How to Change Your Career Path

How to Change Your Career Path If you fancy a change in direction this year, it can be a little intimidating to say the least. When we are in our teens most of us simply can’t decide what we want to do with our lives and that’s perfectly normal. We end up constantly changing our minds until we are pushed in a certain direction by our parents, our teachers or our grades. The thing is, when we reach our mid to late twenties we might find that this isn’t the career path we wanted, and it means that we need to find a new path to take. It can be daunting to change careers at any point in life, but with these tips it will be easier for you to go out and do what you were meant to do. Are you happy? Before you tart leaping into a new job role think about how happy you are in your role right now. Sometimes we hate our jobs and can’t wait to get as far away from them as possible, however sometimes we simply need to change the role within our industry to make us fully satisfied. If you find that you are kind of happy in your job but it isn’t quite what you expected, look closer to home when changing your career because you may not even have to change the company you work for, just the role. What do you love? The most important thing you need to bear in mind when you are looking for a new job is being happy. If you are going to spend most of your week doing one thing, what would you want it to be? It is crucial to work in a job you enjoy because you deserve to be happy. If you do something that you love you will be more likely to excel in the job and do better in the long term too. Think of ideas This is probably the most challenging part of finding a new career. A lot of the time we aren’t 100% sure what we want to do and this can make things very difficult when searching for a job. For example let’s say you love animals: there are a few different options you can go into which involve looking after animals and learning about them too. The key is to write a list of every animal related job you can find and go through them until you find a choice you like. You can do this with any subject and it will make things easier for you when you are looking. Look at your options There are thousands of jobs out there which are ripe for the taking, and you need to be able to narrow this down until you find the on which is perfect for you. Let’s say you want to work in medicine: you will be able to become a doctor wearing those signature Blue Sky Scrubs every single day and saving lives, you could be a nurse, a midwife, a lab worker and loads more. Think about what education you currently have and whether or not you will be able to study medicine or it’s many forms at college or university. If not, you need to look at something which requires less from you. Talk to people The absolute best way to find out what it is really like to work in a given industry is to talk to someone who already does. You can find people through your family and friends or even go on LinkedIn and find someone who is willing to give you  some pointers and let you in in what it is really like working in a certain area. This will allow you to make an informed decision on what you want to do in your life. Shadow If you want to get a sneak peak of your chosen career before you actually start working towards it, ask someone in the industry to let you shadow them for the day. It will give you a good insight into what the job will actually involve and whether or not it is truly something you want to do. Volunteer If you want to try a new job you can always volunteer at the workplace for a few weeks so that you can get a full experience on the job role you will be working with. There are plenty of volunteer terrace options available to you, so take some time to find one close enough to your area to let you give it a try. Educate yourself For pretty much any career you choose to take on in your life there will be things you need to learn and qualifications you will need to gain. Make sure that you fully investigate what qualifications are required for your chosen career and once you have made a decision, go ahead with them alongside your regular job. This will allow you to retain job stability while you work your way up and become ready to apply for jobs you enjoy. Use your skills When applying for a new job make sure that you use your skills to do it. For example if you are applying for a marketing career, instead of simply creating a plain resume or CV and cover letter: use your marketing skills to make a fun and quirky flyer selling yourself to your prospective employer. Using your skill will help you stand out from the crowd and will likely impress your employer more than a simple list of what you can do. Look within the industry We have already touched on this point but we will take a look at it one more time in more depth. If you don’t mind your job but it isn’t everything that you want, it may be a case of swapping to another job within your industry. Lets say you are a technical support analyst but you want to do something more business focused, you could instead become a project manager. If you can find a job role in your workplace which you would rather be doing, then this is the right role for you.