There are lots of reasons why we decide to change careers - personal reasons, financial reasons, a new challenge or the shift we have all experienced due to covid. These are all viable reasons to make a change. If you're ready to make a change here are 5 tips to help you on your journey.
1. Assess your current skills and experience
The easiest way to assess your current skills and experience is to make a list. List your skills, strengths and weaknesses. Focus on where you excel, what you enjoy and where you would like to improve - remember there's always room for improvement. Once you have completed this exercise, start thinking about the skills required for the role or career you're interested in. You should now be able to identify gaps and cross overs, this will help you create an action plan.
Your plan should focus on the skills and experience you need to obtain. If you're unsure of the skills and experience you will need, have a look at online roles you're interested in. Job outlines will give you a good idea of what's required.
2. Sign up for professional courses
If you have completed the above exercise, you should have identified key skills you need to work on. For instance, around 6 years ago I decided to move from Corporate Communications to Business Change. There was a decent amount of cross over, but there were also skills that were very specific to Business Change for instance, change mangement frameworks and strategies. Hence, I completed several professional courses including Prosci, and started to read change management books. I was able to successfully transition to a career in Business Change.
Professional courses can be expensive, however, to kick start your journey there's always a host of free and introductory courses. Do your research for instance, the Open University often promote free courses. If you need to increase experience consider taking on additional duties in your current role or even a voluntary opportunity.
3. Get CV ready
Make sure you have a well-prepared CV - the job of an effective CV is to get you to the interview stage. Avoid listing words in your CV like "motivated, organised, professional", instead focus on what makes you stand out from the crowd. Put yourself in the place of a recruiter, who may look at anything from 30 - 80 (sometimes more!) CV's for a single role.
The recruiter is focused on finding great candidates with evidence of high performance. So, listing your day to day activities is selling yourself short. Instead, list your key achievements per role, and each role should have at least 3 key achievements. Let recruiters know what you achieved - not want you did on a day to day basis.
You're now ready to start your search!
4. Ensure your socials are up to date
So what socials am I talking about? I'm referring to Linkedin and the online job boards. Career socials are just as important as personal socials. Do you have an up to date profile on Linkedin? If you don't, I suggest you build one as soon as possible. I've secured numerous contracts via Linkedin simply because they came across my Linkedin profile, or my profile appeared in a linkedIn search.
Linkedin is also a job board, a networking hub, and if you sign up for their membership - they offer an array of courses delivered mostly by professionals.
5. Use your network of friends and colleagues
Make sure you tap into your network - your network could be your friends, family or former colleagues. Let people know what you're looking for, as they might be able to help you. I always receive regular calls and emails from recruiters and consultancies. If I'm not available they usually follow up with, "is there's anyone you could recommend?". I recently knew someone who was looking for a particular role, and was able to get her an interview. So tap into who is around you, friends, friends of friends, and colleagues.
If you're looking to change careers, get a new role or even a promotion - these tips will help. Good luck x
コメント