Changing your career path can be a hugely overwhelming decision to make, and you’ll likely be wondering whether it’s the right decision or not. To help you answer this, we’ve come up with a guide featuring advice for those wanting to change their career path. Keep reading to find out more.
Ask Yourself Why You Want To Change Careers
Firstly, have a deep think about what exactly makes you want to change careers. Is it for your own personal happiness and fulfilment? Or to meet other people’s expectations and pressures? Changing careers should only ever be done if you think it will benefit you personally. There could be a range of reasons you want to change careers. Maybe you think your new career choice could make you happier or because you want to earn more. Perhaps your values have changed over time, and you no longer feel fulfilled in your current career. Whatever you choose to do, you should try and choose something that you feel passionately about and can see yourself being happier doing for years to come.
Try And Learn More About Your Career Of Choice
When you know exactly what career options appeal to you the most, you need to try and learn as much as possible about them to help you make an informed decision. If you’ve got friends or family that are already working in that type of field, then take the opportunity to ask them about it and if they enjoy it. They could have recommendations and advice for how to get into that career and what you could do to help promote your CV to potential recruiters. It also gives you the chance to ask about what their work-life is like day-to-day to give you an idea of whether it would be right for you. If you don’t have the personal connections to learn more about it, it could be worth researching professionals in the career you’re interested in and reaching out to employers to them to ask for advice through professional online platforms.
Have Other Options In Place
You probably already have a good idea of the kind of career you want to go into, but it’s also worth having other options to consider as well. Think about your experience and skills sets and what kind of careers these could apply to. Would these other options suit you, and could you see yourself enjoying them long-term? If the main career change you want doesn’t work out for some reason, you’ll have other routes you can try and go down instead, meaning you’re not completely lost if your first option isn’t possible.
Look Into Job Availability
Establishing the level of availability for certain career options will help you to prepare when applying for jobs. If the field of work you’re interested in is highly competitive, you will need to work extra hard to gain prospective employers’ attention. Look online on job search engines and professional social platforms to help you to get an idea of the number of jobs available before you start applying.
Research The Expected Salary For Your Career Choice
The kind of salary you can expect to earn with your new career choice should be part of your considerations to help you decide whether it’s the right choice for you. Although it should be the main reason for you to change career, it is important to know whether the salary would be right for your lifestyle. Knowing the average UK salary for jobs in the career field you want to go into also gives you a good base to consider potential job offers and their salary.
Networking
Networking is a great way to build connections in the career area you are looking to get into. It also allows you to learn more about the kind of work you’ll be carrying out and valuable knowledge to help you progress. Speaking to individuals already working in that field will help you to build contacts to learn about potential job opportunities and companies that you could apply to work with. You can also gain their advice for how to tailor your CV and build interview skills and any experience or learning you can do to help boost your chances of getting a job offer.
Try Out Volunteer Or Freelance Work First
Look into opportunities for volunteer work or freelance work you could carry out that would allow you to build your skills and experience in the career you want to go into. You can also put this on your CV to help boost your chances of receiving job offers. This will set you up with what you need to get started in the field of work you’re passionate about and show employers that you’re willing to use your own time to invest in this career.
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