Changing your career can be exhilarating and frightening. You may wonder if you’re making the right decision. After all, you may once have been enthusiastic about the career you currently have. You also may be concerned if you need to spend a lot of time, money or both to retrain for your new career. While some skills are transferable, if you want to go into certain professional fields, such as law, medicine or teaching in public schools, you have little choice but to go back to school to get a new set of credentials. The tips below can help make this a positive time for you.
Be Concrete
First, specifically identify the things that you want to change. Do you sit at a computer all day and long to work outdoors or with your hands? Maybe you make a lot of money in the finance field, but you’d rather be teaching, or maybe the reverse is true–you’re fed up with your teaching salary and want to make a bundle on Wall Street. On the other hand, maybe you don’t need to make as dramatic a change. You might just need a new job with more compatible coworkers or even just to move into a different department. The more specific you are about your dissatisfaction, the surer you can be of making the right choice.
Education and Training
If you’ve done some serious soul searching and decided that you’re on the wrong path after all, it’s time to figure out what you need to do to move into your new career. If you still aren’t sure, taking a few classes or doing some volunteer work related to the new job can help you decide. If you do have to go back to school, it can be tough as an adult to adjust to classes, and they can be expensive as well. However, keep in mind that the same resources are available to you as when you were last in school, including scholarships, grants, and federal loans. A student loan from a private lender might be a great choice for you if your credit is good since you could be offered a repayment plan with very favorable interest rates.
Network
It will help to freshen up your networking strategy to better suit this specific goal. Talk to everyone that you know about the change you’re making. You may be surprised to find that you have a neighbor or a friend who can put you in touch with someone in the industry who can help you out. In addition, go online and follow some of the thought leaders in your new field on social media. See if you can attend a seminar or another professional gathering related to your new area of work to get to know more people. This can be helpful when it comes time to apply for jobs.
Keep Moving
If you’re five years or a decade into your new career and you want to change again, that doesn’t mean that you made the wrong choice. These days, career changes are frequent as new opportunities open up, job roles that never existed before are created and the world keeps changing. Seizing the chance to stay on top of or ahead of trends and remain engaged in the work you’re doing will serve you well.
