If a new career is on the cards for you, then you need to know how to make this happen for yourself. You can’t just wing it and hope for the best, you need to seriously consider your options and what steps you should take to find the right career for you. Need help? We’ve got you covered.
Consider Your Strengths and Interests
The first thing that you should do if you are searching for a new career is think about the things that you like to do, what skills you already possess, and what kind of career would align with the person that you are. It might sound like it’s a lot of thinking and a lot of work, but really you just have to think about what you’re good at and then use this to guide you and your decision making here for your next career.
What people often forget is that there are tools such as career assessments to help you start looking in the right place. Now, these tests and assessments are not telling you what job you should have, they are trying to match you with a job or an industry based on the answers that you provide. The questions are specific to help you understand what you might be good at, or what might be good for you.
Research Various Career Options
There are so many different career options out there that it’s worth exploring as many of them as you can. It might seem as though there’s nothing out there for you, but it’s just that you haven’t found it yet, rather than it not existing.
It’s worth using sites like Glassdoor to get a good idea of what it’s like working for specific companies, what the key role and responsibilities will be for specific jobs, and more. You can even use this to understand more about how much each career typically pays, but remember that this comes down to the company and is not always universal.
It’s a good idea to make a list of all the things you could be interested in for a job, and go from there.
Do You Have Any Transferable Skills?
Have you ever heard of transferable skills? We all have them, but some people don’t realize this when they’re looking for new jobs. Transferable skills are skills that you have gained from your current or past role that can apply to a new career that you’re interested in. Some of the most common transferable skills are things like project management and problem solving, which are necessary for most roles these days.
When you’re interviewing for positions, ensure that you’re explaining how these can benefit the business.
Set Clear Career Goals
The next step is to determine what you want in your career. How much do you want to be paid? Is location essential or would you rather work from home where possible? Is a work-life balance super important to you? It’s things like this that you have got to figure out before you start applying for positions, as it will help guide you in what could be right and wrong for you.
Ideally, you should be setting both short and long term goals so that you have a plan, and you continue moving in that direction.
Work Towards More Qualifications If You Need To
It’s more common than not for people who are changing careers to need to work towards more qualifications in order to change careers. You can take certifications, courses, or even a whole new degree depending on what field you want to go into, and what will serve you best in the future. For example, if you are looking to get into any kind of industry where you need first aid training, looking into American Heart Association BLS certification classes and passing them looks fantastic on your resume.
Network Strategically
If you’ve ever heard the phrase ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’, then you will understand why strategic networking is essential to moving your career forward. Take steps like joining industry groups, attend events that are being hosted, and even join online forums where you can participate with people in your industry to grow your circle. The more people that you can connect with in your target field, the more ins you have, and hopefully at some point the more doors will be open for you.
Start Searching And Applying For Jobs
Now that you know what you want to do and what you need to do, you can start searching for and applying for jobs. Use job sites, job boards, local newspapers and whatever else you can find to identify as many roles that could work for you as possible. The more that you identify and apply for, the higher chance you have of being successful in getting a new job.
Get Ready For Interviews
You need to learn how to interview well. Practice with questions that are commonly asked in interviews, ensure that your answers are confident, ensure that you are presentable when you get there and more things like this. The whole interview matters from the second you walk through the door, to the second you leave, so you need to make a good, lasting impression.
Evaluate Offers And Decide What You Want
Finally, if you evaluate all offers that come your way then you will know exactly what you want to do. If you are interviewing for multiple companies and various positions then you could find yourself with more than one job offer. Weigh up the pros and cons of these positions, think about factors like growth within the company and how much you are getting paid. This can sway you one way or the other, but don’t just do a job because it gets you the most money. The last thing you want is to start a new job and not enjoy it, that means you have kissed goodbye to many opportunities and are back to square one.
We do hope you found this article helpful and it gave you some ideas on how you can go about finding a new career that suits you down to the ground.
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