Career Change

Career Change
Editor's Note
You work at your job and wonder whether you should spend the rest of your life doing what you’re doing or whether you should make a switch. But switching for what, for more of the same or for something different? The decision to change career is in effect the decision to let go of your past and start something new. Of course, you’ll be able to bring some transferable skills along, but that’s pretty much all that you’ll take with you. You’re starting on a new journey. There are three essential questions that you need to address if you decide to change career: Should you change career? If yes, what should your new career be? How do you get there? The decision to change career involves a lot of uncertainty and, quite frankly, most of the time will involve a demotion. You have to ask yourself if there’s enough in you that wants change to make it happen. Write down on a piece of paper the pros and cons of changing career. Here are some ideas: Will it involve a pay cut? Do you have one or more persons that you need to support that count on your pay cheque? What is the underlying reason for you wanting to change career? You don’t like what you do or you don’t like your work environment? If it’s the latter, is moving somewhere else going to fix your problem? What will your new reality be after you change career? Okay, you’ve made up your mind, no matter how you look at it, your current situation is not something that you’re willing to accept. You want change, or rather, you need change. You probably already have something in mind in terms of what you would like to do. Is it realistic or something achievable? Borrow books, surf the Web and network. You need to make sure that your idea of what you want your new career to be conforms with reality. Once you know where you’re heading, the next step is to figure out how to get there. Again, the key here is to research and network. Ask for help, don’t do it on your own. Don’t be in your little bubble. This process will affect people around you, so don’t exclude them. Also, it can take a while before you achieve your goal. You need to be able to support yourself in the meantime. Don’t leave your job yet. If possible, try to transition into your new career. See if you can take courses or work part-time. We hope that the articles in this section will help you in your career change.

Editor's Note

You work at your job and wonder whether you should spend the rest of your life doing what you’re doing or whether you should make a switch. But switching for what, for more of the same or for something different? The decision to change career is in effect the decision to let go of your past and start something new. Of course, you’ll be able to bring some transferable skills along, but that’s pretty much all that you’ll take with you. You’re starting on a new journey.

There are three essential questions that you need to address if you decide to change career:

Should you change career?
If yes, what should your new career be?
How do you get there?

The decision to change career involves a lot of uncertainty and, quite frankly, most of the time will involve a demotion. You have to ask yourself if there’s enough in you that wants change to make it happen. Write down on a piece of paper the pros and cons of changing career. Here are some ideas: Will it involve a pay cut? Do you have one or more persons that you need to support that count on your pay cheque? What is the underlying reason for you wanting to change career? You don’t like what you do or you don’t like your work environment? If it’s the latter, is moving somewhere else going to fix your problem? What will your new reality be after you change career?

Okay, you’ve made up your mind, no matter how you look at it, your current situation is not something that you’re willing to accept. You want change, or rather, you need change. You probably already have something in mind in terms of what you would like to do. Is it realistic or something achievable? Borrow books, surf the Web and network. You need to make sure that your idea of what you want your new career to be conforms with reality.

Once you know where you’re heading, the next step is to figure out how to get there. Again, the key here is to research and network. Ask for help, don’t do it on your own. Don’t be in your little bubble. This process will affect people around you, so don’t exclude them. Also, it can take a while before you achieve your goal. You need to be able to support yourself in the meantime. Don’t leave your job yet. If possible, try to transition into your new career. See if you can take courses or work part-time.

We hope that the articles in this section will help you in your career change.