Susan Sommerville enjoyed working as a teacher, first to young children, then later to teenagers. She is, however, the first to concede it could be hard work: “It is exhausting. You give so much of yourself.”

苏珊.萨默维尔(Susan Sommerville，见上图)喜欢老师这份工作，她最开始教幼童，后来教青少年。然而，她是第一个承认执教是个苦差事的人：“这份工作令人疲倦。你会过于投入其中。”

Despite the sense of purpose the work gave her she found herself feeling wistful when she watched the children leave for university education and careers. “I wondered if I could cut it in the wider world.” She hankered after experiencing “something different”.

尽管这份工作让她的生活有目标，但她发现，目送孩子们离开去上大学和工作让她伤感。“我想知道，我在一个更广阔的天地里能不能行。”她渴望体验“一些不同的东西”。

So at 30, she quit her full-time job to go back to university to study occupational psychology. While she was doing research at PwC, the professional services firm, as part of her Masters degree, she came across the role of organisational consultant — an area which she is still working in today at the age of 45.

因此，在30岁的时候，萨默维尔辞掉了全职工作，回到大学学习职业心理学。在完成硕士学位的过程中，她到专业服务普华永道(PwC)进行研究，偶然发现组织顾问这种职位——直到今天，现年45岁的萨默维尔依然在这个领域工作。

Ms Sommerville applied and was hired. In the early days, she was plagued by imposter syndrome. She recalls worrying about the “clever people seeing through me: would I be found out?”

当时萨默维尔申请了工作并且被聘用。在工作的初期，她被“冒牌货综合征”困扰。她回忆，当时的自己常常担心“被聪明人看穿：我会被揭穿吗？”

Working for a large company was a big adjustment. “I was shocked by the idea I could get a bonus for having a good year. Being a teacher, the motivation is intrinsic.”

在一家大公司工作是一次重大转变。“如果这一年干得不错，我能拿到奖金，当时这个想法让我震惊。作为教师，动力源于内在。”

Yet other aspects of the new career, Ms Sommerville took in her stride: presenting to her peers was far less stressful than a room full of teenagers or seven-year-olds, after all.

然而，萨默维尔能从容应对新职业生涯的其他方面：毕竟，在同事面前做演示，比在一屋子青少年或者7岁儿童面前讲课轻松得多。

Ms Sommerville recommends teaching as an alternative career to her colleagues. If they were to take her advice, they would join Lucy Kellaway, the Financial Times columnist, who last week announced that after 31 years she was retraining to become a maths teacher — and imploring others in their 40s, 50s and older to follow suit.

萨默维尔建议她的同事在转行的时候考虑教书。如果他们听从了她的建议，他们就加入了英国《金融时报》专栏作家露西.凯拉韦(Lucy Kellaway)的行列。在为英国《金融时报》工作31年后，凯拉韦不久前宣布她将接受再培训并转行做一名数学老师；她还力劝其他四五十岁或者更年长的人士效仿。

The dream of quitting one career for something entirely different is an intoxicating one. Yet the reality is far from straightforward, says Marc Freedman, founder of a social enterprise that advocates “encore careers”, or new chapters in later working life that promote social value and purpose.

放弃一段职业生涯，去做一些完全不同的事情，这个梦想令人心驰神往。然而，现实远非这么简单，一家支持“职场再出发”(encore career)的社会组织的创始人马克.弗里德曼(Marc Freedman)说。所谓“职场再出发”是指，人们在职业生涯的后期开启新篇章，从事有益于社会、有意义的工作。

“Getting from one career to another is a painful and fitful process. It’s confusing; we don’t have a set of institutions like universities [do with teenagers] to guide older people.” He wants more organisations to help mid-career workers retrain such as Ms Kellaway’s Now Teach pilot.

“转行是一个痛苦和时断时续的过程。这个过程令人困惑；我们没有像（为青少年提供指导的）大学那样的一整套机构，来指导更年长的人们如何转行。”弗里德曼希望更多机构能够帮助处于职业生涯中期的人们接受再培训，比如凯拉韦所在的Now Teach（现在教书吧）开拓性项目。

Those who change careers successfully appreciate that the transition might take a long time, he says. They also explore multiple options before investing in training. He advises saving money for a transition period.

弗里德曼说，那些成功改换职业的人明白，过渡或许需要很长时间。这些人在投入培训前还会探索多个选项。弗里德曼建议为过渡期储蓄一些资金。

Work experience, and talking to people doing the job to which you aspire about the reality of their work is important, rather than making a leap into the unknown. Mr Freedman advises career-changers “to try before they buy” through internships, volunteering or board roles. “You need to roll up your sleeves and try it out.”

重要的是工作经验，以及与目前做着你希望从事的工作的人们谈一谈这份工作的现实情况，而不要纵身一跃投入未知世界。弗里德曼建议改换职业的人通过实习、无偿服务或者董事会职位“先试后买”。“你需要亲自试好。”

Too many people, Mr Freedman says, do not put enough effort into exploring alternatives. “They dream of working as a lawyer or a banker, then the clouds part and they pursue their dream without breaking a sweat. It’s a romantic fantasy.”

弗里德曼表示，太多人没有花费足够的精力去探索各种其他选择。“他们梦想着当律师或者银行家，然后云开雾散，他们不费吹灰之力就追寻了自己的梦想。这是一种浪漫的幻想。”

Jane Clarke, director at Nicholson McBride, a business psychology consultancy, says the most important thing is to “understand why you’re unhappy” in your job. “People don’t think hard about it. It’s important to see which bits you like and analyse the company, people at work, work-life balance.” It is also important, she says, to understand where you get your identity from. “For some people it is really important to say ‘I work for X’ or am a ‘Y’.”

商业心理咨询机构Nicholson McBride的负责人简.克拉克(Jane Clarke)表示，最重要的事情是“了解你为何（在现在的工作中）不快乐”。“人们不会认真思考这个问题。认识到你喜欢哪些部分，分析企业、同事和工作-生活平衡很重要。”她说，理解你从何处获得自己的身份认同也很重要。“对于一些人来说，能够对人说我在某处工作或者我是做什么的真的很重要。”

Ms Clarke suggests that those who want to make a move but have no idea where they want to go should scrutinise their entire career and pick out components that made them happy.

克拉克建议，那些想要迈出这一步但又不知道该往哪个方向去的人应该仔细审视他们的整个职业生涯，挑选出让他们感到快乐的部分。

Becca Warner of the Escape School based in the City of London, which runs programmes for career changers, says common catalysts include having children, losing a parent and reaching an age milestone. “This is often a prompt to make people think about what are they doing with their days. What legacy am I leaving?”

位于伦敦金融城、为改换职业者提供帮助的Escape School的贝卡.沃纳(Becca Warner)表示，促使人们做出这一选择的常见契机包括有了孩子、父母一方去世和达到某个年龄阶段。“这通常会促使人们思考，我在如何度过自己的一生，我将为这个世界留下些什么？”

Two macro trends should work in favour of older career changers. The first is that more people are expected to work for longer than previous generations due to longer lives and reduced pension savings. The second is the rise of self-employment and contract work, which allows some to inch their way into a new career as a freelancer. “You can dip your toe in,” as Ms Warner says.

两种宏观趋势应该有利于更年长的改换职业者。第一种是，由于人们的预期寿命延长、养老金储蓄减少，更多人将会比之前的几代人工作更长的时间。第二种是，自我雇佣和合同工作的兴起让一些人能够慢慢以自由职业者的身份走上新的职业道路。“你可以先小试一把，”沃纳说。

Geoffrey Stanford has made multiple changes, from the army to consultancy to investment banking to teaching. When he was a banker, he was cautious about being dependent on a high salary. “People get locked into mortgages. My wife and I were clear that we weren’t going to get sucked into that lifestyle.”

杰弗里.斯坦福(Geoffrey Stanford)转行过很多次，从军队、到咨询公司、到投行再到教职。斯坦福在当银行家的时候就很注意，不让自己变得依赖高薪资。“人们被按揭贷款困住了。我妻子和我都很清楚，我们不愿被卷入那种生活方式。”

A change in income or status, or stints retraining, can affect relationships. If your partner believes fine dining is important then they might feel disappointed on their tenth night of baked beans on toast. Mr Stanford advises “keeping an open dialogue with your partner, not just about your job but what’s important. You have to be clear.”

收入或者地位的变化，或者再培训时期，都可能影响与伴侣的关系。如果你的伴侣认为精致的饮食很重要，那么当他们第十天晚上只能吃烤豆子配吐司，他们可能会感到失望。斯坦福建议“与你的伴侣保持开诚布公的对话，不仅仅谈论你的工作，也谈论什么是重要的。你必须表明自己的想法。”

Research by the Escape School found people who left jobs to pursue dreams reported higher levels of fulfilment and purpose. However, despite often taking a hit on income, they did not express dissatisfaction about money. “People recalibrate their relationship with money. They adapt,” says Ms Warner.

Escape School的研究发现，那些离职去追寻梦想的人们反映，他们的满足感更强、感觉自己的生活更有目标。尽管他们的收入通常会减少，但他们并没有表达金钱方面的不满。“人们重新调整了他们与金钱的关系。他们适应了，”沃纳说。

This was certainly the case for Sally Arnold who quit law to become a hairdresser almost 10 years ago. After working in Linklaters’ private equity team and then in-house at Unilever, the consumer goods company, she realised law was making her unhappy.

对在近10年前离开法律业成为美发师的萨莉.阿诺德(Sally Arnold)而言，事情就是如此。先后在年利达(Linklaters)律师事务所的私募股权团队以及消费品企业联合利华(Unilever)的法务部门工作后，她意识到，法律让她感到不快乐。

While the hours at Unilever were better than the “relentless” days at Linklaters, she could not envisage a future as a lawyer. The tipping point came after she split up with her boyfriend and, having sold her flat, found she had enough money to finance a course at Vidal Sassoon’s hairdressing school. Her budget was severely reduced.

尽管在联合利华工作不像之前在年利达那样“没日没夜”，但阿诺德无法想象自己作为一名律师的未来。转行的契机在她和男友分手之后出现了。卖掉公寓的阿诺德发现，她有足够的钱在维达尔.沙宣(Vidal Sassoon)美发学校学习一门课程。当美发师让她的预算大幅减少。

“It’s amazing how you can adapt. It was hard having to be careful all the time. I earn so much less than I used to but I’m so much happier. You can adjust your lifestyle and spending. Lots of people want to change career but feel constrained. It’s perfectly possible to [make do with less].”

“你想不到你有多能适应。过去不得不时刻小心，这很困难。我比我过去挣得少多了，但我也快乐多了。你可以调整你的生活方式和支出。很多人想要改行，但感到自己被捆住了手脚。（用更少的钱生活）是完全可能的。”

Career changers must be prepared to steel themselves against peers projecting their own anxieties and envy. “People got very defensive,” says Ms Arnold who was told hairdressing was a “waste of a brain” and “there’s no money in it”.

改换职业者必须做好准备，应对将自身的焦虑和嫉妒投射出来的同侪。“人们会变得非常戒备，”阿诺德说，她被告知美发“浪费智商”又“不挣钱”。

Going back to study when your peers are younger can be a huge adjustment. Jason Warren, who trained to be an architect with students 10 years younger, found the experience invigorating.

回到学校学习，并且发现与你一同学习的人年纪都比你小，这可能是一种巨大的改变。贾森.沃伦(Jason Warren)与比他小10岁的学生们一同接受培训，成为了一名建筑师，他发现这段经历令人鼓舞。

“I lived for doing the course. I wasn’t taking days off with a hangover. It meant a lot more to me being a student once you’ve lived in the real world.”

“我当时渴望参加学习，不会因为宿醉而请假。在现实世界中生活过以后，重返校园当学生对我的意义比以前大得多。”