Do you feel unsatisfied with your current job? Are you interested in a new career? People seek for career changes for many reasons: your life goal could have changed, you could have discovered a new passion to pursue, you may wish to make more money or have more free time. Whatever your reasons are, before you make a decision to change your career, it is important to evaluate your present situation, explore various career options and gather resources from your professional network. Now, let’s take a look at this list and find out if you have what it takes to make a successful career change!
Do You Know Why You Want to Make a Change?
A lot of people hate going to work, but there is a big difference between hating your job and needing a new career. Maybe you don’t get along with your coworkers, your daily responsibilities are too redundant for you, or you just got tired of things. This only signals that you need a new job, a friendlier, more innovative and creative work environment.
You need to figure out the “why” before you start rolling towards something new. Think about what you true passion is, what you really want to do in the next 5-10 years, and why a new career will make your life better. Otherwise, you could end up in a different spot but suffering from the same hell.
Do You Know What Your New Career Looks Like?
Have you thought about what your ideal new job or career will look like? Also, a very important question to consider: What kind of career asset do you have? In other words, are you going to be able to leverage your skills, your contacts, and your professional brand to make a successful transition?
Simply “follow your heart” leads to a lower probability of finding long-term career fulfillment than rationally leveraging existing career asset when making a shift. You’re much better off pivoting into roles that utilize the career asset you’ve built up over the years and drawing upon these areas of expertise in new and creative ways.
Do You Have the Skills Needed?
Now you have a rough idea of what career path you are interested in. Research your options and find out the most desirable skills in the industry. If you lack certain skills of an attractive candidate, you probably need some training, certificate, or license.
Once you figure out which skills you need to succeed in a new career, it could be a simple matter of taking a training program or course and gaining industrial proficiency to excel in a new career with confidence. Of course, you need to make the decision on whether you’re willing to make an initial investment to help your new career take off.
Do You Have an Action Plan?
Now that you see your prize, you need to decide how to accomplish it. Design your goals and ideal timeline to help you streamline the process of career change. Break your plan down into major milestones: skills you need to acquire, classes you need to take, people you need to contact, or work commitment at your current job that you need to finish prior to making the change.
Assign yourself daily tasks so you know what exactly you’ll be doing when you sit down at your desk everyday. As you complete each task, you’ll start to notice how small steps roll into a big snowball that provides you with both momentum and confidence to accelerate your success.
Do You Have the Right Network?
The best way to understand the internal culture of an industry and the way it treats people is to talk to those currently employed in that field. Spread your network wide, connect with insiders from entry level to management level to really understand how it works and whether the culture is accepting of career changers.
The best way to approach people is by paying a compliment or noting something that they’re working on. After you build rapport, try to ask them for an information meeting to learn more about the business. Most importantly, don’t forget to thank everyone for their time.
As the largest career college in Canada with 50 campuses across the country, Academy of Learning College attributes the growth in our success to identifying the gap between the formal education available and the realities of the working world. We fulfill the needs of learners by developing customized programs for each student while meeting the requirements for convenient and effective training at an affordable cost. Browse our program list by province and find the best program that suits your needs!