Name
Benvon Crumpler
Old Position
TV Production
New Career
Marketing Manager
Can you tell us about your current role?
I’m marketing manager for Poppy’s – a funeral director business based around South West London
Where did your career path begin?
I was involved initially in TV production and broadcasting for a long time before I moved to Merlin. TV production is all about creating entertainment and Merlin was all about creating experiences, so it made a lot of sense.
What made you decide to move in a different direction?
I had a career break with having my children. To balance children and work, I did a job which was part time running marketing and operations for a small part time recruitment business. It suited what I needed for the time but the business closed down (the CEO had been doing it for a long time and wanted to make a change herself)
I came across Brave Starts via a campaign the Careers can change team organised and met others who were in a similar place to me. The jobs market for people who’ve been quite senior and then taken time out and want to come back and explore their options is not an easy landscape to navigate. I think it was really beneficial to meet and talk to others who at times have also felt useless or unwanted. People who can just listen and where there is a commonality to talk through questions like ‘where do I fit in’ and discuss things which aren’t always just restricted to work. This is a time of significant change for a lot of people and recalibrating where you want to be, what matters to you and who you want to do it with are all useful questions to explore and discuss with others.
I had started looking at different things – I’m interested in food, sustainability. I had a go at psychotherapy and realised after a year it would be a disaster for me.
How did you go about it?
I had started looking at different things – I’m interested in food, sustainability. I had a go at psychotherapy and realised after a year it would be a disaster for me. I’m a sociable extrovert so yes I want to listen, but I want to talk to and have office banter and fun with a team. Psychotherapy would be too much one on one work. I also did some volunteer work with Cruse which I found very rewarding.
How hard did you find to move into such a different role?
Yes – I’m probably the oldest in the team here. People who are younger are ‘more senior’. I’ll admit when I was coming in, the societal expectation of ‘as you get older you should be more senior’ was something I wrestled with but I’m glad I got over it because now I get to work with young people who open my eyes and keep me connected to life.
If you believe you are old and dusty, that’s exactly what you convey. For me the bigger fear would have been to stay working from home by myself in isolation much of the time and having my world shrink. Being in an echo chamber of your own thoughts is terrifying for me. For example, when I started work, it was ‘taboo’ to have a tattoo. Now I work alongside people who have them and see how silly that societal convention was – that’s the sort of exposure we need all the time to ensure we stay connected and relevant to the world.
What led to you getting your current role?
I wasn’t ‘looking’ to join a funeral director business, but when Lucy (from Brave Starts) sent me the job description, my experience of volunteering with those who are bereaved and finding it rewarding helped me to see this as an exciting opportunity. I then met the team and realised how much they cared about the work they do. I learned more about their commitment to sustainability and started to see how far the funeral sector has to go to modernise and be the service that should treat people with the respect and dignity they deserve. I could see the potential and how much I’d enjoy it and the fact I had the sort of skills they needed meant this has been a brilliant match. I’m really enjoying it.
What transferable skills did you find that you had?
Marketing is all about relationship building. It’s about understanding what people need, asking questions, listening, testing out ideas. I had the skills to do the work, but actually I think for me to get hired I needed to show I had the right values and attitude.
I’ve experienced bereavement – it’s been a big issue for me which is partly why I volunteered as a bereavement counsellor. Experiencing death and not seeing it as something scary but as something which can be wonderful and where you can support and hold people at a time when they need you most is really critical for this sector.
People who are experiencing loss want and need to grieve. When you give people a space and a way to celebrate the life of someone they care about deeply, you get to see how important this work is. Not only can I see this, I go home now each day feeling uplifted. My capacity to do this and feel this is what I believe got me the job. It’s so much more than ‘work’. It’s connection, it’s meaning and every day is a day I feel is well spent.
Were you nervous about making your career changes?
Yes – I’m probably the oldest in the team here. People who are younger are ‘more senior’. In my head I know this is perception and in reality we all get on and we all support each other, but I’ll admit when I was coming in the societal expectation of ‘as you get older you should be more senior’ was something I wrestled with but I’m glad I got over it because now I get to work with young people who open my eyes and keep me connected to life. If you believe you are old and dusty, that’s exactly what you convey. For me the bigger fear would have been to stay working from home by myself in isolation much of the time and having my world shrink. Being in an echo chamber of your own thoughts is terrifying for me. For example, when I started work, it was ‘taboo’ to have a tattoo. Now I work alongside people who have them and see how silly that societal convention was – that’s the sort of exposure we need all the time to ensure we stay connected and relevant to the world.
Did you get any support or advice?
I remember at Brave Starts getting some initial advice that I might need to adjust my salary expectations downward and I struggled with that a little but in actual fact that is exactly what has happened and it’s absolutely fine. I’ve also got the benefit of working 4 days a week so whilst I am earning less, it’s so much more sustainable. I can see myself doing this for longer that I would have done if I had gone back into a 5 day a week corporate job with a higher salary.
100% do it and don’t find the reasons not to do it. It is highly unlikely you will have any regrets.
What would you say to other people who are thinking of making a change?
100% do it and don’t find the reasons not to do it. It is highly unlikely you will have any regrets. I feel so much more alive being out of corporate life. If you can find a place where you can really be yourself in a culture that allows you to express yourself it is so liberating.
It can be really painful and lonely to go through a career change. Around 75% of the pain is adjusting your attitude. You’ll probably have to adjust salary expectations down. I feel this is the decade which is more ‘squiggly’ than most because you are in some respects going back and starting over to question and consider what you want, but if you push through the rewards are really worth it.
