Ever daydreamed about transforming your career into something new, better, and more rewarding? Yet the process of actually making a career change can seem overwhelming, and as a result, most people never succeed with their career change goals.
In my role as a career counselor, helping thousands of talented, motivated professionals realize their career dreams, I’ve seen the following three powerful strategies produce successful, lasting career-change results.
— Career Reinvention Strategy #1: Experiment before going “live”. Many people fantasize about what a new career specialty would be like, yet the reality is almost always different. Increase your chances for true career-reinvention success (as well as the likelihood of your long-term satisfaction) by taking a class, shadowing an expert, and executing practice projects that expose you to your new specialty. Bonus: the experience you gain builds credibility and skills in your new line of work.
— Career Reinvention Strategy #2: View career reinvention as a process, rather than as a prest-o, change-o switchover. It took years for you to create a success in your current career. Create a transition plan with reasonable timelines to research your new plan, gain needed skills, and land a position. Six months to two years is typical. If this timeline seems too long or frustrating to you, keep in mind that as soon as you begin your career-change process, you’ll be making progress…and that not only feels great, but you’ll realize that every step you take is getting you closer to your goal.
— Career Reinvention Strategy #3: Be open to the unexpected. The saying, “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans” is especially true when it comes to career reinvention. As you begin to move forward, new ideas and opportunities will present themselves…and they may be an even better solution than the career makeover idea you’d first imagined.
– Katy Piotrowski, M.Ed. is a career counselor with Career Solutions Group and author of, “The Career Coward’s Guide to Changing Careers”, “The Career Coward’s Guide to Resumes”, “The Career Coward’s Guide to Job Searching”, “The Career Coward’s Guide to Interviewing”, and “The Career Coward’s Guide to Career Advancement”. She has been recognized nationally for her outstanding career counseling achievements.