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how to change career

20 career change tips from people who have

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Career change can feel daunting at the best of times, let alone in a downturn. What better way to get tips than from people who have already changed career. Here are 20 tips from people who have successfully made a career change.

  1. Use your network to get a warm introduction to the decision maker
  2. Anything is possible if you desire it enough but it takes planning and realistic expectations
  3. Make time to do research and understand a new career and sector
  4. Think about what you really want and if it is to do work you are passionate about or just have another job
  5. Evaluate your short, medium and long term financial commitments
  6. Evaluate your current finances for ‘survivability’
  7. Think about what you would do in a ‘worst case’ situation
  8. Don’t put yourself in ‘a box’ – open your eyes to new opportunities
  9. Believe in yourself and stay determined
  10. Research new career choices so you understand barriers to entry, competition and future career prospects
  11. Check whether you are likely to face the same challenges and frustrations in your new career as your old career, so ‘jumping from the frying pan into the fire’
  12. Unless you have money saved up and you can afford to take time off, don’t leave your job with nothing to go to until you have thought everything through
  13. Be clear if you are running away from or towards something
  14. Analyse your current position and why you want to leave it
  15. Know your strengths and weaknesses and what type of environment, work schedule and activities you like to do
  16. Think about what would make you happy, give you meaning and purpose and make you jump out of bed every day
  17. Remember that career change is a process
  18. Keep an open mind to what the future will hold and what unexpected opportunities may present themselves
  19. Make sure your desire to change your career is not projection of frustration in another area of your life e.g. personal relationship
  20. If you can, go indirectly to the decision maker and bypass HR who can have a ‘ruling out’ mentality, especially as they are overwhelmed by hundreds of CVs

With a busy job/life, all these things can be a lot to take in/make time for, especially as you are so close to yourself. That is why working with a career coach and strategist can help you to make it happen and give you support and practical advice in a safe setting and objective and confidential way. It is bit like having an event or wedding planner help you. They support you to create a great and positive result.

 

Stuck In A Career Rut?

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Feeling stuck in a career rut is common. When facing a big life changing decision or uncertain change, people can feel stuck in a career rut. Being made redundant with no obvious way forward  can make you feel very stuck. The feeling can be very dehabilitating – paralysing.

The good news is that being stuck in a career rut can be tackled, but it is hard to do by yourself as you are too close to yourself.

I find that when I’m feeling stuck and not taking action, there’s always a good reason. It’s just a question of working out what the reason is. And asking a question is a good way to pinpoint the reason. Here are 12 tips to help you when you feel stuck: 

12 simple tips to help address stuckness

1) Do tasks one at a time and clear away everything else from your desk and mind

2) Write tasks very clearly and specifically so you are left in no doubt about what you need to do

3) Keeping your final outcome in mind, identify the first step. Don’t worry about the 9th or 10th step until you’ve taken the first

4) Create a 1 page plan for projects especially a big project like a new career

5) Segment tasks to make them feel clearer and help you prioritise

6) Have a ‘stuckness audit’ with yourself, for a project or your company to identify the ‘don’t knows’

7) Identify the consequence of the stuckness and the benefits of taking action

8) Check in with yourself regularly and make time to ask yourself a self-reflective question

9) Get a career coach or mentor to help you see the wood for the trees. If you are standing in the middle of the trees, it is understandably hard to see the path out into the clearing.  

10) Speak the truth. Express what you see, feel or hear when you notice stuckness. Simply articulating it can help shift it

11) Acknowledge that stuckness and inaction is okay sometimes and it isn’t normal or realistic to have growth spurts all the time, otherwise it would be Spring all year round!

12) Think of someone who you admire. Look at the problem through their eyes. What would they do?

 ‘They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself’ Andy Warhol

If you found these tips useful, and feel stuck in a career rut, why not download our free report on Skills to give you new insights about how you could energise your career? Click on this link now:

http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/