Prepare for a New Career

Second careers are becoming a common occurrence among workers midway through their work years. Some choose to launch a new career after a lay off while others choose to find an alternative career that brings more job satisfaction and meaning in their life. As life expectancy rises, some workers start second careers to prevent outliving retirement savings. Over the course of the working life, workers may change careers multiple times. Boredom and desire for a new challenge are additional reasons for seeking a new career. Preparing for the new career later in life takes the same commitment and planning as a first career.

Steps

Deciding What You Want

1. Do a self-assessment of what you want in a career. Before you can make the step to change careers, you need to take an inventory of your values and what really matters to you. While you may not be able to land your dream job right away, you should have an idea of what it would be.
   • What would you do if money weren’t a factor?
   • What kind of work environment would be best for you?
   • Where would you like to live? Is relocating something you’d like to do?
2. Determine your financial needs. Changing careers can involve taking a substantial reduction in pay or benefits. That may not be a deal breaker, but you need to determine what you’re capable of financially and what your requirements are.
   • Consider what money you may have in savings and whether or not it’s enough to cover your major bills as you make a career change.
   • Determine what your monthly expenses are and the minimum amount of money you can make to cover them.
   • Calculate how much money you spend on entertainment per month and consider how much of it is necessary. Are you willing to give up your bowling league? Do you eat out more than you need to?
3. Make a list of what you don’t want. Determining what you aren’t willing to tolerate can be just as important as figuring out what you want when it comes to making a successful career transition.
   • Consider work environments that you would like to avoid such as “loud places” or “competitive atmospheres.”
   • Make a list of types of careers you are not interested in. You may have an interest in marketing, but are unwilling to go into sales. That’s an important distinction.

Taking an Inventory of Your Skills

1. Put together your résumé. You may already have the qualifications you need for a job in another career field. Clean up and update your resume and then take an objective look at the skills you already bring to the table.
   • Review your skills and decide which ones could easily transfer outside of your current career field.
   • Take your work experience into account. If you worked closely with other departments or on projects that involved things outside of your traditional responsibilities you may be able to cite those experiences as qualification.
2. Consider your education. Many careers require a college degree or technical training that you may be lacking. Educational limitations can put a snag in your career planning, but there’s always the option to pursue more or specialized schooling.
   • If you have a degree, look into what other career fields may draw from your educational background.
   • Determine if your work experience could serve in the place of education for some jobs.
   • Decide if you would be willing to pursue additional education in order to aid in your career change.
3. Take your personality into account. You may be unhappy in your current position because it’s a bad fit for your personality. Be introspective and try to decide what types of things your personality is well suited for.
   • If you enjoy speaking to people, that’s an important element to take into account as there are many career fields that require regular interaction with coworkers, employees or customers.
   • If you are shy, it’s important to pursue work that won’t take you out of your comfort area often (unless that’s what you’re looking for).
   • Consider taking a personality assessment. There are many personality assessments available online and many community colleges offer free ones. These tests can help you quantify elements of your personality you may not have accounted for.
4. Decide what motivates you. People are motivated by many different things, and determining those motivations can go far in helping you choose a career field. Finding a career field that offers the types of motivation you need is a sure way to increase your professional fulfillment.
   • Are you motivated by money? You may want to buy a home or build a better life for your family. If an increase in income is among your most important motivations that can help direct your career search.
   • Are you motivated by a need to help others? If you find helping others fulfilling and that’s a primary motivation for you, pursuing work in the non-profit sector may be best for you.
   • Are you motivated by recognition? Many career fields fall into the category of “unsung heroes” and that may not be what you’re looking for. You may want a job that gives you a bit of the spotlight, and there are career paths to pursue that can.

Preparing to Change Careers

1. Ask for advice. Once you’ve decided on what’s important to you and what you bring to the table, you’re ready to speak to people in the career fields you have an interest in. People already working in that field can provide valuable insight into what it’s like to have the job as well as the best way to get into the field.
   • Seek out people that work in the industry you are considering a transition to and ask them about their experiences.
   • Ask people about what qualifications they feel are important in order to find work in their career field.
   • Remember to take people’s advice with a grain of salt. They may provide you with extremely helpful information, but what they have to say may not always be beneficial to your or your journey to find a new career.
2. Change your brand. Once you’ve chosen a new career field, you will need to adjust your professional brand to aid in your search. Personal branding is all about managing people’s professional perceptions about you and your skill sets.
   • Alter your professional social media presence on sites like LinkedIn and Google+ to highlight your qualifications that lend themselves to the career path you’d prefer.
   • Change your résumé to make it more pertinent for the career path you want to change toward.
3. Network within your new career field. Despite how easy it is to apply for jobs online in today’s digital world, most new positions are landed through networking. Meeting people in your chosen career field can lead to job opportunities or references.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn to find professionals in the field you want to pursue and reach out to them. People are more generous with their time than you might expect.
   • Don’t wait until you find the job you want to try to network with people within that company. Instead, network with people to get to know them first, then to aid in your job hunt second.
4. Be humble. You may be transitioning from a higher level of your current career field to a lower level in a new one. It can be difficult to accept such a reduction in authority or prestige, but it may be necessary.
   • Focus on achieving long term success in your new field, that may require short term sacrifices.
   • Entry level positions offer great opportunity to learn about a new field and grow within it.
5. Be open to new things. Even if you feel sure about the exact career field or position you want to transition into, keep an open mind about other opportunities. You never know what may be around the corner.
   • Take every opportunity to network with people in careers that you find interesting. You never know what may come of new relationships you establish today.
   • Trust your instincts and don’t be afraid to take a chance on a position you think could be right for you.

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References

See also

• Leave a Job You've Outgrown
• Downsize Your Own Job
• Get Out of Job Jail
• Get Your Last Paycheck and Team Hot Check After Transferring
• Retain Your Job in Crisis
• Recover From Unemployment
• Give Up Your Job and Feel Good
• Work Beyond 65
• Handle Anxiety About a Promotion
• Tell If Your Career is Stalled

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