3 Steps to Identify Your Next Career Move When You Want to Transition
Taking the leap of faith as it relates to career change is easier said than done. Despite wanting more for themselves, professionals are often hindered by fear that derives from many reasons. While fear commonly stems from the anticipated effect on one’s family and lifestyle, other worries are rooted in uncertainty. Uncertainty about where to start, what you like, what you want to do, and the effect transitioning might have on your overall career trajectory. Don’t worry though, this month’s blog dives into how fostering your curiosity can reveal your interests, passions, and ultimately your next dream position.
Fear is defined as being “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or threat.” Fear’s definition speaks to the deep feelings of someone considering uprooting their career to pivot it into a new direction. Professionals seeking a career change yet feel stagnant typically fall into four categories:
1) Are uncertain about future opportunities and success
2) Suffer from imposter syndrome thus underestimate their skillset
3) Are reluctant to gain additional education, training, or an entry-level position
4) Want something different, willing to put in the work, but don’t know where to start
Whether you fit into one category perfectly or are a mix, your ultimate barrier is you. Yes, YOU are your most significant hurdle to overcoming your transition into the career or position you desire.
STEP 1: Self-Reflection
To inform your job search, you should reflect on the guiding question, “What gives me energy?” Start by doing a simple brain dump of everything that comes to mind, being sure not to limit yourself to what you think is a real job or is professional. Think about your passion, how you like to interact with people, the topics you enjoy learning about, and the types of work environments you thrive in. Answering these questions will ensure you do not transition into a new position like your previous one. See below for additional questions to guide your reflection that will serve as the foundation for your next steps.
§ What events, talks, workshops, training have I enjoyed recently?
§ What do I love to learn about?
§ What organizations and brands do I love? What do I love about them?
§ What are my hobbies and interests both as an adult and child?
§ What exciting conversation topics do I enjoy having with others?
§ Who do I admire?
§ Whose career do I envy or look up to?
§ What would I do if money or location was not a factor?
§ What would I do if I knew I was guaranteed success?
§ What content do I consume regularly? (Newspaper sections, podcasts, books, etc.)
STEP 2: Ask Around
Despite looking in the mirror every day, sometimes we don’t notice everything about ourselves. Therefore, we need to consult those that we interact with professionally and personally on a regular basis. Conversations with trusted others will reveal the tasks and types of strengths that we excel at, and even areas that we thinkwe are good at, but we might not be. If you cannot identify anyone to give you reliable information, consider taking the DISC Assessment. Through a series of questions over about 30 minutes, the test reveals your strengths and areas of growth.
Most importantly, though, the test reveals how others might perceive you based on how you approach and move within the professional workspace. For example, if you are detail-oriented and like to do things by the book, team members may perceive you as stubborn, inflexible, or lacking creativity. However, despite their perception, you might just value rules, structure, and expected outcomes, which might signal a job in a governmental setting. Seeking feedback from others and assessment tools allow us to grow professionally and inform development, such as sharpening our computer skills, learning additional management styles, etc. The feedback also provides more context to our skills, passions, and career desires.
STEP 3: Conduct Your Research
Now that you have gained valuable information about what you are both interested in and good at, it is time to start your research. First, I would recommend reviewing your information and identifying common trends, which may reveal job titles that you are already aware of. Next, I would identify your top 5 interests/skills and search such as “careers for people who like to organize information.” With that simple search, the first website populated was “6 jobs for people who like to organize.” (Sidebar: Don’t you just love Google!) As you are getting different searches, write down the position titles that are intriguing to you, then research the median salary, education requirements, and even keywords relevant to that position.
Museum Archivist
Median Salary: $47,000
Keywords: appraise, process, catalog, documents, records, accuracy, well-organized
Depending on your salary needs and expectations, this step might be a little disheartening once you realize what you want doesn’t align with what you need. However, search the terms that apply to you to generate job titles. You can refine your search to include salary, such as “jobs with no degree requirement that make at least $70,000.”
Transportation, Storage and Distribution Manager
Median Salary: $94,560
Training Required: high school diploma + 5 years of related experience in the field
The goal is to expose yourself to new position titles and opportunities you might not have known existed previously.
Time to Act
You’ve completed the previous three steps and are ready to start applying: that’s great! Next, utilize the keyword research that you conducted throughout your resume and cover letter. Also, begin to identify job postings that are of interest. We all know that the job search process is not easy, but you must be open to experimenting and trying new things. But most importantly, you must embrace the process.
Need assistance creating a keyword-rich resume to beat ATS systems? Book a free consultation with us to learn about how we can help you!
Diana Williams, Resume Tailor
