A good career and an itch to experiment
This result goes to someone in a career that pays well who wants change, and who picks “explore creative/passion projects part-time” for the next 6 months. 721 quiz takers have it, 1 in 19. Together with Freedom Seekers they are the most educated career switchers: 38.7% hold a master's degree or higher, against 32.3% of the other 2,005 switchers, and 63.5% have 8+ years of work experience.
What they want from the next chapter is meaning, and they will give up security for it. Purpose and impact is the core value for 34.3%, against 27.6% of other switchers, growth and mastery for 17%, against 13.9%, and stability for only 5.8%, against 13%. Each gap on this page passes a two-proportion z-test against the other 3 career-switcher archetypes (p < 0.05).
The ideas person in the room
Asked what people come to them for, Curious Transformers answer ideas or a creative angle at 17.5%, against 10.7% of other switchers, and less often explaining (9.8% against 17.3%) or fixing practical problems (19.8% against 25.9%).
| Answer | Share |
|---|---|
| Emotional support | 23.4% |
| Fixing a practical or technical problem | 19.8% |
| Ideas or a creative angle | 17.5% |
| Advice on a tricky decision | 16.3% |
| Explaining or teaching | 9.8% |
With money no factor, 18% would create art, writing, music or design, against 11.9%, and 10.9% would research how things work, against 7.5%.
Test the new identity before you leave
Organisational behaviour professor Herminia Ibarra studied professionals in mid-career transitions and found that the usual advice, decide what you want and then act on it, tends to keep people stuck. The ones who changed careers did it the other way round: they ran small experiments in possible new roles, shifted who they spent time with, and made sense of what they learned as they went (Harvard Business Review, 2002).
That is the Curious Transformer's instinct in method form. A part-time project, a short course, a piece of paid work in the new field or 5 conversations with people already doing the job each count as an experiment, and each one keeps the current salary in place while you learn. When the experiments point one way, the should I quit my job quiz helps with the next decision.