Rachael moved from a high-pressured job in design and advertising to a brand new, and family-friendly, role as a sports therapist. Here’s what she told us…
Name
Rachael Hufton
Old Position
Design and advertising
New Career
Sports therapist
Can you tell us about your current role?
I’m senior brand manager at Phoenix Group. I was brought in back in 2021, on a six-month contract, to rebrand the company. Six months later, I applied for the permanent brand manager role and got it.
Where did your career path begin?
I’ve gone full circle and wouldn’t be averse to going full circle again. I started my career in graphic design – my degree was in graphic design and advertising. I went straight into the agency side of work right after university.
It suddenly dawned on me that if I wanted to have a family there was no way that working super-long agency hours was going to work. When I had my family, I took what was really a seven-year break.
What made you decide to move in a different direction?
Work at the design agency was really busy with super long hours. It suddenly dawned on me when I was about 27 that if I wanted to have a family this was not going to work. That was when I decided to move client side and started thinking more about my future. When I had my family, I took what was really a seven-year break although I still did some work.
How did you go about it?
While I was working at the agency, I enrolled in a local college course in hand massage, just to get me out of the office. I really enjoyed it so I decided to look into it more.
The London School of Sports Massage offered the highest qualification in the UK at the time. So, I put myself onto that course and trained at weekends for a year.
How hard did you find to move into such a different role?
After completing various anatomy and physiology exams, I did my 100 hours practice time and a practical exam and qualified as a sports therapist. I kept my day job in design but worked in a clinic doing sports therapy during evenings and weekends.
I was also working at events like the London marathon and backstage at music festivals for the artists who were performing.
My husband works overseas a lot and I needed to be around for the kids, so we decided that I’d stop working on design and do more sports massage.
I did that for a few years, planning my hours around the kids, and then I got some freelance part-time branding work. I did both jobs simultaneously while the kids were at school, three days branding, two days doing sports therapy. Then Covid hit. My husband couldn’t work anymore; he’s a photographer and his job involves flying a lot.
It ended up with me just doing the sports therapy because the branding work had stopped. The government allowed sports therapists to keep working to take the pressure off GPs. All those people who had taken up sports during lockdown had endless amounts of injuries.
I found that I had two particular transferable skills: relationship building and problem solving.
What led to you getting your current role?
I was working full-time doing sports therapy when I got called by my old director about the Phoenix rebrand.
What transferable skills did you find that you had?
In my design or branding roles there’s always been a lot of relationship building with clients and that’s a key skill for sports therapy too. You really felt that you were part of that person’s team, they need you to get them back on their feet again.
The other transferable skill from design is problem solving. Massage is like three-dimensional problem solving. You tease through the muscles, find the issues, break down the scar tissues and get things working again.
Were you nervous about making your career changes?
At the time, I was just doing something I really enjoyed doing. It wasn’t until I got to the end of my training that I thought, well, there’s no reason why I can’t do this as a career.
Did you get any support or advice?
The final module of the sports therapy course was about turning the skills into a business. It gave you confidence that your qualification was absolutely valid, and you should be using it.
We had moved house to a new area and there was a local women-based community network of people in my kind of position getting back into work. That was really helpful. I got a lot of contacts and clients through that.
I couldn’t work at Phoenix if they didn’t offer real work flexibility. I work a five-day week, but mostly from home. It’s flexible, so I can pick my kids up from school, which they love, and drop them off. I didn’t want to miss out on those moments.
What would you say to other people who are thinking of making a change?
For me, it was a lot about not burning bridges. Just because you did a particular job in your past, it doesn’t mean it’s not going to be your future again.
It wasn’t until I got to the end of my sports therapy training that I thought, well, there’s no reason why I can’t do this as a career.
