If every day feels the same at work, and the only moment you’re looking forward to is the Friday afternoon when you can finally leave work behind for two whole days, it’s probably time to consider making a change. A lot of professional change careers up to five times during their entire working life. If you are still stuck on the same professional path and find no satisfaction in it anymore, then you need to be honest with yourself: You need to find something that excites you and switch career. However scary the prospect of starting in a new direction might be, it’s never too late to find a professional progression that is better suited to your personality or your personal experience. Switching career is not an impossible move. But it’s one that needs to be prepared carefully if you want to succeed.
Know how to sell yourself
Showcasing your skills and motivation is a key factor of success for job applications. When you decide to approach new career paths, it’s especially important to understand how to promote your experience best. Indeed, knowing how to write a cover letter that explains your choices and presents your switch as a natural evolution instead of a sudden change of heart can help you to attract the interest of recruiters. Additionally, if you haven’t worked on your CV in a while, you might want to spend some time researching exciting templates online. If you haven’t heard of Nina from Airbnb, her online CV is the best way to apply specialist skills to a specific industry. Indeed, in an attempt to attract the attention of the recruiting team at Airbnb, Nina has created an audit or the company’s activities as part of her CV. In other words, she demonstrated how useful she could be for the accommodation renting industry.
Get known and seen
If you’re planning a move and you’ve already got a clear idea of where you’d like to work, nothing can get you there quicker than having the right connections. In fact, 70% of people hired in 2016 were recruited by a company where they already knew people. How does it work? It’s a matter of letting your network do the hard work and promote your skills and personality where it matters. More often than now, you can benefit from an additional trust bonus that other candidates won’t have. Additionally, as you grow your network, you can naturally get to know more about the sectors that attract you.
Check your finances
When you switch career, you might need to take the risk of earning less. What this means is that if you need to manage a mortgage and other expenses, you should seek financial advising before you decide anything. Assessing your income and tax situation is key to ensuring that you’re best prepared for what awaits your career change.
Can you start during your spare time?
Finally, for a lot of people, the first step to changing career starts at home, where they invest their spare time in building a profitable freelancing business. It’s only when their new career is taking off that they quit their day-to-day job. This additional step takes time but is crucial if you want to build up a portfolio before the official switch!
In conclusion, lack of job satisfaction is not a fatality. You can change career at any time during your professional life, assuming that you take the essential steps to prepare yourself for success.
