6 Ways to Prepare for a Huge Career Change
Career changes are oftentimes unavoidable. Whether you are making the decision to switch jobs or heeding the advice of your superiors to take on a different role, you will go through a transition in your occupation — sometimes, even more than once in your lifetime.
But even if career changes are normal occurrences, it doesn’t mean that the transition will be easy. Making a major switch, such as going from being an electrical engineer to a chef, is always difficult, no matter how open or willing you are to go through the whole process.
Experiencing a Stress-Free and Successful Career Switch
Being fully prepared before you change careers can make a huge difference in the whole process and the outcome itself.
Trusted career management and development consultants in the UAE share below the best tips for preparing for a major career change:
1) Ensure you are doing it for the right reasons.
The desire to change careers can be fuelled by different reasons. The most common ones include the need to earn more money, gain access to more opportunities for advancement, and experience better flexibility.
Feeling unhappy and unchallenged in your current job is another acceptable and common reason as well.
However, wanting to switch careers because you don’t like your manager or a new co-worker is a shallow reason for making such a big decision.
If you like your job and only feel annoyed whenever you see a coworker you don’t get along with, it is highly likely that you are not ready for a career change.
To ensure you are making a good decision, think deeply and list down the reasons why you want to change careers. If you want to be happy to be part of a new field and avoid regretting your decision, you should be a hundred percent certain that you have the right motivation to do so.
If you are heading towards something you love and not running away from something you hate, you are likely ready for a career change.
2) Do a personal SWOT analysis.
A strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat or SWOT analysis is a tool often used by organisations to evaluate their past, present, and future position.
It helps leaders and decision-makers have a clearer and fresh perspective on what their company does well, what challenges they may face, and which avenues they should pursue.
Conducting a SWOT analysis can help you prepare for a career change as well. By knowing where you excel and which areas you need to improve on, you can narrow down the list of jobs or roles you can consider next.
Identifying your employment prospects and the obstacles you may have to deal with can also help you gain an idea of what awaits you when you switch careers.
A personal SWOT analysis can help you become a better version of yourself. And this can prepare you as you take on a new role in a different field or setting and even pave the way for it.
3) Conduct research.
If you have already decided on what job to take on next and in which field, confirm that this is what you really want to do and it is what you imagine it to be.
Start by going online and reading as many materials as you can about your dream job. Study the job description and look up advice from experts on how you can be successful in this field.
Read blogs and articles written by professionals about your possible new job as well.
Also, try to join professional associations and network with your potential peers. Attend free and paid career-specific conferences.
Look into upcoming trends, including compensation and incentive-related ones, too.
If everything that you read makes you more interested and even excited about your potential new profession, you can start checking if your qualifications and skills meet the basic requirements, and looking for job opportunities.
4) Maintain, enhance, and broaden your skills.
If you are still employed, not in a hurry to leave your current job, and happy to be working on your career move plans for now, take advantage of any training programmes or upskilling opportunities offered by your employer.
Even if you think these training courses won’t be of any help to you today, if you are interested in them, take them up. Since they are free, you won’t lose anything by joining them. The certificate you will get might help you in the future, too.
If your company does not offer free training and you have some extra money, sign up for one or two relevant training programmes that can help you prepare for your future career.
Also, be open to accepting new responsibilities since doing so allows you to learn and develop more skills and become more flexible.
5) Start being more money-conscious.
Whether you already gave up your current job or haven’t resigned yet, start saving money and living within your means.
Unless you have another job waiting for you when you resign, there is no guarantee that you will have another source of income when you switch careers. As such, you will do well to have enough money to live on until you get employed again or until your business takes off, if you are going this route.
Develop the habit of restraining your impulses to buy things you want. This is a great way to curb your spending and be more money-conscious.
6) Create a plan.
Lastly, to turn your goal of changing careers into reality, you have to create a plan. This will be the roadmap that will get you from point A to point B.
Start by setting your short-term goals, the ones that you can achieve within 12 months or less. Next, establish your long-term objectives or those that will take longer to acquire.
Make sure you also determine the steps you need to take and the obstacles that you may have to face beforehand.
No matter how long or detailed your plan is, don’t forget to write it on your journal, piece of paper, or a mood board. When you are able to see this frequently, you will always remember it and work hard to achieve your goals.
If you want to be sure that you are ready for a drastic career change, or if you need help with creating a plan and putting it into action, don’t forget that there are experts who can assist you.
A career consultant can guide you every step of the way as you carve your own niche in a new role and field.
AUTHOR BIO
Leila Rezaiguia is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Kompass Consultancy, an innovative global talent management consultancy headquartered in Dubai and with offices in Abu Dhabi and Sydney, that specialises in enabling individuals, organisations and educational institutions to achieve performance excellence and career success. Leila is a multi-lingual (English, Arabic and French) PCC Coach, Mentor Coach, Trainer, Facilitator and Business Mentor who is passionate about coaching, women in leadership, talent management and organisational development.