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By Terrence McCarthy
Monster Contributing Writer
In 1991, I left the advertising business and started working as a counselor on a locked psychiatric unit in western Massachusetts. Friends and family were perplexed by my career move. Their questions boiled down to this: How in the (work) world does one make that large of a career leap? Previously, I had been the creative director for an ad agency. Others may have failed to make the connection between the two jobs, but for me it made perfect sense.
This wasn’t my first career change. I’d been a newspaper reporter before landing a job as an advertising copywriter. The connection between those two jobs is clear: Both paid me to write.
I got my start in the advertising business in 1981. It was the beginning of the go-go ’80s. Business was booming. Banks were rolling out new products: individual retirement accounts, certificates of deposit and an array of personal checking accounts. Bank marketing directors needed help -- the kind of help ad agencies offered. The agency for which I was creative director had three banks on its client roster.
By the end of the decade, however, the go-go had gone-gone. Banks were merging and closing -- and ad agencies were too. The agency I worked for merged with a larger one. The copywriting was on the wall. I knew change was coming, so I made a decision: I would leave the advertising business and try something new.
I knew someone who knew someone who worked at a large teaching hospital. I called this person, the hospital's director of nursing, and asked him if I could come in and speak with him. We talked, and he was impressed with my life experience. The hospital needed counselors, so he set up an interview with the psychiatry department's nursing supervisor for me.
In the interview, the nursing supervisor asked: “What would you bring to the job? What are your strengths?”
I have a degree in English and journalism. I’d been a reporter. I’d managed the creative department of a small ad agency. How could I possibly transition from the thickly carpeted corridors of the ad business to the scuffed linoleum floors of a psych ward?
The answer I gave outlined skills I’d learned in both the newspaper and advertising businesses. Working as a counselor would require me to build rapport -- and build it quickly -- with my patients. Counselors need to persuade patients to change their behavior. Trust is the key. The patient needs to feel comfortable and safe with the counselor.
I was familiar with this process from my past work experience. As a reporter, I needed to get sources to trust me. Without that trust, they would not give me the information I needed. Interviewing and building rapport also were important factors in succeeding in the advertising world. I managed a team of artists and writers. Getting them to see things my way required the skills of a salesman. As creative director, it was my job to present campaign ideas to clients. Presenting well meant making a sale.
And of course, psychology plays a huge role in selling anything, from toothpaste to a treatment plan. I didn't have a degree in psychology or social work, but I had a lot of experience communicating. Effective advertising -- advertising that sells -- changes buying behavior. A good copywriter, like a good counselor, knows what tone of voice to use. He knows when to be serious and when to use humor. I had strong interpersonal skills as well.
Looking to my past experience for synergies with my prospective job helped me identify my transferable skills. I sold these skills both on my resume and in my interview to get the job.
I worked in advertising for nine years and spent 11 years as a counselor. I didn’t make as much money as I did as an adman, but the psychological income more than made up for the difference. The work was rewarding.
Four years ago, my wife and I semiretired and moved to the south coast of Rhode Island. Based on my experience on the psych unit, I landed a part-time job working at a group home. What is that like? Think One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest meets “The Waltons.”
Last month, my position there was eliminated. So here I go again -- moving on. I don’t know what’s next, but I do know this: I’ll use what I’ve learned in past jobs to make a go of it in my next one.
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