Have you ever considered what life could look like for you if you changed what you did? So, instead of going to the receptionist job every single day, you headed onto a plane to travel for a meeting as an interpreter. What if you swapped your stagnant desk job and trained to be a personal trainer? There are so many different jobs that you could be doing in the world that sometimes, a change is absolutely necessary. There’s so much to see and do in life that the idea of staying still, of staying stagnant, just doesn’t seem feasible.
The thing is, it’s not feasible. You are not born to feel bored. You were also a kid when you chose what degree to study the first time around, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t change your mind. If you want to go ahead and retrain into a new career, you can do that. That’s the best bit about being an adult: nothing is stopping you from learning something new and going again. You can read more here about how to study online, and that way you can fit it into your life and your current job. There is no time to wonder what you COULD be doing. Life is too short to wish; instead, you must DO.
The good news is that you are not alone in feeling the way you feel; many professionals in their 20s and 30s are worrying that they aren’t doing enough with their lives, and want a change. It doesn’t matter what it is about the job that’s making you unhappy; you need to figure out what you could do to make yourself feel good again. You don’t need to get to your 50s and 60s and remain filled with regret for not doing the things in life that you truly wanted to do. With the right strategy in place, you can have that dream job that’s staring you in the face.
It’s time for a change, and it’s time that you realised that you are the only one who can make those changes. So, below, we’ve put together six ways to ensure that you make that career U-turn happen for you.
Tip 1: Find Out Your “Why”
Before you do anything, you need to work out why it is you are craving a change. Why now? Is there stress or upheaval in your personal life? Sometimes, you can react to particular circumstances with no real thought. You may be dealing with a lot of stress personally, and it’s this that triggers your need to change everything else in life. The smart thing here is to THINK before you do. You could kick up the dust of your career for no good reason and then regret it later.
You should make sure that you understand what’s driving your decision to make a change in the first place. Once you know what’s lit a fire under you to get moving and make a change, you’re going to be able to push a spark back into your life. Your career really matters, and while you may not necessarily know precisely why you initially want to change careers, this will really help you to work it out!
Tip 2: Go The Easy Way Around
You can really complicate a career change. Perhaps you’re aiming to be at the top of the career ladder where you are now – the fastest way to get there is to ask your management team for help. Ask the person in charge of you how you can get to the top and what steps to take. Usually, your management team would love to see staff take the initiative and control over their future. You need to find the path of least resistance to your goals, and if you can change your career without changing the place where you work, that’s the easiest way to get there.
Your other options – if you want out of your industry, of course – is to retrain. Whether this is with the help of an internship or not is entirely up to you! You don’t have to set yourself up to fail at this; studying to retrain is going to get you further than you could imagine. Whatever you do, make it easy! Find the path in life that will be easiest for you, and you’ll be able to get stuck into a new career in no time at all.
Tip 3: Network!
One of the best ways to make a change is to network. It’s often who you know and not what you know. If you ensure that you are dealing with the right people in the right companies and the right industry, you’ll find it much easier to get a foot in the door of the right company. Networking is the most critical piece of the puzzle, especially when you want to switch fields and do something entirely new. After you’ve spent time in a particular area, you’ll have a long list of people willing to give you a reference and talk you up. However, the chances are that you don’t have the same network of people in your new field of interest.
That’s where you need to start making those connections, whether you want to head to business events and start making it happen, or you want to find someone new to be a point of contact for your business. No matter what you do, you need to consider how you can find a break in the right industry. You want to get as much information as possible to make this a good career change for you, not a bad one. Keep networking and meeting people. Put feelers out there with people you may know in the industry and just make waves. The more you put yourself out there, the better!
Tip 4: Offer Your Time
You cannot get a new career without some experience in the field, but you can’t get any experience without a job – it’s the ultimate catch-22, and it’s the most frustrating thing for job seekers. You’re now jumping into that same pool with both feet, and the best way around this is to volunteer your time. We know; it’s hard enough fitting in time for your actual paid job. However, you want to change careers, and you can’t do that without something to offer.
If you work a little overtime for free, put the time in and pay your dues, you’re going to be able to network in the right places; you’re going to gain some invaluable experience that you can really ensure get you where you want to be. It’s going to be an impressive thing to put on your resume, too, and you’ll be considered to be a professional in your field. It makes you look good, you can use your transferable skills to show off a little, and you can make your resume look good at the same time!
Tip 5: Take Your Time
It takes time to break into a new industry, so you need to employ a little patience for this strategy of yours to work. You should know that you won’t be landing your dream job overnight. However, you will be able to enjoy a complete career overhaul if you give yourself a little time to learn and to grow. Your chances of getting this whole thing right and setting off on the right path are very high. However, you need to be patient and wait – it WILL happen.