to lift up the rug, watch dirt and dust blown and scattered into the air and clear them as fast as I can. The burning question here is why my boss can allow such things to happen for years and yet now set deadline for me to clear them???!!!!! So what if I clear them all? What kind of light will I see at the end of the tunnel? What about the things my boss promised me during the interview? Nothing.....the real situation here is not what you have pictured. Yeah all I have to face are the things that were not mentioned at that time. Ironic right?
This is only the first month of 2007 and I'm getting depressed and stressed up over my work and gettin lost with my career direction. In the past, I would just simply find another job and move on. But this time I strongly feel that changing job may not be the best solution. Frankly speaking, I'm most happy to quit my 12 years of Finance & Accounting profession if I can. Realistically speaking, this skill allows me to put bread on the table and live comfortably. Yeah, but I'm not happy at all. We just live once and if I'm not happy, I should change it, simple logic right? Yeah, what nature of job should I move to? For my age, without the relevant industry experience, it's really hard to switch and even if I'm willing to take a massive paycut and start afresh, no one will dare to take me at all. So dead end again.
Hmmm how about doing a Master degree? That may able to make some difference. Yup, I'm interested in treasury. By having a Master in Finance which will compliment my CPA status, it maybe a alternate way out too. What a brilliant idea!!! I wrote an email to my good old friend, CL and asked him for advice since he is in the financial industry....read his reply below:
Hi KL, Thanks for your trust in me. I don't consider myself fully equipped to give advice. I shall try sharing instead, and aim to be as encouraging and as honest as I can be.
First of all, I can understand what you mean by getting tired of doing the same thing day in and day out. It does get frustrating. I left civil service because of this.
Next, definitely learn new things and challenge yourself. Taking a masters or some other qualification will be satisfying personally. You'll have to be prepared though, that it may not be financially enriching in the career sense. It can still be financially enriching if you learn something that will help in personal investing.
The financial industry is a big one. Are you interested in retail or corporate? Commercial banking or investment banking? Insurance, asset management or research? Or maybe credit card issuance? You'll need to figure these out. Check www.vault.com for more details.
Full time study in order to change career. Typically, people go for full time studies for career change in late 20s / early 30s. At that age, employers are still amenable to consider a person for a career change, figuring that he's probably took about 5-7 years after graduation to reach a point of wanting change. Even then, it's tougher in Asia than US. When you finish your studies, you'll be 37. Successful career change stories has happened at that age before, read it in some US MBA brochures. Will it happen in Asia - not sure, pretty high downside risk I'd guess.
One of the programs you considered follows the CFA program. Actually you don't have to go to school to learn that. There are full syllabus available for free on the website. If you pay for books and materials, which I'm sure is much less than full time tuition, you can also get prepared for the CFA. Be warned though - it takes at least 2.5 years. By the time you pass all 3 stages, you'll be 39.
A safer, though not guaranteed route, is to try to get an accounting / financial analysis / internal audit job in a financial services company or indeed any other company, then figure your way forward from there. For that, you can try doing straightaway, without the MSc / CFA. While you're trying, definitely study (part-time recommended - tough, but lower opportunity cost).
Why I recommend part-time: There're lucky stories coming out of full-time studies, and I am very blessed. However, many Asian stories I hear are not as fantastic as what you read about Harvard MBAs. A couple of scare stories about my friends in full time MBA programme. An ex-accountant (mainland China) was jobless for about a year after graduating, and eventually went back to PwC China as some senior or manager. Another ex-HR-manager (Hong Kong) was jobless for about 9 months after graduating.
I must admit the above are short term solutions. Even after you get into a desired industry, desired job, in the long run, you're still going to face disillusion. Either your boss is dumb, or your subordinates are dim, or your peers get promoted over you, or your clients suck. A more sustainable solution, and I've been doing a lot of thinking myself, is to have some extra-curricular interests (horror from school days!)These may be profitable financially (e.g. running your own small business, managing your own retirement funds), or they may be pure activity interest (e.g. dancing ala Richard Gere, build a readership for your blog, write a commentary on The book of Job).
I hope I've fulfilled my objective of being encouraging and honest. I think the above are equally applicable to your friend. Let me know if I've been insensitive.
All the best with the struggle. It'll be tough working it out, but you'll emerge the better for it.
Keep me posted.
Cheers,
CL
Sigh...another deadend. This is really frustrating! It's like getting stuck in quicksand, the more you struggle, the more it drag you in. For the first time in my career, I have never feel lost before. I used to have goals to achieve year after year but in the recent years, everything has come to a standstill, my career is not advancing anymore. What should I do about it? How am I going to do about it? Why am i so uncontended and keep wanting more?
I went to the doctor recently and he suggested that I maybe suffering from mild depression. Wah, that's really something new. I still believe that I'm just facing a periodic emotional downturn, burnt out and a bit withdrawn that's all. Nevertheless, he prescribed some mild tranquiliser for me to have a good night sleep. It will relax my mind and hopefully I may be able to think better after my brain receive a good rest. I have not taken any yet and perhaps I should try it over this weekend.
Sigh....so before I can think of anything constructive to get me out of this situation, I guess the best solution so far is to move on to another job and hopefully a better job.
After all, ambition and aspirations are strictly reserved for the young ones only....
posted by music-nazi ~ musik mit uns at 23:57
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