Career Change: Tips to Making the Move
Also:
Do You Have The Perfect
Job?, Career
Change: Does A Job For Life Still Exist?, Career
Change: Tips to Making the Move
The things many women tell me is that they would
love to switch careers, but “I’m stuck in this field.” Upon
closer inspection, what I find is that these women have
years of valuable workplace experience. However, as their
current job has dragged along, it has also diminished their
confidence so that they believe they are unable to make a
move. In fact, all they need to do is learn how to take the
skills they have amassed and redefine them in a way that
would open up their career opportunities.
Obviously if you want to enter a field that requires
college training – medicine, law, pharmacy, etc – that is a
separate issue, but for many of us, we need to embrace the
art of redefinition. Here are my quick tips on how:
Break out of that old mindset. To create change,
you must first believe you can. Calculate how many more
working years you have. Do you want to spend that long in a
job that you dislike, or that is draining the very enjoyment
of life out of you? If you know what career change you would
like to make, start thinking of yourself as fitting that
position.
Embrace variety, don’t apologize for it. All too
often, we feel that we need to justify our decisions and
this leads to an overly long explanation. Too many women
sabotage their goals in the application phase by indirectly
apologizing for their past experience. How many of us
recognize the phrase “although I don’t have any experience
in this field….” That one simple phrase suggests a lack of
confidence. Compare that to: “My advanced skills in
marketing and PR would be an ideal match for your needs
within this field.” This leads me to…
F
ind
Your Life Mission and Live It
Tell them what you have, not what you lack. So you
don’t have experience in this field? What about the
conference that you organized last year? How about the fact
that you doubled sales in your division? Focusing on your
achievements with hard facts and figures will show
prospective employers that you are dynamic and can overcome
certain obstacles.
Adapt to your goal. When introducing yourself to
people and they ask what you do, by all means tell them what
you do but be quick to follow it up with a confident “but
I’m now moving into….” Stress that you are making the
change. It sounds more positive and definite than “I’d like
to….”
This is only touching on the topic and there is much more
that could be said. The thing to remember though is
attitude. The same skills are used is most jobs – financial
management skills, interpersonal skills, time management and
so on. The key is in how you present yourself and those
skills. Think positive. Be positive. And good luck!
Also:
Do You Have The Perfect
Job?, Career
Change: Does A Job For Life Still Exist?, Career
Change: Tips to Making the Move
Carl Mueller is an Internet entrepreneur and professional
recruiter. Carl has helped many job searchers find their
dream career and would like to help clear up some of the job
search myths that exist while helping job searchers avoid
common job search mistakes that cost them jobs.
