Welcome to our Career Pivot Series! Whatever your situation, we hope this series will be somewhere that can provide some inspiration for a career pivot, while also acknowledging its challenges. We’ll talk to women who have pivoted careers and to a coach who works with career pivoters, and we’ll also weave in the psychology of it all. Because a career pivot is a bet – a bet on ourselves.
So far we’ve covered switching from academics to politics, and from advertising to advocacy. This week we talk to Melanie Federico, who has gone from work in marketing, branding and strategy to become a clinical psychologist.
If there’s something you’d like us to cover, or if have your own career-pivot story, please email us at hello@capsulenz.com!
As a child, when Melanie Federico was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, her answer definitely wasn’t ‘a psychologist’. But fast forward to age 51 and she’s in her fifth year of psychology study at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. This final year revolves around a clinical placement, and in January she became an Intern Clinical Psychologist at Te Whatu Ora | Health New Zealand. “I’m working at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service four days a week, then have Fridays at university finishing my training.”
“It’s very rewarding working with young people and their whānau and hopefully making a positive difference, even in a small way, to their mental wellbeing. I also find it a bit overwhelming right now because [as an intern] I’m the least experienced person in the room. There have been moments of discomfort, particularly when seeing your first client – a real person. Because you genuinely want to do your very best.”
Melanie is the oldest intern from her university cohort. When she first looked into study, she asked the university if her age would prevent her potentially getting a clinical-psychology place. “I was told ‘absolutely not’.”
“Actually, in my work now, I think my age is a superpower. I bring life experience. I’m a parent. I’ve worked in teams. I’ve managed people. I have great communication skills.”
Making The Big Change
Melanie really enjoyed her first career. “I graduated with a Bachelor of Business from Massey University, majoring in marketing. So I worked in marketing, communications and advertising branding.”
After Melanie and her husband returned from overseas travel, she wanted to do less managing of teams, “and go back to the tools”. She started freelancing, doing marketing, communications, strategy and copywriting.
Next up was children, through IVF. “When I had my first daughter Lucia, I pulled back from work quite a bit, but still ‘kept my hand in’ [freelancing]: doing a bit of strategy, advertising branding, and copywriting. Little things I could do around a baby.”
Two years later, she had identical twins Marnie and Cece, also via IVF. “I was a stay-at-home mum mostly for the girls’ first three years. Then I created a life built around my children, where I worked for myself with massive flexibility. That was super important to me. For instance, I could volunteer for Garden to Table at school on Thursday mornings, and be there for cross-country.”
Lucia is now almost 13 and the twins are 10. When the twins settled into school, Melanie didn’t feel inspired at the prospect of ramping up her freelance work nor taking a corporate role. She thought that, if she was going to forge a new career, the time was now. “I wanted to have more self-determination over my work and do something more meaningful. And it had to be something not [necessarily] 9-5 that I could do eventually in semi-retirement.”
Her children went to Montessori preschool and Melanie helped with its marketing/communications. What she learned about children’s psychological development would prove useful – and not just as a parent.
A ‘people-facing’ healthcare role appealed – and she wondered, could she actually become a psychologist? She’d enjoyed the psychology course she did in her business degree. “And I’ve always had a people-oriented, social bent, having done a lot of government work and social-change work, including in education and health.”
“But I thought ‘how would full-time study work with the children, finances and life? I thought, I’ll do one paper, no pressure. If I don’t like it, I’ll quit, and if I enjoy it, I’ll keep going, knowing I can stop anytime if it doesn’t work for us.”
What did her husband, CEO of an advertising agency, think? “He said ‘if you want to go for it, go for it’. I couldn’t have done it without a partner who was so supportive emotionally, practically, and financially.” Because it wasn’t just about the opportunity cost of her not earning while studying. It was also about choosing a career where perhaps she’d earn only half as much as she used to.
People reacted positively to news of her career switch. “Many said ‘gosh, that’s the perfect job for you!’ which was validating and encouraging.”
Melanie began study in 2020, when the world was in chaos. “Covid actually helped me transition to study because everything went online, like recorded lectures, and there was real flexibility around my hours and family.”
Taking On A Lot Of Study
Becoming a clinical psychologist in New Zealand is quite the undertaking. “Generally, you first do an undergraduate degree in psychology, and be a high-achieving, typically A+ student – and there’s still no guarantee that you’ll get a place in a postgraduate clinical-psychology programme, where you have to do a Master’s or PhD.”
Melanie, who already had that undergraduate business degree, took a more circuitous path than most. “I did a Graduate Diploma in Psychology, then a Bachelor of Science Honours year and my Master’s of Science, alongside the PGDip in Clinical Psychology which is the postgrad clinical qualification.” Her Master’s research was in maternal mental health (she has volunteered for years on the board of Little Shadow, previously called PND Wellington).
“The study has been a great intellectual challenge. Also with my career, it’s hard for AI to take over completely, and there’s a shortage of clinical psychologists, so it’s almost a guaranteed job for life now, which isn’t necessarily the case as a middle-aged marketing professional in a city where 5000 public servants are losing their jobs.” (That’s something that concerns her.)
Advice For Making A Career Change
What advice would Melanie give to someone contemplating a pivot? “Something I didn’t do myself: talk to people already doing these jobs, to get a sense of what it’s like. I could have talked to a clinical psychologist in private practice, or someone in a community-based mental-health service, or in another [capacity]. You might find there’s a difference between what you imagine you’ll do to what you’ll actually do. But don’t let that put you off doing it! It just means you go in wiser.”
She’s not necessarily suggesting you phone professionals in the field, though they might say yes to a chat! “There are ways to explore the field without committing to a massive career change. Maybe enrol in a course, do a workshop, volunteer in a related field. My other tip: don’t make the decision so big that it becomes hard to make. See if you can take one small step towards it.”
Melanie used to pick the girls up from school, but this year she’s working 8:30am-5pm for her internship, so a nanny helps out from Mondays to Thursdays. The girls ask Melanie lots of questions about her work. “I’ve think it’s shown them – and shown me – that, actually, you can do something different and difficult at any age. Follow your interests and this alternative, more accurate narrative: that many extraordinarily capable people in mid-life – particularly women – have so much to offer.”
