 MAKING
A CAREER OF JOBS
By Muhammed El-Hasan
STAFF WRITER, The Daily Breeze TRANSITIONS:
Redondo Beach planner uses her passion to help others find "a
vision" for new directions in life.
Sick of your job? Need something more fulfilling?
Redondo Beach career planner, Mary Lyn Miller says
she can change not only your career, but your life.
The Redondo Beach resident runs The Life &
Career Clinic out of her home office, where she devises strategies for
clients to get the most out of their work lives.
Miller's first client was herself. She was
diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1986. That's when she looked back at
her career - her corporate communications work for a firm in Los
Angeles, and her private consulting on writing resumes.
"Despite the fact that I was an entrepreneur
and an executive at a very early age, and I had the trappings of
success, I wasn't happy," said Miller. "When I got the
cancer, I realized that I needed something more in my life because I
wasn't getting up in the morning excited about what I was
doing."
After two years of research into the career
development field, Miller started The Life & Career Clinic in
1988. She uses a seven-step process to help people find what type of
career can unleash their passion. "The process that I have is
moving past what you ought to do or should do to what you really want
to do with your life," Miller said.
To learn more about Miller's approach to career
development, visit www.l-cc.com.
Q: Have you
ever had a situation where someone is obviously not qualified for or
capable of the profession he aspires to?
A: If somebody
has a deep desire to do something, there's a reason for that. Maybe
you're not going to be a film director. Obviously if you have that
desire to be a film director, maybe there is going to be some way to
express that in ways that are more practical. It's not so much
about the job or the career as it is about how you meet those
needs.
Q: What was
one of the most challenging cases you've ever had?
A:
I had a
woman who was agoraphobic. She wouldn't leave her house and had never
worked a day in her life. She had a trust fund. Today, she is a top
ranking sales person. Certainly, it was not all my doing. She
underwent counseling. We provided resources that she needed and we
also provided her with a community (of people who want to change
careers) to tap into that was safe so she had the security she needed
to make the transition.
Q: What's
the best part of your job?
A: Everybody
has a deep wellspring of passion, and it's wonderful to un- cover it
and see the lights go on, opening a vision for somebody that they've
been struggling to get for a. long time.
Q: What kind
of people seek your services?
A: My market
is midlife career changers. People come to me when they're in a crisis
- laid off; see the writing on the wall; see that something bad is
happening; there's a change at work; they hit the wall with
frustration. There's some kind of conflict going on that they have to
resolve. Sometimes, people come to me because they're getting ready to
retire and want to figure out what they're going to do with the rest
of their lives.
Q: What's the
worst part of your job?
A: When you
have people who want the change but they're really unwilling to do
anything to change their lives.
Q: What advice
would you give someone who wants to enter this field?
A: Work on
your people skills. It's a great field for somebody who wants to be in
the help profession. It's really about compassion and about developing
a relationship with another human being.
The Daily Breeze
February 12, 2002
Read
More About The L&CC!
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