Is a career change on the cards for you? Life has a funny way of forcing you to make changes in your life. Career change is one of them. People change career for many different reasons, such as, relocation, divorce, redundancy, salary to name but a few. Mostly when faced with a career change we can find ourselves feeling forced to move before we’re ready and this can be the tricky bit for some people.
Ideally when considering a career change, you explore in the safety of your old career, knowing that you’re safe and have a job. Therefore, when you do move, you move knowing that everything will be alright for the most part.
However, when a career change is enforced upon you. You can feel stressed, overwhelmed and under pressure to ‘just find any job’ to pay the bills. Feeling like this will not serve you well. It’s important to get a grip and remain focused. Remember change doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact quite the opposite, you should view change as a golden opportunity to create something that’s perfect for you. Here’s how!
Plan
Upon learning that a career change is on the cards, it’s important to sit down and make a plan. This will prevent you being pushed from pillar to post, reacting to everyone and everything else. A plan is for you only. In your plan you need to include
- What makes you tick, what turns you on? What is it you light up doing and is there a career out there that incorporates that?
- What are your key skills and experiences?
- What qualifications do you have and what doors do they open for you?
- Do you want a ‘job’ or do you want a career?
- What is important to you about your career?
- Why is this important? Is this something you absolutely need from your career or can you get that elsewhere?
- If there were no obstacles – what career would you be doing?
- Is there a way you can work through any obstacles that you think would stop you from having that career?
Understand Yourself
By asking these questions you will begin to get a feel about what is right for you. Understanding and knowing yourself and what you really want will give you the passion and motivation to go out there and make it happen.
Get Practical
Now you know the direction you want to be heading in. You need another plan to get you there! This time you want to base it around practical steps:
- Finances. How much have you got? How much do you need? How can you raise finance if you don’t have enough?
- Research your chosen career and find out locally who is the go-to person in that field. Arrange a meeting with them and ask for advice.
- Send in speculative letters to organisations who might need what you can offer. Be proactive instead of waiting for opportunities to come up.
- Could you get a foot in the door of your chosen company doing something else initially?
- Who do you know? Your network is your net worth! The best job opportunities come from who you know – get networking and build your social presence.
Get support
It’s OK if you need help. We all have areas we excel at more than others. Find people who can fill that gap for you. Maybe you can help them with something in return. Take care not to dismiss people. You never know who they know or how they might be able to help you.