Waking up five days a week and sitting behind a desk at a job you don’t like is difficult. But, deciding what comes next can be even more difficult if you don’t like your current career. If this is your situation, it’s time to evaluate a career change.
Deciding it’s time for a career change means brushing up your resume and beginning a job search. To help you navigate next steps, here are three pivotal steps to take.
Step 1: Evaluate your career change
You should keep working at your current job while you evaluate your career’s next steps. You can make great headway in a career change just by evaluating a few key factors.
- Analyze your strengths: Skills can often be transferred from one career or industry to another. Just because you don’t like your career, doesn’t mean there aren’t applicable areas to use the skills you’ve built. Make a list of the type of work you enjoy doing and the skills it takes to succeed at that type of work.
- Decide what matters most to you: Do you care about the hours you work? Some careers might not be as flexible with work hours as others. Do you have any sort of physical limitations? Depending on the career you choose, you might be expected to do more physical labor. What about dress code? Professional jobs often require a professional wardrobe while creative industries often offer more flexibility on dress.
- Learn about education requirements: You may or may not have to return to school to make a career change. Some careers are flexible with education requirements, while others are quite strict. The education requirements might dictate your job search for a new career or the timeline for which you can change careers.
- Explore opportunities with your current employer: If you work for a great company and like the culture, benefits and your coworkers, you might want to evaluate a career change that would keep you at your current place of employment, just in a different department.
Step 2: Set a career change goal
Now that you’ve taken time to really evaluate your reasons for changing careers and what you’re seeking in a new career, it’s time to set some goals. To do this, write down these three pivotal things:
- Targeted employer list: Chances are you know the great employers in your area. Take time to write down the specific employers you’d like to target.
- Timeline: Your timeline might be highly dictated by any education or certifications you need to do your job. Additional things to think about when setting a timeline goal for your career change and job search is any sort of financial advantages to staying with your company. For example, some companies vest 401(k) contributions after a certain time period, so it might be in your best interest to wait that out. Or, if you received educational reimbursement from your employer, you might be required to pay those funds back if you haven’t stayed for a certain time period.
- Salary: Making a career change could mean accepting a lower salary for a short time while you establish yourself. You should know what you are worth, so do some research to see what others make in the field so you can start your job search well-informed. Set a salary goal and decide whether you need to make that much right away or can work your way up over the next few years.
Step 3: Begin your job search
Now that you’ve put in the proper amount of planning to prepare for your career move, you can begin your job search. Here are some things to think about as you start this endeavor.
- Review your resume: When changing careers, you’re looking to highlight different skills and aspects of your career. You also might want to add volunteer experience or information on your most recent education or certifications that you received.
- Set up job alerts: Currently, the job market is pretty competitive and because of this, some job applications are only open for a few weeks. In order to ensure you don’t miss out on any opportunities, set job alerts using keywords for the job you’re seeking.
- Practice with mock interviews: If you have someone you know and trust from a business perspective, ask them to do some mock interviews with you to help you prepare. It’s a good idea to do this before you even get a call from a company saying they’re interested in you. Some companies look to hire quickly so you might get a call today from someone looking to interview you tomorrow. Be prepared by being prepped and ready to go with your interviewing skills.
If you’re looking to change careers, the Goodkind Group can help you find your next job. Contact us at 212-378-0700 or visit our website for more information.
