A boring job that doesn’t provide satisfaction, an unfriendly environment, low wages or simple job burnout can be factors that will contribute to your desire to change jobs. How do you successfully change your industry and start your career from scratch?
The first step you absolutely must keep in mind when planning a job change is not to quit your previous job. While it’s very tempting to leave your current job quickly and you want to take this significant step as soon as possible, the lack of prospects for new employment, running out of savings and lack of day-to-day responsibilities may contribute to accepting the first better offer, which ultimately won’t meet your expectations anyway. It’s worth enduring in your current job for as long as possible, while preparing yourself for opportunities to quickly reorganize and change positions.
Another important aspect is to clearly evaluate your current career, clarify your expectations to be fulfilled by the new job and choose several career paths that will help you realize this plan. Clearly defining your needs, financial requirements, the nature of the work, the place, hours and privileges associated with it will help you find several professions and types of activities that will bring satisfaction. It’s not worth locking yourself into one particular idea for yourself, and look for several industries that pursue similar goals and can become an equally rewarding career path.
A change of industry should be approached as if it were another professional task. It is worth preparing for it in a solid way. The first element will be to review the available job offers. It’s worth quickly confronting your expectations and perceptions with the brutal job market. The quality and number of new offers is also an element that should influence the actions taken leading to a career change.
Another element is to find and read about the biggest, best-performing companies in the industry and find yourself within their structures. Once you’ve succeeded in looking for a good plan for the position, it’s worth talking to someone who has taken the same or a similar position in the industry. His or her experience, knowledge and valuable advice can be very helpful in the job search, as well as during the interview.
Before your first interview, it’s a good idea to test your new job, for example, by taking advantage of volunteering, internships or apprenticeships at a company of a similar nature. Confronting your perceptions with reality is a good way to test yourself and make sure that the path you want to follow is the right one. What’s more, these types of professional activities look good on a resume and can prove crucial during a job interview. Additional activities can interfere with your daily duties at work, so make sure you organize your time accordingly.
main photo: unsplash.com/Headway
