Looking for a career change?
Have a quick self-reflection process and assess where you stand. You have to take into consideration your interests, options available, evaluating alternative careers, and then decide if you’d like to continue making the move.
One common mistake people do is; when they think of a switch is when they take the time to build their CV/Resume. Which is fine in context, but the problem is we leave out a lot of our important learnings and accomplishments as we fail to recollect the past. It is important that you log your step by step growth in some manner or form and put them in writing in whatever way possible (take notes, diaries, journals, just anything that works). Which can then be used whenever you like to create a Resume or CV.
1. Evaluate your current job. Are you satisfied in what you have achieved and where you have reached in your current profile and expertise? Assess your daily routine and your process of work, have a complete understanding of your growth progress in current position or previous roles. You will have to write down the pros and cons of your current job, as well as mark them as to what they are related to (for ex: I have been promoted as a manager – due to my performances and exceeding targets or I felt my management was not transparent – which is related to work culture). While you are in your reflection phase do not stop working or detach completely. Keep putting in your efforts maintain and track your accomplishments, put efforts to learn new skills, reach out to people understand what other companies are doing.
2. Identify your skills, interests and values. Look at your past experiences and review the roles and responsibilities of your successful and past failures (those are your learnings). As an individual you need to identify what are your core interests and what you would like to learn new. Then it's also important to understand your values and keep the vision that you started off with, don’t deviate from fundamental principles and values that you set forth for yourself. Think about what you are looking for and what is it that you would like to get out of your job. (Are you willing to look out for challenges? Do you want a simple 9 to 5 job? So on...)
3. What alternative careers would suit your long term goals? Discuss and learn from mentors and even have discussions with your current manager(s), family members, friends based on your skillset and traits. Have ideas of what you would like to do and how you would like to progress in your career.
4. Look out for new job posts. Have a simple market study on what jobs are out there to understand the current job situation in your region. You will then have to check out the regions which you would want to apply for job roles (use social media), this would give you a clear picture on how things are set up. Then evaluate and set a list of places you would like to target or jobs that would be ideal. Sit for as many interviews as possible, might be tiring and draining but that is the best way for you to gain experience as well as recognise your own market value and whether your current job role does justice to your role, compensation and so on. Whilst sitting in interviews remember that interview outcomes are RESULTS, you should focus on the process (selling yourself) just make sure the process is good and you will make it, if there is a misalignment the result might not be in your favour and thats okay!
Look for part time opportunities that you could experience new roles and have a try at it, part time roles can provide you experience and exposure. Working remotely with companies around the world to understand different dimensions of working and culture of work.
5. Develop new skills and take online courses. Up skill and attend online certification courses and webinars. This is probably the best way to explore new horizons, you would be learning about advancements in your field of interest or even find out things you did not know before. It is important that you show all of these new learnings in your resume or curriculum vitae.
6. Consider all your options and start prioritising for the switch. After having done all your research and evaluating the pros and cons, when it’s time to have decisions made its always good to write down and prioritise your options in hand. Based on all the above information that we have gone through you can now see which job profile and role is best fit for your requirement and consider switching.
It is always good to be aware of your surroundings and also keep options open but make sure you assess your value in the job market that you are currently in. Never give up at your current role, you might even get a chance to change your career within the company that your currently working. So be patient and take the necessary steps to build bridges, keep broadening your network as you go along. Keep making meaningful connections and eventually when are ready for a switch and the opportunity arises you can go for it. There is always learning in every step of the way.
"Remember that change is constant but it’s definitely a process."
If you need any help and you would like someone to speak to you can contact me or even email me. If you think you need help on your cover letter or resume, feel free to reach out as well.
