Career Switch

Staying for a long time in one career is such a comfort zone you might never want to leave. Everyone knows that change is never easy, especially if you are trying to move into a new field. It is not easy but it is not impossible. You can successfully transition into a new career, if you are committed to it. According to Joblist's Midlife Career Crisis survey, people change careers because they want better pay, better work-life balance and are too stressful. Also most people are happier and more satisfied after they change their career. Changing your career is a big decision, there are many things or steps you need to take. You simply can not jump into a new field without any preparation and consideration.

A successful career change could often take months to accomplish when you have a strategy but without one, you could end up adrift for an even longer period. Having an action plan such as strategy, finance, and education/training are essential to your successful career switch. For example, you have been a driver in your entire career but due to long hours and far distance you decide that you don’t want to be a driver for life. After consideration you want to be a technician so you start searching for the job vacancy and read the requirements. If the company provides training that would be great as you can apply for the job right away. Otherwise you need to plan for the training (where to get it, how long it would take and how much does it cost) and find the job which could take months from training until you get the job.

How to change career

• Think deeply about your work
Before you decide to change your career, think deeply about what you like and what you don’t like about your job. If the latter are a lot more than the former, find your other interests that could be your next career.
• Consider other career
Talk to your family and friends who are in a different career than you. Like what they do, how they get the job or start it, what they like and dislike about it, and so on. You can also search for other jobs, read the requirements and responsibilities of the job to give you an idea what you may like.
• Define what you want
The next step after you gather information about other career/jobs, make a decision on what job you want to pursue next. Then start searching for that job to prepare what you should do, maybe find traineeship or paid training etc.
• Focus on it
You know that changing jobs needs time and patience. With a career switch it may take more time and patience so you have to keep your focus while still doing your daily job. People around you might discourage you, just ignore them and keep pursuing it.
• Try it out
You can start with an internship or part time before you decide to switch career, so you know the real situation and condition of the job, not just information from around you which could be very different.
• Prepare for the interview
The recruiter will most likely ask why you want to change your career as they can see from your resume you have zero experience and your age is not considered as a fresh graduate or someone without work experience. You need to frame it in such a way that it's clear to an interviewer that you are serious about your career change.

Conclusion

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