10 Easy Steps to a Successful Career Change

Are you thinking about changing careers? There are numerous reasons why people may decide to switch careers. Your career values or goals may have changed, you may want more flexible hours, you might want to make more money or you may have unearthed new interests that you wish to incorporate in your job. Before you make up your mind about a career change, it is essential for you to explore the options you have, evaluate your existing situation and then decide if your career requires a makeover. This can go a long way in helping you pick a career that will be quite satisfying.

Here are some steps you can follow for evaluating your interests, exploring the options, assessing alternative career choices and then making a move:

Step 1: How satisfied are you with your current job?

Start maintaining a daily journal about your feelings and reactions to your job. This can identity any recurring themes. What aspects of your job appeal to you and which do you dislike? Are you dissatisfied with your work, your colleagues or the office culture?

Step 2: Think about your skills, values and interests

How do you do this? You start by reviewing any past projects, volunteer work, jobs or successful roles as they will help you in figuring out your preferred skills and activities. Next, you need to determine if your existing career is able to address your core skills and values. You can assess career alternatives by taking advantage of the free online tools available.

Step 3: Make a list of alternative career options

Research the career options you may have for brainstorming career alternatives that might work for you. You can also get ideas by discussing your core skills and values with family, friends and networking contacts. If you are unable to come up with any useful and valid ideas, you can get some professional advice from a career counselor.

Step 4: Shortlist the job options

Now that you have identified a couple of fields, it is time for you to conduct a basic comparative evaluation for identifying the best targets that require in-depth and extensive research. Luckily, the internet can be a valuable tool for you in this situation as you can find a wealth of information when you do a Google search of jobs that interest you.

Step 5: It is time to get personal

When you have the targets ready, it is time for you to get up close and personal. You need to research thoroughly and find as much information as you can about these fields. If you have any personal contacts in any of these sectors, you can reach out to them for conducting informational interviews. You can also take a look at your college alumni career network as you will find plenty of contacts there for conducting these interviews. Another great source that you can explore for finding contacts in a certain field of interest or career is LinkedIn.

Step 6: Make time for a job shadow

After you have identified several fields that hold your primary interest, your next step should be to start shadowing professionals in these areas. This allows you to get a first-hand look at the work being done. You can spend anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days job shadowing people in fields that hold some interest for you. Most people don’t know how to find volunteers who don’t have a problem in hosting job shadowers. Again, your college career office is the place to go to as you will be able to locate some alumni volunteers who don’t have an issue.

Step 7: Give it a try

While observing does give you a lot of insight into what work is involved in a certain field and what you will have to do, it is still not the same as actual experience. But, how do you get actual experience until you get a job? You can look for any freelance or volunteer activities related to the field of your interest. For instance, if you are interested in establishing a career in publishing, you can edit the PTA newsletter to get an idea. If you are thinking of switching careers to work with animals, a good way to get some experience is by volunteering at a local shelter.

Step 8: Attend a class

The new field you have chosen appeals to your interest, but is your education suitable for it? The ideal way of bridging your background to your career change is to find any educational opportunities pertaining to it. You can check out any online courses if they are available, or you can also go to a local college for attending evening classes. You can also spend some of your time at the weekend or one-day seminars.

Step 9: Boost your skills

Look for any opportunities to upgrade and enhance existing skills and learn new ones in your current job. This can pave the way for a career switch in the future. For instance, companies are known to provide in-house training to their employees and you should definitely jump at these opportunities in order to benefit.

Step 10: Consider a new job in the existing field

Instead of switching fields, you can work in the same field but change your role. This can be helpful because it utilizes any industry knowledge that you may have. As long as the new role gives you financial freedom, flexibility or whatever it is you desire, there is no harm in exploring your existing industry to identify job roles that will fulfill your needs and values.

When you are finally ready to start applying to new jobs for changing your career, you should also make changes to your resume and your cover letter. Your resume should highlight your new goals and the cover letter should also mention the aspirations you have with this career switch. With these 10 steps, it can become easier for everyone to manage a change in careers without becoming confused and giving up.