Amy Lindgren

Second Sunday Series  — This is the third of 12 columns on making a career change appearing the second Sunday of the month, from September through August. Last month’s column presented a sample timeline, while the month before offered questions to consider when changing careers. 

Some people planning a career change know exactly what they want to do next. Lucky them! If that’s not you, waiting for inspiration to strike isn’t the answer. Passive processes can lead people to quiet careers of desperation, so to speak, not to mention years or decades of missed opportunities.

Instead, you’ll want to select one or more steps to follow, hopefully leading to ideas you can research to identify your next career. Following are 10 such processes, some more strategic than others, but each of which can work.

Many of these steps can be enhanced by a trip (or several) to www.CareerOneStop.org. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration, this helpful site is actually an integrated suite of national websites covering areas such as assessments, training opportunities, labor statistics and more.

1. Assessments. As you might know, assessments of different types can help you determine which jobs fit your interests, your work style, or your personality. Since the results are sometimes confusing, a counselor’s interpretation can be helpful.

2. Hot jobs list. Nearly every job board offers a version of the “Top Ten Jobs for … ,” which can provide helpful prompts as you dig for ideas. Keep in mind their research is not likely to be comprehensive.

3. Job postings. Sometimes a bit of window shopping is all you need to unlock new ideas. Just remember: Some jobs are never advertised, so the postings won’t be a complete list of what’s possible.

4. Friends’ careers. You and your friends share common interests — maybe their career choices would interest you too?

5. Parents’ suggestions. Your folks may have seen talents that you haven’t recognized yourself. Just be careful not to let old family narratives or other peoples’ dreams take over the process.

6. Past jobs. Sometimes the jobs you left behind still hold some magic, particularly if you can recapture what you liked best about a favorite role.

7. Skills transfer. The skills you most enjoy using are a powerful key to careers you’ll enjoy. Once you’ve named them, on online skills transfer tool can tell you which jobs use them.

8. Hobbies. Every hobby has a professional component, from selling related goods to teaching others to marketing the products to … would it be fun to work where you play?

9. Childhood dreams. It might be too late for that ballerina career, but how about working for a dance company? Childhood ideals can be a rich source of adult career ideas.

10. Volunteer or charitable activities. If you support specific causes, perhaps you want to put more weight behind them by joining the cause as an employee.

If you get stuck, the eleventh option is a conversation with a career counselor, who can help you sort through the ideas you’ve been generating by providing targeted suggestions and exercises.

Eventually you’ll need to trim your options so you can go deeper. Once you have a short list, the following processes will help you gather more information on specific career ideas. Doing them in order will help you build from one level of research to the next.

Internet research: You’ve been doing this already but perhaps not strategically. To coordinate your process, focus on one idea at a time, spending perhaps five or 10 hours at the maximum on each. Things you’ll want to know include variations of the work, skills generally requested, predictions for growth, wages, etc. Track your data with online files or printouts to make later reference easier.

One-on-one conversations: Now that you know the basics on your top career ideas, choose your favorite to discuss with people already in that field. Sometimes called informational interviews, these conversations can be supplemented with professional association meetings or introductory classes.

Hands-on experience: Still trying to decide? Experiential research might provide the tie-breaker. This can include job shadowing, volunteer work, training classes or anything else that lets you experience the work directly.

Choosing a new career path can be confusing, so don’t worry if your “final” choice doesn’t feel final. As new information emerges, you can refine your thinking. Just keep working the process for now, then come back for next month’s Second Sunday column to delve further into career change strategies and ideas.

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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.

DULUTH, Minn. — A judge has been asked to grant a new trial for a Duluth man convicted of murder in a courtroom that was closed to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Christopher Floyd Boder, 35, is serving 25½ years in prison for his role in the September 2019 shooting death of Timothy Jon Nelson, 33, in West Duluth.

A Duluth jury in October 2020 found him guilty of aiding and abetting another defendant, James Michael Peterson, in a fatal confrontation that occurred after Nelson reportedly attempted to rob Boder.

The trial, among the first to proceed at the St. Louis County Courthouse after a pandemic shutdown, was held with strict safety protocols enacted under a 6th Judicial District plan.

To ensure adequate social distancing, court officials completely rearranged one of the building’s largest courtrooms. As attorneys and court staff were spread out, a public gallery that typically could accommodate several dozen spectators was repurposed as the jury’s seating area.

That meant family and friends of both Nelson and Boder, along with members of the press, were not allowed in the physical courtroom. Instead, they were forced to view the proceedings via a closed-circuit broadcast in another courtroom one floor below.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals in February 2022 backed the plan, noting Boder never objected and ruling that the procedures “were not broader than necessary to prevent the spread of the virus.”

However, another opinion from the Minnesota Supreme Court in July added a new wrinkle to Boder’s case, along with other trials held across the state under similar conditions.

In an appeal of a Scott County aggravated robbery case, the high court wrote that “the exclusion of the public from a courtroom during the COVID-19 pandemic was a closure implicating (the defendant’s) right to a public trial.” The justices sent that case back to the trial court, ordering the district judge to “make sufficient factual findings about the decision to close the courtroom.”

The Supreme Court then did the same in Boder’s appeal, directing 6th District Chief Judge Leslie Beiers to conduct “further proceedings consistent with the court’s opinion.”

Defense attorney Jeremy Downs said he believes his client is entitled to a new trial.

The First Amendment generally guarantees the public and press a constitutional right to access criminal trials. A closure is allowed, Downs noted, in only the rarest of circumstances and it must “be no broader than necessary.” Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, a court “must consider reasonable alternatives to closing the proceeding, and it must make findings adequate to support the closure.”

Downs contended Beiers must grant a new trial because the judge erroneously believed that the pandemic restrictions did not amount to a trial closure and did not impact Boder’s rights.

Additionally, he argued the judge could have utilized a two-way Zoom connection to the public viewing room or considered holding the trial in a larger venue that could accommodate spectators.

“In the case at hand, failure to provide a two-way feed did seriously affect the fairness, integrity and public reputation of the judicial proceedings for Boder’s trial,” Downs said. “The theory of an open ‘two-way’ courtroom not only allows the public to witness a trial, which helps authenticate its equity and fairness, but it allows Boder to see that the public is watching, which protects the integrity of the proceedings in which he is being tried.”

St. Louis County prosecutor Nate Stumme asked the court to provide more information before making any ruling on the issue. He noted that neither the defense nor the prosecution played a role in formulating the trial plan and the parties “were not privy to any of the considerations that informed the court’s decision.”

“For example, the court may have considered the cost, availability, access to technology, court security issues, or the fact that defendant Boder made a speedy trial demand in March of 2020 when evaluating reasonable alternatives to its pandemic jury trial plan,” Stumme wrote. “The parties were not privy to the specifics of any of these considerations or how they might have affected the court’s final decision.”

Stumme noted that Boder never objected to the exclusion of the public from the courtroom — a key difference from the other case decided by the Supreme Court, as that defendant “received at least a partial explanation of the basis for the district court’s decision.”

The prosecutor asked Beiers to provide a factual record for her decision and then allow attorneys to submit further briefs on Boder’s request for a new trial.

The judge planned to hold a Zoom hearing on the issue Thursday, but an apparent miscommunication prevented Boder from connecting at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Rush City, where he is serving his sentence. Beiers rescheduled the hearing for Nov. 22.

Peterson’s trial wasn’t held until nearly two years after Boder’s, in September 2022. He was found guilty of the same charge and sentenced to nearly 29 years in prison. He has since filed an appeal, which has yet to be argued.

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When Craig Breslow joined the Chicago Cubs five years ago, he could not have envisioned his path and how his contributions with the organization would play out.

His rise from director of strategic initiatives for baseball operations to assistant general manager and vice president of pitching included meeting with right-hander Jameson Taillon last offseason to recruit the free agent to sign with the Cubs.

“But nonetheless there we found ourselves,” Breslow said this week at the GM meetings in Arizona. “I am grateful for those opportunities, but mostly for kind of that trust.”

The Boston Red Sox hired Breslow, 43, last month as their chief baseball officer. Over the course of the hiring process, he constantly talked to president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, both to loop him in professionally and take him up on his offer to provide insight and advice during the process. Breslow also spoke with Theo Epstein a handful of times given his success in the same role with the Red Sox.

“I kind of needed to affirm my own beliefs, my own philosophies, my own vision in terms of how to structure and run an organization, so this was an incredible exercise in that,” Breslow said.

Breslow spent five of his 12 big-league seasons with the Red Sox, including winning the 2013 World Series, and his roots remained, living there with his family even while working with the Cubs. He viewed the job as the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, one he didn’t want to pass up.

“If I had tried to wait until I was absolutely ready to dive in, it may not be there,” Breslow said. “As I’ve gone through the process, I feel both humbled by the expanse of the job but also reassured in that I am ready.”

During Breslow’s time with the Cubs in leading changes to their pitching infrastructure, he witnessed their depth and quality improve, two areas they were committed to strengthening.

“Did we did we get it perfect?” he said. “No, but we set a clear plan and steer in a clear direction and we were able to largely execute.

“I’m not sure how they’re going to replace me,” Breslow quipped. “The organization, is in great hands. … I’m excited to see how that goes from afar.”

The Cubs still are discussing how to fill Breslow’s role, Hoyer said, but they will look outside the organization and also likely promote some people.

“The truth is, honestly, Bres is probably not going to take one person to replace all of the things that he was doing,” Hoyer said, “so we’ll probably look for a multiprong approach to replace him.

“He left us in really good shape. I’m confident that the guys going forward can continue with that infrastructure and do a great job. There’s no doubt he had a big impact on all of our pitching decisions and in that regard he’s always going to be hard to replace.”

The Cubs saw important gains in homegrown arms after Breslow joined the organization in January 2019. Justin Steele’s emergence into a Cy Young Award contender along with the development and matriculation of arms with upside through their minor-league system are part of the dividends from overhauling the organization’s pitching infrastructure. After successfully harnessing ways to increase pitchers’ stuff and velocity, the Cubs must figure out how to improve command and execution system wide. Command training features a lot of uncertainty.

“I told the guys who I left behind that when they figured that out to let me know,” Breslow said, smiling. He expects the Cubs will see that area start to pay off in the next year.

The process wasn’t always smooth, especially at the onset. Although Breslow had total support from Epstein and Hoyer, it was challenging to change the culture, one that had success but hadn’t developed enough pitching. Getting everyone united and moving in the same direction can be difficult given how many people work in a front office and on a coaching staff. Breslow learned from the process and, looking back, might have approached certain things differently.

“But generally the blueprint for success is understand currently where you are, understand where you need to go and understand how you get there and have as many honest, open conversations about that as you possibly can,” Breslow said. “Because at the end of the day, if this is to work, everybody’s going to be perfectly clear on what the pathway was so trying to do anything other than be transparent and candid I don’t think is super effective.”

Hoyer commended Breslow for how he navigated the friction among personnel when it became apparent the Cubs were going to do things differently.

“With any changes, people are going to jump on board and say that’s great, and there’s people that are going to realize this probably isn’t the best place for them and it takes time and change can be hard and he was changing an infrastructure that needed to be changed,” Hoyer said. “He did a great job of that because we needed an overhaul at that point from top to bottom. Our pitching is in a much better place now because he was there.

“You’ve got to build the structures that are kind of anti-fragile and not just like if one person leaves they fall apart, and he hired a lot of really good people and those people step up and do a good job. He was very impactful in building that up.”

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