Ex-HP worker spins layoff into new career – How to handle life-changing events

Oliver Fritsch was in the midst of writing a book on how to recover from a layoff and change careers when he was laid off from his marketing job at Hewlett-Packard Co.

The Associated Press MagicValley.com

Two years later, he can smile at the irony.

Fritsch, 40, now has firmly launched his book, an interactive manual called VocationLab, and a new career in consulting on how to handle life-changing events.

His own experience deepened his understanding of the immediate panic that sets in after receiving a pink slip and the thought processes that naturally lead one to grasp at the next but perhaps not the best job.

The self-guided course is delivered in a format using a CD-ROM, a workbook and the Internet. Users are guided through the chapters by a series of questions and opportunities for self-reflection and even meeting others online who are taking the course.

"When you first get laid off, you don’t think of what you’re going to do with your life. You think of how to take care of your family," said Fritsch.

The VocationLab workbook takes users through an introspective journey of one’s inner motivations and stumbling blocks to learn how to move into another, more satisfying career.

The German version of the publication was released in recent weeks under the translated title "15 Questions That Will Change Your Life."

Fritsch worked 13 years at Hewlett-Packard in his native Germany and then Italy before moving to the Boise location in 1998. He has headed workshops on how to work through life-changing events for years.

Carmen Pendley, 47, took one of Fritsch’s workshops and used the tools she acquired there to move from architecture to translating Spanish and English.

"I wanted to find out what I really wanted to do," said Pendley, who lives in Boise. "What’s nice about what he does is you look at your purpose in life, not just your career. You evaluate your life and end up seeing all the skills you have."

Pendley, who is now translating a cookbook into Spanish and also teaches Spanish to adults, said that while Spanish is her native language, she had never considered it a "skill."

Because the materials focus on more than simply a career path, Fritsch also has received interest from the American Society on Aging, which has included him as a speaker next spring at its annual national conference.

His presentation, "Everything is Different Now: 15 Questions that will Change your Life" is geared toward issues of retirement, empty nesting and the changes that go with aging.

Fritsch, who still lives in Boise with his wife and two children, said his program creates self-awareness and that helps individuals chart a direction and make choices.

"It used to be, you could trust your whole life to a company, but that’s not true anymore," he said.

Now his challenge is marketing the book and getting it into the hands of individuals who can benefit by it. Because the format involves a CD-ROM, a workbook and the Internet, big booksellers have rejected it because "they don’t sell software," said Fritsch.

"This is somewhat a new category of book," he acknowledged.

His interest ultimately is to sell the program to corporations to use when making organizational shifts to help employees deal with the changes.

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