There may come a period in your professional life when you plan to change careers. Career changes occur for many reasons, but there are benefits to being strategic about it. For instance, a strategic career change would likely result in greater job satisfaction. In this article, you’ll learn why someone might change career paths and how you can prepare for your next career step.
Why do people change their career paths?
Following the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is no consensus about how many occasions adults would change occupations in their lives. Nevertheless, we know job changes, as well as careers and business, happen regularly.
There are a variety of reasons why someone would change their profession. Popular reasons for changes to your career include:
- Appreciation and acceptance: The lack of respect or praise provided by a manager or employer is one major problem pressing towards wanting a career change. Sixty-five percent of dissatisfied job professionals do not feel valued in their current job and often look elsewhere.
- Stress: Sadly, an unavoidable side effect of work appears to be stress. Survey findings of 7,000 U.S. employees reported in a Forbes article showed that 42 percent of working professionals sought another choice because of stress and quit a job because of it.
- Salary: Money and compensation are also a major factor why individuals want to move on from a profession. Research conducted in India and published in the Economic Times reveals that 63 percent of mid-level professionals consider a higher wage to be a justification for remaining in a job or finding better opportunities afterward.
- Flexible work options: More professionals are leaving their current jobs to pursue something with a better balance between work and life as they become more aware of the opportunities available. Many highly qualified professionals are interested in flexibility at work and frequently look for careers with flexible options.
- Frustration and boredom: This is the most popular explanation, possibly. Research has indicated that up to 80 percent of all jobs fall into this group. Of course, there are several reasons people get irritated and bored at work, but the biggest single explanation seems to be a poor match between the work a person is doing and their innate talents. As human beings, nothing is more irritating to us than spending most of our waking hours doing something we are not quite good at or enjoy doing.
- Career and promotion opportunities: Working professionals tend to feel stifled and trapped in their current career, especially in this economy, as they see little opportunity to advance. People usually feel like they are not going anywhere when they stay in a position for too long, and there aren’t enough positions available to lead to a new and higher-level career.
It is interesting to see from these surveys that enthusiasm for one’s work is not always a leading factor in bringing about a career change, although it is a common cause. More frequently, people’s motivations for changing jobs tend to revolve around problems that can be solved with a difference in the business climate or policy.
Ten steps to a good change in a career
Study these tips to analyze your desires, explore alternatives, evaluate alternative career directions, and make the transition to a new career:
Assess your existing work satisfaction
Keep a log of your everyday reactions to your work situation and search for patterns that are repeated. What aspects do you prefer or dislike about your current job? Are your disappointments related to your job’s quality, the culture of your business, or the people you work with? You can do some things in your current job while you’re doing this to help you plan to move on when it’s time for a shift.
Consider your goals, beliefs, and talents
Evaluate previous roles, voluntary work, projects, and jobs to define favorite tasks and skills. Determine if your core beliefs and strengths in your current career are discussed.
Consider professions that are alternative
Brainstorm ideas for career alternatives via exploring job opportunities and sharing your core values as well as abilities with colleagues, family, and networking connections. Try consulting with a career coach for professional advice if you’re having trouble coming up with ideas.
Check out options for jobs
To identify some targets for in-depth research, conduct a preliminary comparative evaluation of several fields. You can find a wealth of knowledge online simply by Googling the jobs that concern you.
Try it out
Identify outreach and freelance services related to your target field to test your passion. For example, try editing the PTA newsletter if you are thinking of publishing as a career or volunteer at your local shelter if you are interested in working with animals.
Get social
Search out as much as you can about those areas and reach out for insightful interviews with personal contacts in those industries. Your college alumni career network is a strong point of communication for insightful interviewers. Another great platform for seeking connections in particular career fields of interest is LinkedIn.
Set up a work shadow (or two)
To witness practice first hand, shadow professionals in fields of primary concern. Spend a couple of hours to some days shadowing people who have jobs that concern you, anywhere. Your college career office is a perfect place to find volunteer alumni who can host shadows of work.
Take some classes
Examine educational possibilities that would relate your history to your new area. Consider taking evening courses at a local college or an online course or attending workshops on a particular day or weekend. For recommendations, contact specialist organizations in your objective area.
Improve your skills
Search for opportunities to learn new skills that will pave the way for a shift in your current career, such as offering to write a grant proposal if grant writing is respected in your new sector. If in-house training is provided by your company, sign up for as many classes as you can.
See also – Modern Skills to Add to Your CV
Consider a new career in the same sector
Consider alternative roles that would use the knowledge of the industry you already have in your current industry. You can also consider moving to corporate recruiting within the retail sector if you are a store manager for a big store company and have grown weary of the extended hours. In addition, you can consider technical sales or project management if you are a programmer who does not want to code.
Reference
10 Steps to a Successful Career Change–thebalancecareers
