Career transition: How to change your career?

Feb 12 2016

How easy can it be to jump from one career to the next? On paper, everything sounds quick, and people may be very supportive, but in reality, that isn’t always the case. But stay with me and let’s find a way out together.

Perhaps you feel that you are ready for the big change. Let’s say that you’ve discovered that you love solving social problems and in the past years you’ve become a very social person, but your career is related more to computers than people. So, how would your career change into a less robotic field? Depending on what you want to do exactly, it may take you back to school… don’t freak out; it might be just for a couple of weeks, days or months. You have to see the options you have.

A friend of mine jumped from twenty years of computer engineering into an English literature teacher, although it took him six months to get a certification to study full time for this. It became his short-term dream and he succeeded. He is a happy teacher doing the right job and has more time for his kids. and loves working with teenagers! (Who doesn’t?)

Let’s see another case: Joshua has been working in politics for over ten years. he finally realized that he doesn’t want to be a politician; therefore, he decides to change into a rentable content writer, so he got into a full-time writing workshop and it helped him to prepare a real portfolio of his work from the past years, from all the speeches to political articles he had to do when working before. Now, he is a successful writer with successful prints… writing romance in the political environment. Go figure!

Well, I’m sure you all know the story of J. K. Rowling, our beloved Harry Potter creator… who was a researcher and secretary when she decided to write the first manuscript… it wasn’t an easy transition, and in case you didn’t know, the manuscript was rejected twelve times from different publishers before the final approval. Now, I don’t have to tell you how successful she is!

So, what do you need to do in order to change from one career to the next?

Make a plan of action:

Be realistic:

If you want to become president after being an electrician, you can, but it might take you forever to get there… I personally wouldn’t recommend it.

NEVER GIVE Up

things can get tough, depending of your situation, but to make a dream come true is never too late and never too big.

Look for a professional advice and paper (CV) boost:

I remember a friend of mine saying that her curriculum was pointless because she hasn’t done anything worthy of saying… so I asked her to send it to me, and then I had a professional conversation with her; she rediscovered that she knew plenty of things by experience, and her expertise was beyond expected. The problem is that she was looking at her own professional CV writing as an employee and not as a recruiter. Lesson: Always ask a professional opinion, because sometimes the problem is not to say it but how to say it correctly.

Don’t underestimate your talents.

See, as in the case of J. K. Rowling, we believe in her talent because we have experienced what she is capable of transmitting in her own words. Her movies are worldwide known! But what happens when we hear that a’secretary’ wants to become a successful writer? Imagine the mediocrity of society we live in; what if she paid attention to that and didn’t believe in her talent? We would have missed one of the best literatures ever written! Not to mention that she wasn’t accepted in Oxford. Either as a resume writer or as an entrepreneur, take care of yourself, inform yourself, be yourself, and walk forward. Self-pity is a future poison thing to do to yourself.

Career coaching helps you to point out the options you have and can also help you to say the things you need to say in the way they need to be said. Manage your agenda and save three to four hours of your week to achieve your short-term career transition dream! Make your homework, and above all, make yourself and your family happy.