Reinvent Your Career Expo visits Brisbane
By Michael Lund
If you are stuck in a job you hate, are bored, your career is going nowhere and you don’t know what to do, then Nicholas Ricciuti has a plan.
He’s the managing director of the Reinvent Your Career Expo that’s coming to the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre next weekend.
Ricciuti says most career expos are aimed at school leavers, graduates and those taking their first step on a career ladder.
His expo is for those who are already working but may not be happy with what they are doing.
“It’s for people of an age where they have reached that point in their life where they are either bored, stagnating, they’re frustrated or returning to the workforce or looking to totally reinvent themselves,” he says.
He reckons about 70 per cent of the Australian workforce is unhappy at work.
Research commissioned by CareerOne.com.au found only 38 per cent of Queenslanders say they are satisfied with their current job.
Ricciuti says some people are pushed into a career that was not their choice and they later discover it is not engaging.
“The first thing that happens is your mum and dad tell you what to do,” he says.
“They say, `You’re great with numbers so you should be an accountant’.
“And you wake up five or 10 or 15 years later saying, `Why am I doing this? I don’t actually like it’.”
By that time, though, most people find they are in a relationship and maybe have children and a mortgage to pay.
These personal commitments make it difficult for them to consider changing their career path.
But Ricciuti says staying in a job you hate can lead to frustration
and resentment, which can have a negative impact on both work and home life.
“We don’t all measure success by how much money we make,” he says.
“Of course you’ve got to pay your bills, but a lot of people want to be happy in their work life because they find being happy at work actually rolls into their leisure life and family life.”
The expo, sponsored by The Courier-Mail, brings together a range of training and education bodies, and potential employers who are on the lookout for new talent.
Some are coming from interstate, such as the South Australian Police and the ACT Government, all keen to tap into Queensland’s skilled workforce.
The expo also includes more than 30 career counsellors and other consultants who can help to advise people on their career profile and any alternative career options.
It’s mainly aimed at those in the 25 to 54-year demographic but Ricciuti says people of any age should come along if they are looking for a change.
“We’ve had accountants become teachers, we’ve had white-collar workers break out of the corporate arena and we’ve had blue-collar workers upgrade their educational qualification and get in the white-collar arena,” he says. “There’s hundreds of reinvention stories.”
Ricciuti says most people do not know what options are available to them outside their own career.
“I normally find that 90 per cent of what people believe to be true about industries, organisations and employers is inaccurate,” he says.
“It’s basically a misconception that they’ve acquired either through interaction with that company or industry or from advice they’ve been given by friends or family.”
The expo gives people a chance to get information from employers looking for people who already have experience in a workplace.
“It’s amazing how much more we can do as individuals when we’re in the right profession,” he says.
Reinvent Your Career Expo, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, March 26 and 27, 10am-4pm. Admission $10 a day or $15 for two days.
Article from The Courier Mail, March 2011.
