How to Make a Career Change: A Detailed Guide

According to a recent survey, more than 50% of American workers say that they would like to change their careers right now.

Many of these people aren’t ever going to get around to changing careers. But at least some of them are going to try to figure out how to make a career change in the not-too-distant future.

Are you planning on being one of them? If you are, you should know that changing careers isn’t always easy. But at the same time, switching careers also isn’t impossible if you’re determined enough to do it.

We’ve put together a guide that will make changing careers a real possibility for you. Take a look at it below and put it to good use if you’ve been wondering how to make a career change.

Make Sure You’re 100% Committed to Making a Career Change

As we just alluded to, changing careers isn’t going to be particularly easy for everyone. It’s why you need to be sure that you’re committed to doing it from the start.

If you like your current career but don’t love the place you work, you might not need to make a whole career change. Finding a job at a different company could be enough to keep you happy.

Do some soul-searching to see where you stand with your career. It’ll be very important to do this before you begin trying to figure out how to make a career change.

Decide Which New Career You Would Like to Launch

If you give it some serious thought and discover that you’re not satisfied with your current career, you should begin thinking about which career would make you happy. It’s not a bad idea to brainstorm a bunch of different ideas at first before narrowing them down.

If you take money out of the equation completely, what job do you wish that you could do every day? Your answer to this question might provide you with some insight into what kind of career change you want to make.

If, for example, you’re an accountant but you love spending time around kids, you might realize that spending your days in an office staring at spreadsheets isn’t for you. You might want to start going to school to become a teacher before it’s too late.

Speak With Someone Who Has the Career That You Want

Once you decide which career you would like to pursue, you should try to find someone who already has that career and ask them if you can talk to them about it.

From the outside looking in, a career might look perfect for you. But after you learn a little more about it, you may realize that it’s not everything that it’s cracked up to be.

You may also realize that a career is everything that you’re anticipating. It’ll give you even more motivation to go through with switching careers.

Learn What You’ll Need to Do to Start a New Career

Changing careers is usually not something you’ll be able to do overnight. You’ll need to take certain steps in order to begin working in a new field.

In some cases, this will mean going back to school to learn completely new skills. In others, it’ll mean signing up for classes online that will provide you with the skills you’ll need.

You can get an affordable online education if you would like so that you can start your new career sooner rather than later. You don’t necessarily need to put yourself into debt to acquire skills in a new field.

Attempt to Make Connections Within Your New Career Field

While you’re going to school in some capacity to start a new career, you should make sure that you try to meet as many people in your new field as you can. By forming connections within this field, you’ll be able to get leads on where to look for jobs once you’re qualified to begin your new career.

Ideally, you should try to arrange to start a job in a new field as soon as you’re finished obtaining the necessary schooling. But it’s going to be awfully hard to do this if you wait until the last second to get to know those who will be working in the same field as you.

Get Your New Career Off to a Great Start

When you make a career change, it’s only natural for you to feel like you’re behind as soon as you start your first job in this career. A lot of those around you will already have years of experience in this career, which might make you a little bit nervous when you’re working with them.

But you should remind yourself that you’ve earned the right to work in this field. You should also set out to work twice as hard as everyone else so that you’re able to make a big splash in your new career right away.

You should be happier than you’ve been in a long time when you switch careers and start working in a different field. You should use this to motivate you to continue to push forward when things get difficult while you’re learning on the job.

You Know How to Make a Career Change—So Go Do It!

Figuring out how to make a career change and then doing it can be scary. Unfortunately, it’s why so many people get stuck in careers that they don’t actually like.

But if you’re courageous enough to take the leap of faith, you can launch a new career and find true happiness in your work. You’ll be so glad that you made a change once you’re enjoying the results.

Look for more career-related advice in the other articles published on our blog.