Reinvention: Overview : SBS Insight

Overview

How do you reinvent yourself in a time of recession?

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If you've been laid off or made redundant do you take this as an opportunity to do the job you’ve always wanted to do?

And does what we do, chiefly define us as individuals?

Take the Federal Government's Job Outlook career quiz.
10 simple steps to 'Reinvent your career'.

More and more people are being forced into questioning how they spend their working lives as the global recession bites. There are fundamentals like bills, mortgages and school fees to be paid, but even with these pressing issues, some people seize the opportunity to make dramatic changes in their working lives, no matter what the cost to their families.

Tune in as we bring together writer and philosopher Alain de Botton author of new book 'The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work'; people who've reinvented themselves with all the consequences and those who dream of doing it.

Some of our guests will be available for you to talk to after the show on our Live Chat.

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Meet the Guests

Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton is a writer specialising in what’s been called 'the philosophy of everday life'. His latest book, 'The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work', is "a hymn to the intelligence, peculiarity, beauty and horror of the modern workplace and, not least, it’s extraordinary claim to be able to provide us, alongside love, with the principal source of life’s meaning". Alain believes recessions make us re-evaluate risk.

Nic Ricciuti

Nic Ricciuti set up and runs 'Reinvent Your Career', bringing people looking to change their jobs together with employers looking to hire (yes they still exist). His focus is on what he's termed 'Real Age' workers, reflecting the likelihood that by 2016 most of the workforce will be 45 and over. Nic believes reinvention has become part of modern work. The trick though is to find what you're passionate about.

Michael Blinkhorn

Last year Michael Blinkhorn spent his working days marketing face cleanser for teenagers. But retrenched in January he took the plunge and set up a new business, training people in the fast growing sport of paddle boarding. He says it’s the best thing that ever happened to him.

Stephen Morgan

When Stephen Morgan started work at the Mitsubishi factory when he was 15 years old he thought he would be working there for life. But when he was made redundant last year, he made the shift to aged care – much to the surprise of his work mates. He absolutely loves working with older people and hasn’t looked back since.

Danielle Trent

Danielle Trent loved learning about cars from her grandfather but never imagined there could be a career in it for a woman. But when her eight years in the finance industry came to an end last year and jobs in her field dried up she swapped her calculator and smart suits for overalls and axle grease.

Jan Cope

Jan Cope left a career in the corporate world to pursue her dream of setting up a café. She discovered the day-to-day grind of running a café wasn’t her calling and she has since dusted off her powersuit and returned to work in HR.

Dean Robinson

Dean Robinson left his $400,000 - $600,000 a year role in the corporate world to retrain as a high school teacher earning $52,000. He has discovered than teenagers can be far scarier than anyone he faced in a boardroom.