Ness Stonnill - A Career Transition Story

I first met Ness at University. It is funny, we were just talking about how we studied the same degree, set off on different career paths but both on the committee for the Australian Marketing Institute, Emerging Marketers and always supporting each others endeavours to come together after a decade doing our own thing to apply for a shared role (might actually share a post on how we did that shortly as it is quite a story). And now, we are both doing our own thing in a similar space.

Ness shares how she moved from a high level marketing role to starting her own business, which supports people and businesses to find practical, real solutions to make flexible work work - all while trusting the process and being open-minded.

Tell me, what did you want to do at the very early stages of your career? What was your big career goals then?

In the final year of my B.A (Comms & Media Management) I started working as a Marketing Assistant after doing some work experience in a medium size finance business. I really enjoyed the variety of marketing and communications work in this role and my initial goal was to gain as much experience as possible to expose myself to a range of tasks, skills and people.

My longer term goal was to become a CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) or CEO, leading a team and organization with a good purpose and values that resonated with me personally. I really enjoy working with others, inspiring people to do their best, and one of my uni lecturers shared many stories about leadership which really sparked an interest in me to pursue a career in good leadership.

Can you tell me how you started your career and what you could see was your career trajectory?

As I said above, I started my career wanting to gain as much experience, and broad experience, in marketing, communications and business.

I was open minded about my career path. I wanted to work for a big corporate at some point, and I wanted to move (from Adelaide) to a city like Sydney or London in my twenties where I thought it would be a change in lifestyle and greater career opportunities for me in marketing. At age 27 I moved to Sydney with my now husband and we both experienced some great opportunities, professional development and career growth.

What are you doing now?

To sum it all up, I’m founder of Job Pair, a flexible work pioneer and coach, marketer and a mum.

After 1.5 decades of working in brand and marketing leadership roles for big and medium-size corporates I’d experienced all types of flexible (and inflexible) work practices, cultures and thinking. I realised I’m passionate about helping people and businesses thrive, and there's a real need for helping them bring flexible work to life in all sorts of positions and professions. So I founded Job Pair a few years ago to provide practical, real solutions for individuals and businesses to make flexible work work. Our solutions include individual and team training, coaching, job share matching, resources, sharing real stories and more.

As founder and a flexible work coach, my work involves leading and delivering on these solutions, growing Job Pair’s brand and business, and helping people bring their flexible work dreams to life through coaching and training.

Was there a pivotal moment when you decided to change your career direction? Or what made you decide to change your career?

Yes, I’d say there were two pivotal moments.

About 8 years ago I started questioning if working in high pressure corporate marketing, being ‘always on’, was what I wanted long term. Then a few years later my health was not in a good place (a result of ‘always on’ and stress) and I was trying everything I could to get better. In the end I had to resign from work to take a break to rest to regain my wellbeing. Whilst this was a hard decision at the time, it’s been a life changing one. My work now is more flexible and fulfilling, and it supports my wellbeing and desire to help others.

The second pivotal moment was in founding Job Pair. I’d coached so many family, friends and colleagues through flexible work conversations and negotiations over several years, and I’d seen the benefits of flexible work and costs of inflexible work. After two of my own very enlightening flexible work experiences I realised the real need for helping people and organisations making flexible work work, and my passion to help people and businesses thrive.

Did you know it was what you wanted to do or did you have to do some exploring to find your passion?

When I started to think about a change I read a few books and explored a few ideas, yet nothing seemed right at the time. I’m a believer that ‘things happen for a reason’ so I trusted that in time it would come to light if I remained open-minded, and explored opportunities and life. Although sometimes I felt frustrated that I hadn’t yet found my new ‘passion’.

It was through exploring an unexpected opportunity to vary up my work, skills and exposure to new ideas that the idea for Job Pair was born. I knew as soon as I had this realization that this was it.

Was there any key steps you took to help navigate you towards your new direction?

What was most helpful was staying open-minded, trusting the processes, exploring work and non-work opportunities, reading other peoples’ stories and continuing my own professional and personal development.

What has changed for you since transitioning your career (feelings, well-being, life in general) - and what do you see yourself doing for the next 5 years / career goals now?

My work now is more flexible and fulfilling. I’d worked in some flexible work environments and jobs I loved, but the flexibility and fulfilment I experience from founding Job Pair and coaching and training people in flexible work, and bringing their dreams to life, is greater than any role I’ve had previously.

Flexibility is particularly important for me for a few reasons. Firstly, my family situation: I have a young family and my husband works away so being able to flex our work hours to suit our family situation enables my husband and I to balance work, family and life. Secondly, my wellbeing benefits from my work practices being more sustainable and supporting my health. Thirdly, I’ve seen and experienced first-hand the benefits of flexible work arrangements to individuals, teams and businesses so being able to work flexibly means I’m walking our talk and championing it’s possibilities, accessibility and benefits.

The focus for me over the next 5 years is growing Job Pair and helping more people access and thrive in flexible work as well as time with my young, growing family.

What advice would you give someone who is deciding to move through a career transition?

There are a few things that I think are particularly helpful for a career transition:

1. Invest in yourself. A coach or therapist can be highly beneficial in helping you explore a career transition and/or the skills or tools you need for this transition. They’ll help you identify your goals, your strengths and interests, how you operate, what might be holding you back, and keep you accountable through your career transition.

2. Explore opportunities and ideas. Your next career could be discovered by what seems a random or unexpected experience so be open to new ideas, going to new networking events, meeting new people, etc as this could be the catalyst for your career change. I also think in exploring new opportunities and ideas outside work, like learning to surf or paint with watercolour, it keeps things fun and your mind open to possibilities.

3. Give it time. Like any transition, a career transition takes time, particularly if you are looking at significant change.

Anything else you would like to share or mentioned that I may have not asked you?

If anyone is seeking some good reading resources here’s a few I can recommend:

· Thrive by Arianna Huffington. It’s a great read that shines light on how we define success and thinking about what’s really important to you.

· Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss is full of short stories of people’s journeys and their life advice, of which much applies to work and career.

· The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown as well as her ‘The power of vulnerability’ TedTalk are great resources that talk about embracing who we really are and living wholeheartedly.

· Job Pair’s Real Stories have a variety of short flexible work stories and advice for making flex work work.

- - - - - - -

Thank you Ness, for being open in sharing your story on how you came to transition your career, your tips and advice is extremely valuable.

You can check out Job Pair and the work Ness does at www.jobpair.com.au (note: if you check out the real stories, you will see me there, wink wink) - and I encourage you to jump in contact with Ness if you would like to have a conversation around flexible working arrangements. You can do that here

- - - - - - -

If you would like to have a conversation around how you can transition your career, build confidence in your direction with clear actionable steps, I would love to chat - you can find out more here