There’s no such thing as a job for life anymore. Most people have multiple jobs throughout their working life, and it’s becoming increasingly common to not only change jobs but careers too. There are many reasons you might want to make the change including:
- No longer interested in their job/sector
- Seeking new challenges
- Current job is too stressful
- Financial
If you’re seriously thinking of changing your career, there are a number of things you can do to try and find a new path.
1) Write Down Your Skills and Interests
Make a list of all of your skills and experience so that you can identify which skills will be transferable to other careers.
Then make a list of careers that interest you. Write down anything that comes to mind, no matter out of your comfort zone it may seem. It’s always easier to whittle down that add to it.
2) Is Self Employment An Option?
Some people want to stay in their field but want to branch out and work for themselves. If this is the case then you are already in a great place as you won’t have to completely retrain. For example, if you work as a financial advisor for a professional services company, you may want to become independent. In this case, you will have to invest in the financial advisor technology tools and marketing materials.
3) Assess Your Training Needs
Are there any formal accreditations or training courses you need to complete before you can start applying for jobs? If so, you’ll need to find out where you can do them and how long it will take.
4) Shadow Someone Doing The Job
There’s no better way to find out about a job than from the people already doing it. Reach out through your network or on LinkedIn groups and ask for the opportunity to shadow someone for a few days. You’d be surprised how open people will be to this and will genuinely want to help.
Ask as many questions as you can and encourage them to be honest about the best and worst parts of the job.
5) Volunteer
Getting experience can help you decide if a particular career is right for you, it’s also a great thing to have on your resume. There are many organizations that will let you volunteer for them. For example, if you’re looking to become a copywriter, reach out to a few charities or organizations that you admire and offer to do some work for them in exchange for a reference or testimonial.
Final Step
Changing careers, especially when you’ve been doing something for a long time, can be daunting. We spend a lot of our lives at work, so it’s only right that we should seek to do something we love.
By being honest about your skills and abilities and what you’re looking to get out of a new career, you’ll be able to make informed decisions that will help you to find that dream job.
