For a number of reasons, there can come a time in your life when you decide that you want to change careers. This could even happen more than once in your life, as life can change and priorities can change. The reason for a career change can be for a number of reasons, but if you want to go down that path, then it is a good idea to be as strategic as possible about it. By changing your career to something that you will love, is researched and well thought out, then it is likely to mean that you are more satisfied with it and don’t need to switch again anytime soon. If you know that a career change will be for you, then here are some of the things that you can do to make sure that it is the right move for you.
Personal inventory
One of the first things that you can do is to think about your current job role and how it can impact your job. You can start by writing down some of the things that you don’t like, as well as what you do. From your answers, you’ll be able to get an idea about what gives you the most job satisfaction. You should also think about the skills, interests, and values that you have as that could influence the kind of job that you choose to make the switch to.
Assess a range of careers
In order to become more informed about the different options that you have for your career, it can be a good idea to brainstorm or assess the different kinds of careers that could work for you. If you’re not too sure where to start, then you could easily ask other people in your professional network. You could also look to get some guidance from careers counselors, as well as friends and family. By using the resources that are out there, you can make a shortlist of those that should work for you.
Look into retraining or going back to school
There will be some careers that will need you to retrain in order to get the job. Take a job in a medical profession, for example. You can’t become a doctor or a nurse without being able to have the right training and qualifications to do so. Not all careers will need something specific, but you could think about going back to school. For instance, going to do a graduate qualification could help just to cement your expertise and make you more employable. Just make sure that you make things easier on yourself, such as looking for Stanford GSB essay questions to help with applications, for example. You don’t need to go back to school to change careers, but for some job roles, it can help.
If you are looking to stay motivated with your career change, then make a note of what you have been doing and the steps that you need to take to change your career. If you can track your progress, then it will help you to get there and you’ll be able to mark off what you have done and what is still left to do to get you to where you want to be.