Meet Wayne: Becoming a digital butterfly

Wayne Foster Johnson on recreating your career

Hellomonday (formerly known as Hudson) career coach, Wayne Foster-Johnson, sees career progression in terms of reinvention or re-creation.

Reinvention means adding to your existing experience and knowledge, usually with something leading-edge, to make your skills more current and yourself more employable.

Then there is re-creating your career.

“Re-creation is like turning from a caterpillar into a butterfly,” says Wayne. “It takes time, is probably painful, and what comes out the other end is often totally different from what went in at the beginning.

“Parts of the Victorian Government’s Digital Jobs program could be considered conceptual ‘recreation’ for most people, depending on their background.”

The employment field in digital technology is booming, creating opportunities for those who want to evolve from caterpillar to digital butterfly. But even when it feels like the right move, such a change can feel challenging.

“As a career coach with 30 years’ experience I can tell you that digital skills are what will future-proof your career, but you have to prepare,” says Wayne. “You have to think, have I done my research? Do I understand what this program involves? If I've been in a more senior role, am I comfortable coming back into an entry level position to rebuild my career that way?”

Starting over, however, doesn’t mean starting from scratch. Workforce experience and ‘soft skills’ managing people, time and projects have significant value for businesses looking to diversify their workforce and bring in new skill-sets.

“A lot of employers say that soft skill-sets are harder to find than harder technical skills,” says Wayne. He and the Hudson coaching team work with clients to identify transferable skills which might give them an edge over new graduates without much work experience.

Wayne has reassurance for those who feel anxious about undertaking such a transformation. While some uncertainty is natural, that’s no reason not to embrace the change.

“Anxiety is normal. It’s normal to fear the unknown. But when candidates get into the program, they can talk to someone like me, to help them through some of that uncertainty.”

The most important quality for success, in Wayne’s experience, is motivation.

“The key is always motivation. Always. If someone has the motivation, they’ll have the will. Everything we do is painful, but if I've got the motivation, then the pain is just part of the journey, and the outcome is more beneficial than the cost.”