Are you looking to make a career transition this year? Transitioning into a new career can be a challenging experience if you have no direction. Whether you’re looking to break into your dream job, or simply leave a toxic workplace, there are a few things you should keep in mind before transitioning into a new field.
Figure Out Why You Want To Make A Career Transition
First, I recommend you take a moment and figure out why you want to make this career transition. Is it because you have grown to hate your current job? Is it because you feel unfulfilled?
Once you figure out why it’ll be so much easier to take the next step into finding a new career. Make sure you’re picking a career you’d like to pursue. Your new job should make you happy in the long run.
Take some time and study your new career field and do some volunteer work. Volunteering will help you figure out whether or not you actually like the career field you plan to work in. The last thing you want is to end up hating another career!
Before you make the switch, ask yourself these three questions.
- Why do I want this?
- What might the downsides or risks be?
- Why do I think this new career will make my life better?
Asking yourself these questions will help you figure out whether or not this career is for you.
Related: Need a Career Transition? What’s Stopping You?
Making A List Of Occupations To Explore Will Make Things Easier In The Long Run
Picking a brand new career field can be difficult when there are so many options to choose from! Start by making a list of occupations you might enjoy. Pick between five and ten different areas if you can.
Explore each one in more detail. Find out the exact job description and what the educational requirements are. You’ll want to know if there are any advancement opportunities and what your yearly salary will be.
Look for the job opportunities that interest you the most on sites like Indeed or CareerBuilder. These websites describe the job requirements in great detail. From there look at different websites that would hire the type of career you’re looking for.
Pick one or two careers you’re interested in. Then dig deeper and find more information about each one. Start making connections with people who work in that field. Start asking questions about what it’s really like to do the type of career you are thinking about. Find out who has worked there for 5 years and see what their answers are compared to someone who’s worked there for one year.
Figure Out What It’s Going To Take To Transition To A New Job
Once you’ve decided what direction you want to take when making a career transition, you’ll need to know if you lack any of the skills for this new job. If you do, invest in the courses you’ll need to help you qualify for the new position.
In this digital age, it’s easy to find online courses for any type of career you want to pursue.
Decide if that’s something you want to do. Sometimes investing in one or several courses will take added time and finances. You may have to give up some of your evenings if you want to continue with your current job until you can make the transition.
Once all those details are worked out, you’ll need to make a plan.
Don’t Forget To Make An Action Plan!
Making a plan and following it will give you the confidence that the career transition is possible.
First, write down your goals and what your ideal timeline would be. Break everything down into a step-by-step plan. I recommend you plan out the skills you’ll need and how you’re going to get them. Once you have all this mapped out, figure out how long it’ll take you to achieve your goals.
Before you make your career transition, I highly recommend you meet with several people to make sure your new career is right for you. Make sure to list out all the different people you’d like to talk to for more information.
There are several different things you might have to do in your current job before you can give your notice. Write down every task you can think of to help you move towards your end goal.
Plan out your daily and weekly tasks so you know exactly what you have to complete. Don’t try and do everything from memory because there may be some steps you could forget. When it’s all written down in order (but being flexible if need be) you’ll accomplish much more and feel that everything will be taken care of before you make the change.
Related: Need a Career Transition? What’s Stopping You?
Figure Out Who You Need To Know
As mentioned above, make a list of the people you want to get to know in the new career you’d like to pursue. Find out who is successful and how they accomplished their success. People are usually willing to help someone out when you show interest in them.
Build relationships but start out slowly. You don’t just want to bombard someone with
twenty questions especially if they’ve never heard of you before. Let them know that something they’re doing seems interesting and give them a compliment.
Start using any tips anyone gives you. Keep note of all the valuable knowledge you acquire.
You Will Have To Train For Your New Career
There are some occupations that offer on the job training. Even though you’ve taken several courses, they may want to train you for a period of time.
You may even have some skills that are transferable from your previous career. Which is good!
Maybe you’ll have to acquire some additional skills through some courses you haven’t taken. Sometimes you can do an internship with a new company until they see how you work and what your skills are.
You might have some skills that are transferable from your previous career, but in most cases, you’ll have to acquire some additional skills. Most companies will let you know what skills you lack and they’ll provide a list of courses you’ll need to take. Other companies have an internship that’ll allow them to see if you’re a good fit for their business.
People typically have a hard time finding the courage to make a career transition. I don’t blame you! It’s scary to jump into the unknown. Fear of failure is a huge obstacle to overcome, but if you’re a hard worker, you shouldn’t be so afraid. Just go for it!
Most of all, be prepared before making a career transition. Learn all you can about the new career and work towards getting all the skills you’ll need. It can seem challenging, but when you break it all down, you won’t be so overwhelmed.