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10 STEPS to a Successful Career Change
Ten Steps to a Successful Career Change:
- Study your current job situation. Maintain a journal of your everyday reactions to your job situation and look for recurring themes. Which aspects of your present job do you like/dislike? Are your dissatisfactions related to the content of your work your company culture or the people with whom you work?
- Evaluate your interests, values and skills through self help resources like the exercises in What Color is Your Parachute. Review past successful roles, volunteer work, projects and jobs to determine preferred activities and skills. Identify whether your core values and skills are addressed through your actual career.
- Brainstorm ideas for career alternatives by discussing your core values/skills with friends, family, networking contacts and counselors. Visit career libraries and use online resources like those found in the Career Advice section of the Job Search website.
- Drive a preliminary comparative evaluation of diverse fields to recognize a few targets for in depth research.
- Read as much as you are able about those fields and reach out to personal contacts in those arenas for informational interviews.
- Shadow professionals in fields of primary interest to perceive work first hand. Consume anywhere from a few hours to a few days job shadowing people who have jobs that interest you. Your college Career Office is a good place to find alumni volunteers who are willing to host job shadier.
- Determine volunteer and freelance activities associated to your target field to test your interest, as example, if you are thinking of publishing as a career, try editing the PTA newsletter. If you're interested in working with animals, volunteer at your local shelter.
- Probe educational chance that would bridge your background to your new field. Assess taking an evening course at a local college. Take some time at one day or weekend seminars. Contact professional groups in your target field for suggestions.
- Look for ways to have new skills in your actual job which would pave the way for a change e.g. provide to write a grant proposal if grant writing is valued in your new field. If your company provides in-house training, sign up for as many classes as you can.
- Assess choice roles within your actual industry which would use the industry knowledge you already have e.g. If you are a store manager for a big retail chain and have grown tired of the evening and weekend hours evaluate a move to corporate recruiting within the retail industry. Or if you are a programmer who doesn't want to program, consider technical sales or project management.
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