Strategies For A Successful Career Change
Research has shown that the average adult changes careers at least 3 times during their life (and often more than that). That figure makes sense when you consider how much we grow over time and that a career spans at least 40 years. Over time our values, priorities, and interests change and we often find ourselves looking for something different from our work. The career we found ourselves in during our 20s may differ greatly from where we would like to be in our 50s. Although many of us realize at some point that we would like to change careers, there are many things that hold us back - lack of direction, fear, money, or uncertainty can all contribute. These simple strategies can help get you started on finding the career of your dreams.
1. Assess your strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. Make a list of what you are good at and what you enjoy doing. This list should include everything you enjoy - even if it is just a hobby for you. Ideally, you want a career that allows you to use your strengths and perform work that you love doing all day. Along the same lines, you don’t want a career that doesn’t fit your interests or your skills. This will make your days long and lead to dissatisfaction in your job.
2. Research your career choices based on the preferences you identified in the first step. This may include taking a couple of professional career assessments. The benefit of career assessments is that they help identify things you aren’t able to see yourself and can suggest career possibilities that you may have overlooked or not considered. Some assessments can even tell you, based on the test results, how well you would fit in with the “typical” person in that career.
3. Explore the occupations on your list. Speak with someone currently in that career and see what they enjoy and what they dislike about it. Find out what advi Read the rest of this entry »