Deciding on a career change can be a big step that brings on a lot of uncertainty, but staying calm and focused is an important part of any journey. You don’t want your old work funk or bad habits to follow you into a new arena. Finding personal peace and fulfillment was the point of making these changes, right? Taking small steps may help you during the change.
Assess Your Goals
Are you currently a paper hanger who’s hoping to transition into law? If you’re not getting interviews and calls at the rate you’d hoped, you may want to take a step back and a consider why. If the field you’re leaving is completely unrelated to your desired new career you may want to see if you have any of the experience or education needed, or if you need to look into continuing your education. Also, don’t forget to edit your resume in order to spin the experience you have and cater it to the position you’re seeking.
Manage Expectations
Don’t quit your steady income producing job and expect to score your dream job within 3 days. This kind of thing can take time, especially in today’s job market. Having a gap in employment can also look bad on a resume, so unless you have a lucrative Etsy side hustle, you may want to keep your current employment while you’re on the hunt for a new position. Caroline Ceniza-Levine at Forbes says, “Career change is not a decision made lightly. Eleven months was the average amount of time spent planning.” So make a plan, and don’t get frustrated if your transition takes a while.
Education
If you already know what your calling in life requires as far as education credits, you may want to consider taking night courses or online classes. You can continue your education and still work hard at your current day job. Learning can go a long way when it comes time to seek out employment in your dream vocation. If you decide to make this change, you’re making a commitment to yourself, and every day you work toward that, is a day of self-investing.
Attitude
If you’re feeling stuck in your job, the chances are good that you could use an attitude adjustment. Crabby people skills and workplace hostilities can follow you from job to job if you let them become a habit. Giving yourself a workplace attitude adjustment can be as easy as cutting out negative self-talk or creating moments in the day to look forward to. These moments may be a quick lunchtime meditation session or strolling over at 3 pm to talk to Ruby in accounting, who should be a standup comedian.
If you’ve decided to transition to a new career, don’t let the process stress you out. Keep calm and keep your head down. Good changes are coming.
