Tips for a successful career change

career change from career addict

 

by Penny Gardner

After working for the same company for five years, you feel like it’s time to move on. The job no longer excites you and every time you leave work, you feel exhausted and worn out. Perhaps you are looking for a new challenge in a different sector? You need something that sparks your enthusiasm and gives you the right motivation to get out of bed in the morning? If this is you, then you might already be thinking that a career change is what you need.

Obviously nobody said that changing a career was going to be easy. However, it’s something that many people do in an attempt to find out what they really enjoy doing and develop professionally.

So, how can you ensure that your next job will give you everything that you need?

The answer to this question is that you simply can’t, and while that sounds scary on its own, it’s also the most interesting part of a career change. Unless you try it out, you will never know what it’s like to pursue the things that interest you the most and can make you happy.

While there is a lot of uncertainty when dealing with career change, there are many things you can do that will make your transition a lot easier. Let’s go over a few tips that are vital to career change success:

#1 Think about What You Enjoy Doing

Throughout your career, you will have a wide range of experiences. But in order to make sure that you have fun, you need to be certain about what you like and what you don’t like. There’s no point in changing career if you are taking yet another job that doesn’t make you happy. Take some time to think about what you like doing in your free time. Think about any hobbies you have that can relate to a particular job. Then ask yourself if you can turn this into a profession and start getting involved in the things that you have a strong interest in and see where it takes you.

#2 Equip Yourself with Important Skills

If you are willing to start from the bottom and develop the skills necessary for the career you’ve chosen, then you are already half-way to your destination. All that it takes is persistence and hard work to reach it. Since changing careers requires that you start from zero, you need to equip yourself with the relevant skills, experience and qualifications that will ultimately help you get hired. It is also important to identify your limitations and work on them until you feel ready to enter the new field.

#3 Do Your Research and Preparation

Whatever career you’ve chosen, you need to familiarize yourself with current industry trends to make sure that your transition into this unknown world is as smooth as possible. Customize your resume for a career change, and focus on getting all of the information you need on how to succeed in this particular profession. Ask other professionals in the field for some advice if you have to and network yourself to the top.

#4 Demonstrate Your Passion

Once you are searching for a new job you need to show how much you want it. Just like every person who has gone through a career change, this is a crucial part of the transition since it is more difficult for them in contrast to other jobseekers. Employers will ask questions such as ‘why you left your previous job’ and ‘why you chose to work in this profession’ and you need to be prepared to back up your answers.   As such, you need to show off your personality and those qualities that make you the hard-working individual they expect to see in every candidate. Focus on that and demonstrate your interest in the job providing some real-life examples and your next job is around the corner.

In terms of managing your career, you need to search for a job that fills you with joy and excitement, no matter what industry you choose. The secret to reaching your true potential is having the motivation to go after your professional goals and to never remaining stagnant.

As previously said, a career change can be difficult. But having a defined goal will help you pursue your passion and carve out your own career journey. Just like Socrates once said, “the secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

Are you stuck in survival mode?

 

by Yvette Bethel 

We use the term survival mode when at work to refer to a stressed or overwhelmed state. The word survival conjures an image of someone facing a life or death situation. Massive amounts of adrenaline are coursing through the system and at least two perceivable options. Should I stay and face the situation, as contentious as it may be?  Or should I turn around and run away with all I’ve got?

Survival mode is adopted as a way of existing in environments where employees are not allowed to be who they are, share ideas or disagree with senior management for fear of the consequences.  They also fear failure, the unknown, not keeping abreast of changes, or even bullying. You get the idea of how fear infiltrates the psyche of the workplace and causes employees to shift into this state of being.

In some circumstances, fear can surface after employees accept a job offer based primarily on the need for income instead of because it is something they are qualified to do. These employees are initially willing to do anything to get in the door. Organizations contribute to this dynamic by making an offer to the best of the applicants, not necessarily the best person for the role.

When fear is interwoven throughout the fabric of the organizational climate, coworkers learn to play power games at work to survive. This happens because when survival is the primary concern, self-preservation becomes more important than collaborating. These employees form dysfunctional alliances, disparage their fellow employees, and do whatever it takes to position themselves as indispensable, all in the name of survival. Unproductive conflict, maneuvering, and the decimation of trust are all by-products of survival tactics.

For instance, Jenna started working for her current employer three years ago. Prior to being hired, Jenna was unemployed for a year, suffering through multiple rejection letters, family sacrifices, incessant bill collector calls, and dead ends with interviews. Jenna earned a degree in IT but she accepted a job in the HR department, inputting salaries and benefits. Jenna’s manager has a difficult personality.  She is abrupt with Jenna and the rest of the team, using threats to coerce them to work overtime to meet aggressive deadlines. Every day Jenna comes to work, she asks herself if today will be her last.  She is destabilized by the daily threats.

There is an interesting difference between survival in the context of a life or death situation and survival at work. When survival instincts are activated in the wilderness, a person views themselves as being alive and wanting to remain alive. In the workplace, employees like Jenna who are in survival mode are dead inside, disenfranchised and afraid of losing a job or the business that is supporting their lifestyle. It is an internal death that happens where there is no hope, spark, or purpose.

Jenna faces threats almost every day and, as with others in survival mode, she works hard to meet her manager’s expectations. If her manager blames her for something, she defends herself, she even blames others.  She is programmed to survive, defend, survive, and defend.  Jenna is stuck in a perpetual loop driven by belief systems like, don’t rock the boat, survival of the fittest, do as you are told, it’s all about me, and there are limited resources.

No matter which beliefs drive survival behaviors, they become a filter for everything and if challenged, they can trigger a variety of unproductive emotions. To make the leap from being disempowered to engaged, it is time to shift your thinking by building new mental models based on empowered thinking.

The Journey to Engagement

Jenna is frustrated and concerned about her job security so she hired a coach to help her shift her mindset and herself into the career she prefers. The first thing Jenna’s coach said to her is that only she can empower herself. No-one can do this for her.

The first step Jenna took to move from this state to an engaged one is to acknowledge what she is feeling because she realized a critical step in mastering her situation is to master herself. So Jenna learned to identify and acknowledge her fears and the patterns associated with her fears like blame, cover-up, and impatience.

When you are considering how you can shift to engagement you can ask yourself this question: “I always have a choice, so why am I making the choice to remain in this position?” In Jenna’s case, needing the income and the memories of the uncertainty and sacrifices made while unemployed are an obstacle is the answer to this question reason but other possible answers to this question are, “I don’t have a degree and would not be considered for a job with similar complexity and pay.” or “I have worked here for so long that it is daunting to think of a change.” The possible reasons are limitless.

Once you identify your fear(s) you can start to transform your thinking by asking yourself follow-up questions like:

  • How is this choice affecting my life?
  • How are my emotions influencing my decision?
  • What am I passionate about?
  • Given what I am passionate about, is this the right career for me?
  • Can I achieve my goals in a workplace like this?
  • Under the circumstances, what can I do to develop and empower myself?
  • What does the empowered version of me look like and what steps can I take to get there?
  • What are my options?
  • How can I mitigate the risks of any alternative action I may decide to take?
  • What’s stopping me and how do I remove those obstacles?

In addition to your thinking, you need to be especially aware of the emotions caused by the thoughts that are driving your actions. There are employees who have a difficult time identifying or acknowledging their emotions because there are so many survival layers obscuring their perception. So self-awareness is vital, otherwise only the symptoms of your disempowered state will be addressed and real change will elude you.

Once you recognize or acknowledge your emotional and mental frameworks you can start to identify the patterns of reaction associated with these thoughts and emotions. At this point you can begin to self-manage by reframing situations using the series of questions above and any others you may feel are appropriate. These questions can help you transform your perspective, navigate your emotions, and shift yourself into actions that can lead to a state of engagement.

What I am describing here are steps you can take to develop your emotional intelligence.

The great thing about emotional intelligence is you can enhance your emotional quotient if you choose. Developing your emotional intelligence can have a profound effect on your life, your business and your career because self-regulation has a transformational effect on your relationships.

 

About Yvette

Yvette is an HR and change consultant, emotional intelligence practitioner, trainer, and author of the book EQ. Librium: Unleash the Power of Your Emotional Intelligence; A Proven Path to Career Success.  . She is a Fulbright Scholar with over 25 years of experience. During her tenure in the banking industry, she served in senior capacities in corporate strategy, marketing, PR, training, and human resources. Yvette Bethel can be reached at http://www.orgsoul.com/. Her book E.Q. Librium: Unleash the Power of Your Emotional Intelligence; A Proven Path to Career Success is also available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0578083604/ and other retailers.

4 Easy Ways to Fast Track Your Career – Now

It's not too late to set your mid-year resolution

It’s not too late to set your mid-year resolution

There is never a bad time to move your career in the right direction. If you have made resolutions back in January that you’ve never worked towards, now is the time to set yourself some mid-year goals so you can take a step to achieving what want from your career.

Midyear Resolution #1: Make a plan

It’s good to be flexible and pursue opportunities as and when they arise. However, if you want to achieve your full potential it’s also a good idea to have a long-term career plan in place.

If you haven’t got one already, then now is the best time to get your long terms goals (and how you plan on getting there) down on paper.

Things to think about:

  • Clarify your career objectives (what are you good at and what do you enjoy?)
  • Do you need to gain any additional training or qualifications to help move your career in the right direction?
  • What are the potential barriers that will stop you from achieving your goals?

Making long term plans can be daunting, but not having a plan at all can mean you get left behind, lost and without a sense of career direction.

Midyear Resolution #2: Get networking

As they say, “It’s not what you know, but who you know”.

The more people who know and like you at work, the better. People buy, hire and want to work with people they like, know and trust. Networking is also a great way to expand your knowledge and learn from others in your industry.

Although it may seem like a chore, try to attend at least one networking event each month. Making this a regular activity in your monthly schedule will help to raise your profile and build your confidence. Building your networking activity on LinkedIn will also help.

Sit down at the start of the year to investigate networking groups that are suitable for you and your long-term goals.

Midyear Resolution #3:  Get noticed at work

While it’s all to easy to keep your head down and get on with your job – it’s never too late to show off a little and get noticed for all your hard work.

You might be the hardest working person on the team, but if you aren’t at the front of people’s minds then it’s likely you may get passed up for additional responsibilities, new projects and it may prevent a promotion.

Here are some tips on how to stand out at work:

  • Aim to be efficient in the tasks and jobs that will help your manager the most.
  • Develop and expand on your specialist skills. Is there any additional training or qualifications that you could put yourself forward for?
  • Flexibility – be the person that says ‘yes’ – not ‘no’.

Midyear Resolution #4: Keep a record of your accomplishments

While you might be fantastic at your job – we often forget to keep track of all the things that we have achieved overtime.

Keeping a record of your accomplishments is key for future performance reviews, job interviews and Recognition of Prior Learning assessments.

Document all of your achievements and keep them in a file. If you are stuck for things to include, then ask yourself these questions:

  • What challenges have you personally helped to resolve?
  • What things did you have to overcome to resolve it?
  • What were the results you helped to achieve?

If you would like to gain new skills and qualifications, then speak to the team at Capital Training Institute. They offer Australian training and qualifications in:

For more information on how can you can fast track your career, visit the Capital Training Institute website today!

 

(by the way this blog post was sponsored by the Capital Training Institute)