This is newborn, Sawyer. His mom, Sarah, is the focus of today’s post. She’s one of a number of people I’ve interviewed recently who have made sudden career moves. So….Why did she make the switch, and how did she do it? The catalyst in Sarah’s case – it was time to start a family and the stress of working in television news wasn’t the stress-free working atmosphere she was looking for to make it happen.
Navigating Needed Career Change
In the newsroom, Sarah Bogaty yearned to continue her success as a producer amidst deadlines and a 24/7 stressful working environment. But the former television producer didn’t like the balancing act. “Waking up at three in the morning for work was a grind and it wasn’t fulfilling,” says Bogaty, who wanted to start a family with her husband Ian, but felt she was burning out in the workplace. “I was miserable and it was frightening,” she adds, because the couple was preparing to buy their first home.
Bogaty was hit with a convergence of life changes which required a sudden shift in her career. Life happens, and a dramatic shift generally extends to our working lives, kicking off a journey into unknown territory. For Bogaty, that meant finding a job that allowed for creativity and more flexibility.
It’s not as tall an order as it used to be according to Cali Yost, author of Work+Life:Finding the Fit that’s Right for You (Riverhead/Penguin Group 2005). “The biggest emerging trend is a shift from flexibility being a top-down, one-size-fits-all policy – to a process where the flexibility is tailored to the person and the job,” says Yost. But Yost adds that making such a dramatic shift like Bogaty’s, requires an individual to “consciously revalue the other rewards they are getting from that career change.” For Sarah that meant better hours, being close to home, and working for a company that would allow her to grow and learn new skills.
Keeping an Open Mind
Bogaty was up for the new career challenge. “The process began with a lot of crying, but I knew I had to make the shift,” says Bogaty. Relinquishing her attachment to working in news, she reconciled she had given it a good couple of years and would cherish the good times and friends made. The next step she says, “I stayed open to all possibilities. I didn’t want to limit myself.”
Sarah explored careers that were closely associated to news or the skills she already had acquired. Positions in public relations and marketing were considerations. They would further enhance her writing and people skills.
Seeking advice from friends became the daily activity until she received a phone call from a friend, Christina, with whom she had worked with in news. “Christina raved about how she had found a gratifying position in public relations and how easy the transition was from news,” says Bogaty. After some investigation Sarah landed a job as a public relations manager at Long Island based marketing and research firm, NPD Group.
Sarah Bogaty gave birth to her first child, Sawyer Gabriel, in October. And she has the luxury of caring for her baby boy, knowing that she has a job to go back to. “It’s a fostering environment, and my job is my reward,” she says adding that being appreciated in a flexible and considerate working climate is fun and fosters creativity.
