What will be shared here today are the tips to completely change your careers to another anytime you deem it appropriate to do so. Life is all about the constancy of changes, and humans no doubt regularly changes their minds. Some for reasons that are absolutely personal or implicit, others for explicit or obvious reasons.
However, whatever the reason might be, changing careers is not a bad idea in the first place as they are naturally life-changing and certainly, peace-giving! The truth is, there are some prerequisites that need be attention to before one dives into the pool of the processes involved in changing careers. First of it all, we have to start asking some questions: What makes you pop out of bed on a Monday morning and feel really good about where you’re going? Where does money play into your priorities? What about your needs surrounding colleagues, teamwork, environment, and culture?
Others can be taking a good look at your values, interests, personality, and skills. These are just pieces of the puzzle. You have to find the common themes and responses.
After these questions and others, whatever answer you get should clear the way and help you get the right picture of the essence of changing the target of your professional trajectory.
What do we mean by the word ‘career’? A career is an individual’s metaphorical “journey” through learning, work and other aspects of life. We can also understand it to be related to the working aspects of an individual’s life. Emphasizing on the concept furthermore, many find career to mean a sequence of related jobs, usually pursued within a single industry or sector.
Tips to Completely Change Your Careers to Another
The aforementioned meanings point to human choice. Thus, one can be chosen, the other can too on the altar of the one. And then the switch begins. But how do we change from one career to the other without leaving a glitch in the open, or without hurting one’s self.
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Get Goals
Career goal setting allows you to visualize your new career path and keep you focused. This career change tip works when you set SMART career development goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
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- Specific – Which program do you need to enroll in?
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- Measurable – How many courses do you need?
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- Attainable – Do you have the capacity to complete the program?
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- Relevant – Will you receive the requisite certification?
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- Time-bound – How long will it take?
In addition to SMART goals, you should set long-term and short-term goals. Long-term goals lay out the big picture. Short-term goals are the steps you’ll take to achieve the long-term goal.
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Self-reflect
Before you choose a different career path, you must understand why you want to switch jobs. Understanding why you want to switch professions will help determine whether or not you’re making the right decision in the first place.
For instance, if you say you want to switch jobs because that new career seems “more glamorous,” you might want to put off making the change. You might end up only regretting your decision because the motivation for the change was rather superficial.
But, if you conclude you want a career change to pursue your passion or have more flexibility, then pushing through with it is probably the best thing you can do. As you reflect and ask yourself these questions, you can see if you have what it takes to make it in the new career path.
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Recreate You: Resume, Cover Letter, Social Media
Before you start applying for new jobs, you may need to undergo personal rebranding. If you’re looking for a change, it’s important to use resources like a resume, cover letter and social profiles to create a personal brand that appeals to potential employers.
This may be even more important during a career change because your existing experience may not align with your desired goals without a little thought and planning. Consider how your existing experiences make you a better candidate for the role you may seek and make a personal statement about why you are a good fit.
Use this theme in your resume, cover letter and your profiles on business networking sites. Remember to update any business cards, personal websites and contact information to reflect your new brand.
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Networking
Start networking. Remember, you still need to know the right people to get into your chosen industry. A report found that as much as 80% of jobs are filled through personal and professional networking. That’s why networking is one of the most important career change tips.
You can tap into professional networks to connect with industry leaders and companies. Like or comment on their posts, for instance. On LinkedIn, you can engage with a user’s posts even if you’re not a direct connection for as long as the user enables the setting.
Once you’ve interacted with their posts enough, send them an invite to connect. Introduce yourself and explain the purpose of the communication. You can be upfront about the fact that you are planning a career change. Just make your invite short and sweet to be respectful of their time
You can also network offline. The good news is, there are industry events you can attend for this. Do a quick Google search, and you should find a list of relevant events that are open to the public. Once in the event, distribute your best digital business card to as many people as you can.
You can create an excellent impression with these e-cards since recipients can save your contact details on their phones with a quick scan of the QR code. You can even use them to showcase your personal branding.
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Research and Ask Questions
Gather information about your prospective profession. What’s the salary, for instance? Consider the kind of projects you will be involved in, the typical company culture, and the work-life balance. Will you have job security? You can discover the fastest-growing industries from Statistics Canada. As part of your research, you can also check out industry publications.
You’ll want to narrow down your career options or pathways as well. This will help you determine the specific goals you’ll set for your career change, and the skills you’ll need to acquire. So, let’s say you’ve decided to become a teacher. Ask yourself, what subjects would you like to teach?
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Prioritize Motivators
Take a look at these potential motivators, and feel free to add your own. Then, select the top three that are most important to you for your career (or, if you’re struggling to narrow it down to three, put them all in order of priority from most to least important):
- Creativity
- The opportunity to help others
- To be part of a worthwhile mission
- Financial reward
- Work-life balance
- Working as part of a team
- Working solo or independently
- Flexibility/the ability to set your own hours
- Autonomy and independence in terms of projects and tasks
- The opportunity to mentor others
- The opportunity to learn from others
- Working in a tech-driven or digital capacity
- Working in a physical or practical capacity
Bear in mind that your priorities might change as your career evolves. The priorities you set now aren’t set in stone forever! For your next career move, you might prioritize financial security, but that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice creativity forevermore—you may just prioritize it at a later date. With your priorities in mind, you’ll be able to assess different career paths to see how they match up.
