I really enjoy discovering stories about people who completely change their lives. I admire people who make a plan and stick to it in order to make it happen. That is a fundamental philosophy of this blog…to career courageously through life and to not let people tell you that you can’t do something. As I come across stories like this, I will post them here. We can all learn from each other’s experience.

I found this excellent story from the Wall Street Journal Career Journal page. The story tells the story of Christopher Pearsall of Norfolk, VA. Christopher managed to migrate his career from the factory floor of a Ford Motor Plant, to become a Product Manager at Concursive, a business software development company.

After a 10-year stint working at a Ford Motor plant, Christopher lost his job when the plant closed. But instead of getting bitter about the situation, Christopher got BUSY.

Fortunately for him, he had already begun his journey and had completed an associate’s degree by attending classes part time while working full time at the plant. Further, he had already managed to get accepted into a program at Old Dominion University and was pursuing a bachelor’s degree on a part time basis when the word came of the plant closure.

Christopher took advantage of his new free time and immersed himself into school full-time. As part of his “career reinvention” he pursued an internship at the software company which eventually led to a full time position.

The article reveals some missteps Christopher made along the way (misspellings on his resume and a severe reprimand for inappropriate language) and then revealed how he survived each one.

Changing careers is truly a courageous undertaking, definitely not for the unadventurous among us. Christopher stayed focused on his goals which gave him the stamina and willpower he needed to complete the mission. Well done, Christopher, and Thank You for being such a great example of how to career courageously!