What does it really take to change careers?
I’m lucky to be in a position where I’ve seen what has worked for other professionals who’ve been successful in making the jump, too.
Mary Despe
Recently, someone asked me for advice on changing careers.
They wanted to know what steps worked for me when I pivoted from an analyst focused position over to a recruiting role many moons ago.
While I consider myself fortunate to be doing something I love now, I’ll admit that my change in careers was more the result of sheer nerve than it was of a real strategy.
Over the years, I’ve been able to refine my approach to career growth and advancement.
However, I’m lucky to be in a position where I’ve seen what has worked for other professionals who’ve been successful in making the jump, too.
While there isn’t a single formula that guarantees success, here are six things you can do to influence the outcome, including:
- Build skills to align with your pursuits, finding opportunities to learn wherever they might emerge.
Some might be drawn by natural curiosity or their passion to keep learning. However, those successful in changing careers get in line with what their desired profession calls for.
It’s more than having a certification or a required credential to get ahead. They seek out opportunities that put them in a better position to serve others and to advance.
For some, this can mean putting in the work through boot camps after work hours or juggling a demanding degree program part-time with a full-time job.
But it’s not just limited to the classroom.
In the book Activate Your Agile Career: How Responding To Change Will Inspire Your Life’s Work, Marti Konstant, Workforce Futurist and Career Agility Expert, talks about how important side projects and role expansion serve as ways people can forge growth opportunities and continued professional relevance.
Besides using their skills in a side hustle, many successful career changers create the possibility of honing their new skills in familiar places.
They readily pitch ideas to their employers about putting new skills into practice on cross-department projects.
When possible, they see opportunities at their current workplace to propose a solution to an unaddressed problem, for example. This gives them an active role to drive action in areas they’re hoping to explore.
2. Deepen the connections with people you know; expand your network to those you don’t know.
We’ve heard the expression – “It’s not what you know, but who you know”.
However, consider this twist:
Successful career changers share what they’d like to do with the people they trust, and those who might be able to help them. They also realize that achieving their career dreams requires nurturing the relationships in such a circle.
Besides deepening the connections with those familiar with the places you wish to go, you may find that branching out to new people active in the space you hope to enter is necessary, too.
Reaching out to someone you might not know personally is part of building your network.
However, consider raising your visibility as someone serious about the field you’d like to get into by blogging on topics or participating in panel discussions at conferences, too.
3. Play the part.
I’m not suggesting you pretend to act like a ‘Know-It-All’ in the field you want to pursue, nor even to ‘fake it til you make it’. Instead, you need to embody the confidence of someone working in your desired profession.
Instead of saying you’d like to get into the tech industry one day, for example – you take direct action. You don’t spend most of your time waiting for someone to call you to an opportunity. Rather, you initiate the work.
You are inspired to do all the things.
Building your knowledge and expertise about your preferred industry, interacting with those already in the field at conferences and user groups, as well as volunteering for experiences serve as great ways to help you become the professional you’d like to be.
4. Develop a career narrative that makes sense.
You might feel that your background doesn’t easily suggest you’d be a great candidate for your desired role. Successful career changers are able to talk about key experiences in their background in a way that persuades others of their ability.
They’ve skillfully constructed a story that incorporates their qualification, interest, and potential to be a player in their desired field. Besides curating specific examples and achievements that best convey their candidacy, those successful in changing career are able to communicate their experiences (both in person and on paper) genuinely and with confidence.
5. Be consistent with your efforts over time.
While there’s always a random example of someone being able to move into a new field quickly, it typically doesn’t happen overnight. It takes around 11 months, on average, to change careers, according to a 2019 study conducted by job website Indeed.
It’s important to be consistent with the core activities when finding a new job. This includes keeping your resume and LinkedIn profiles up to date, applying to positions regularly, and following up on their statuses.
In addition to these, successful career changers have also made it a regular practice to keep building their professional networks and actively participating in events or activities aligned with their desired field.
6. Have an adaptable attitude – it goes a long way.
Change is rarely predictable – so why think such a move in your career would be? Those who have been able to make the switch into a profession they desire embrace the journey. They realize that the new job will not come to them, wrapped up with a nice, pretty bow. Rather, they accept that such a change involves many twists and turns, and that opportunities to advance may present themselves in unexpected ways.
Have you changed careers? What tips would you recommend to others looking to make a similar move? Share below!
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Mary Despe
Helping professionals who feel 'unseen' develop a strategy to attract the roles they desire
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