The key to doing so is good planning. A change in career must be well planned at the best of times, and career planning takes on an even more significance in periods of economic transition. Trying to chase several different career ideas at once will leave you catching none of them. Making a decision on the one particular career you'd like to change to will greatly improve your chances of success. How do you decide which career you'd like to move to? Research is the answer and it'll also help give you a clearer path once you've decided which role you're pursuing. Continue to-or start to-read about careers you're interested in. Find information on the World Wide Web. Use your network wisely by asking relevant contacts intelligent questions. Here at Position Ignition we help people at various life stages determine what type of career is right for them.
So you've done your research and used others to help you focus on the one career you want to pursue. Now the question is how to pursue it at a time when there are fewer job openings. Continue to research and use your network in order to find or even create job openings. Identify organisations that have the role you want and research ways into them. Find out as much as you can about what they need in an employee right at this moment. Don't try to fit your qualities and skills around the organisation, instead match the organisation to what you have. Joining an organisation that values what you have is a lot easier than joining an organisation where'll you have to reinvent yourself, losing your sense of self in the process. Continue to use your network wisely and don't waste your time, or others'. Online networking can be very useful, but don't forget the network of those closest to you, people you know well 'off-line'. Think about whom you're going to approach and what you're going to ask them for. If you approach those closest to you, the strength of your relationship will enable you to be honest and precise about what you need, if you've truly pinpointed what it is you want to do.
By the time you get to the stage of an informal meeting/discussion, or an interview with an organisation, you should have planned how to communicate why it should be interested in you. You should also have planned how to find out what it needs and expects from you. This phase of planning is vital if a) you’re going to convince interviewers that you can make a successful transition from your current career to the role on offer and b) you’re going to be clear on how well your qualities match the needs of the organisation.
Once Position Ignition helps you pinpoint a new career to pursue, we don’t leave it there. We continue to offer support throughout the rest of the planning stages and beyond. So if you’re thinking of changing careers right now and you’d like some guidance, get in touch and we can start the planning together!
