Tips for Making a Career Change

If you’re contemplating a career change, you aren’t alone. In fact, both men and women are leaving their current jobs and career fields at record rates right now in what’s being called "The Great Resignation."

There are a lot of factors causing people to leave their jobs or contemplate a career change. The pandemic, for example, changed priorities for many people and made them realize they wanted something different.

If you’re in the midst of contemplating a career change, your focus might be on finding a more exciting job. For example, maybe you want to get out of a cubicle and work in security or as a first responder. Maybe you’d like a career where you can interact with people more, or you might like the idea of being involved in technology.

Regardless of the specific things you’re interested in, the following are tips and things to keep in mind when making a career change.

Assess Yourself

Men aren’t always great at assessing themselves. Before you make any change in your line of work or career field, take some time to understand more about yourself.

Know what your interests are as well as your values. Know the hard skills you possess, and also the soft skills.

What is your personality type?

These are things that can make a career field a good fit for you or, at the same time, inappropriate.

If you’re at a mid-point in your career, you may have a pretty good idea of what you like and don’t like about your job right now, which can be a good starting point as you assess who you are and what you want out of work.

Things to ask yourself include what your talents are and of those talents what you feel most energized by or passionate about. You should also think about the groups of people you like working with and helping, and you can provide a solution to a problem these people might be facing.

Change Your Mindset

No matter how dissatisfied a person might be in their current job, it’s hard to change careers in midlife.

You may have to do some work to change your mindset because it could be the biggest thing holding you back.

Fears include that it’s not worth it to make a change in your career at this point in your life, or maybe your family responsibilities and commitments are holding you back from a major life change.

If you’re feeling apprehensive or like your fear is holding you back, there are things you can do to overcome this.

First, get specific with yourself to pinpoint exactly what your fear is.

You can also write down your fear. There’s power in writing things down and being to see them tangibly.

From there, tell yourself the truth—either you already have the ability and skills you need, or you can take steps to learn and acquire them.

You can’t fully eliminate fear when making a big change in life because it’s a normal response. What you can do is get comfortable with it and not let it hold you back.

Identify the Skills You Need

If you’ve started to confront some of your fear and think about what you’d like your path to look like, from there, you can begin to take specific steps to get on that path.

Think about the skills you need for the roles you could be interested in.

You can learn these skills in a lot of different ways, and that doesn’t always mean you have to go back to school to do so like it once did.

For example, maybe you can earn certifications online or take self-paced virtual courses that will give you the skills you need. Certifications are an excellent way to acquire new skills and demonstrate your expertise to potential employers. With the rise of online learning platforms, it has become easier than ever to earn industry-recognized certifications from your home. Many organizations offer online courses and tests that allow you to become certified in a specific skill or area of expertise. For instance, if you are interested in pursuing a career in finance, you could take the financial advising test prep by Career Employer to gain the knowledge and skills needed to pass the exam and become a certified financial advisor. There are a lot of free resources like podcasts that can be helpful, or you can begin to build a portfolio.

Many people think not having a college degree is an automatic setback to change careers, but that’s not necessarily true. Many companies are waiving their degree requirements, particularly since they’re having a difficult time filling many positions.

It is scary to think about changing careers at a later time in your life, especially if you’ve been in your current field for a long time, but it’s not impossible. Break it down step by step to become less intimidating and more manageable. From there, you can identify the particular steps you need to take.