How can i change careers

Determine what skills contributed to your success and how they can apply to various roles you might be interested in. While you are discovering more about yourself and what fulfilling work means to you, you should also define in what way you want to change career paths.

For some, switching careers might mean starting over in an adjacent industry or a completely new one, while others may seek a new occupation within the same industry. Example: Monica, a multimedia advertising sales representative for a television network, might lean on her sales skills to get a job as a donor relations manager for a home healthcare nonprofit. Monica would be using applicable occupational skills to change industries from broadcasting to health and personal care.

The donor relations manager that Monica replaced, Natalie, used her financial and administrative experience from being in the role to secure a job as a controller for a hospice service. In this example, Natalie stayed in the health and personal care industry, but changed occupations. To become more informed on your career options, brainstorm the jobs and industries that may be a good fit for your skills and values.

Using resources at your disposal like Indeed, you can brainstorm potential careers and make a shortlist to research. Taking this preliminary step before diving into thorough research will help you narrow your career focus. Read more: 10 Best Jobs for a Career Change. One way to learn more about a field of interest is to conduct informational interviews with people in that field. Talk to people you may already know or browse your college alumni association.

Additionally, you can use employment projections from the BLS to discover the fastest-growing job fields, and Indeed Salaries to browse top-paying jobs and companies by industry. Creating your action plan means defining a clear goal and milestones to complete it. Think about things like education and certification , skill development, attending networking events and seizing opportunities to practice within the specific industry or field.

Write down what steps you plan to take and a timeline to completion. Before you start applying for new jobs, you may need to undergo a bit of personal rebranding. This may be even more important during a career change because your existing experience may not clearly align with your desired goals without a little thought and planning. Consider how your existing experiences make you a better candidate for the role you are applying for and use that to make a powerful personal statement about why you are a good fit across your resume, cover letter and any business networking sites.

Remember to also update any business cards, personal websites and contact info to reflect your new brand. She realized through these explorations that working with people at a really personal level was appealing to her. Initially, teacher turned artist Sandeep Johal constantly critiqued her own work and potential to pursue a career in art, which held her back.

Figuring out how to describe myself during times of career change has always been a tough balancing act. However, doing that felt like I was pigeonholing myself as a healthcare professional, even though I wanted to move away from that very industry. Recrafting your narrative turns out to be a key challenge for many career changers. Krishelle Hardson-Hurley started her career as a teacher, but e ventually decided to shift into tech engineering.

To pull off this pivot, s he invested a tremendous amount of time refining her personal narrative so she could position herself as an attractive candidate in spite of the fact she had no experience in the tech industry. As a career changer, invest extra time and effort in crafting your career narrative so others can more easily to connect the dots between what you have done and what you want to do.

When I left the corporate marketing job to start my own career consultancy, I naturally felt more at ease with fellow marketers. I felt like an imposter around other solopreneurs, but being around those people helped push me toward gaining the clarity, confidence, and courage I needed to launch my own venture. Similarly, former tech marketer Noz Nozawa also decided her immediate professional network was not the best source of inspiration when planning to start her own interior design business.

Although it may feel unnatural, make the effort to surround yourself with people aligned with your desired future rather than only those from your past. One of the first lessons I was taught about negotiation skills was to define my walkaway point before entering into any negotiation.

Former professional tennis player Rina Einy spent the first part of her life playing tennis on the world stage, even representing Great Britain in the Olympics.

However, after the Olympics, she decided to draw a line in the sand and pursue a corporate career instead. He attributes his ability to make these radical pivots to being able to walk away from his past.

To start a new chapter in your career, define what your walkaway point will be, commit to that standard, and be willing to move on when that line is crossed.

Former software marketer Zai Divecha started to consider making a career change when she realized she was feeling so much more motivated by her side projects than her day job.

She had started a fundraising cycling team, and loved the feeling and energy she had when building something of her own. The Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projections program can help you identify occupations that are projected to have more job openings.

You could also look at employment, wage and transfer data, which can help point you toward career options you might not have considered. Employment and wage data show how many jobs there were in a particular occupation and how much money those workers made. You could also check out employee reviews and salary comparisons on Glassdoor or Indeed. Reach out to people who are doing what you want to do and ask if they have some time to talk about their career paths. Think about the additional skills you may need.

You might also consider working with a career coach who can help you assess your skills and what you want to do next. You can also take classes on sites such as LinkedIn Learning, Coursera or Udacity to learn more about the field you want to enter and make yourself more marketable.

You should make sure you have an online presence where recruiters are searching that highlights your relevant skills and experience, says Jenny Logullo, a career coach and founder of Workplace Worth Academy.

Some employers use LinkedIn as a search engine to find candidates. Logullo says. If you are interested in working for another department within your organization, you could offer to collaborate, says Mr. When employers are under tighter budget constraints, they may be more tolerant of partnerships across teams and departments, he says.

If you have the bandwidth, you can offer to consult on some projects as a way to get noticed by the manager, even if it is remote.

Consider spending some time shadowing a professional whose work interests you. You could ask to spend a few hours attending meetings with a professional at your company who works in another department or set up a more formal job-shadowing arrangement. The early days of networking in your desired industry may feel slow, says Mr.