Six Steps to Navigating a Career Change
Steps to help you get unstuck, create a plan and navigate a successful change.
I am working with a client who is fed up with their current career.
There are many reasons for this;
They never had set out to be in the role they are currently in. They studied IT, got a “real job” in a tech company and after a few lateral moves and promos found himself in a legal role within the same company.
They are disillusioned with the tech world. After almost 10 years working in big tech, they finds they are less and less aligned to any corporate “mission”.
They really struggle to find happiness with their current company, after seeing a lot of close friends and colleagues fired or laid-off (as most tech professionals can likely attest).
The problem..
Well, there are a few.
Firstly, they are paid really well. It’s a common barrier to trying something new - the golden handcuffs are real.
Secondly, they don’t have a clear idea of what next steps are - or even what they would like to do.
And finally, they have responsibilities - like bills, rent, family etc. They are caught between feeling unhappy and being terrified of messing everything up if they do change, and fail.
Many people are in similar positions. They might be tech workers, or teachers or construction workers. Life isn’t linear. Neither are careers.
Good news is you don’t have to feel stuck, and here’s six steps to help get career clarity.
6 Steps to Career Clarity
Before diving into the steps, one important pre-cursor.
When weighing up a change of any kind, it is natural to feel fear.
The unknown is a scary place. It’s scary to doubt if the grass is actually greener on the other side. It’s tempting to pick the devil you know ahead of the devil you don’t.
Only you can decide what is best for you. If staying in your current role or career is best, great.
If not, it’s important to not dwell on these feelings of doubt. Your brain is wired to think of the worse case scenario as a defence mechanism. Acknowledge them, feel the feelings, and harness them into action.
Step 1: Identify Your Transferrable Skills
Even in the most niche roles, you will find transferable skills that will help you adapt to a new environment.
I’ve seen baristas jump into the world of IT Support, school teachers succeed in recruitment and senior product leaders reinvent themselves as successful beef jerky entrepreneurs!
The first step in any change is to look inward.
Think of what skills you have. What soft skills do you flex on a daily basis, on top of the professional or technical skills your current role requires?
What knowledge do you have, personally and professionally, that you can bring to a new organisation or job?
List them all out. As many you can think of. Don’t be shy.
Step 2: Research Roles
Once you’ve done that self-reflection work, now it’s time to research potential roles. Look up open job postings for the role. What requirements or responsibilities are listed? Do this 3-5 times for each role.
After, you should have a list of core skills and areas of expertise that are common across a specific role or craft.
Step 3: Networking
Ok, so now you have a list of your own skills, and one or more lists of core skills for the role you want to get to. What now?
While some job postings are great and can give you a sense of the role, the best way to get the inside track is to talk to someone.
Look at your network - family, friends, colleagues are the best place to start - does anyone currently work in your desired position or company? Reach out.
Ask to grab a coffee (virtually or in-person), and get them to tell you everything;
What is the best thing about the role/company?
What is the worst thing about the role/company?
What is the most important skill in the role?
What does a standard day look like?
What did you do before the current role?
By learning about their personal experience and journey, you’ll gain clarity to help on your next step - Bridging.
Step 4: Bridging
Some roles may be a pretty close match to your current skills and abilities. If that is the case, skip to step 5.
If not, you may need to look at bridging where you are currently, to where you want to be.
What is bridging? It’s taking a smaller step towards the role you want to make the bigger jump in easier in the future.
How do you do it? Great question, there are two main ways:
A Bridging Role: Finding an intermediary role that will help you gain the context, skills and/or experience so you can make the move.
This could take the form of a lateral or backwards step, in order to take two in the future.
Think of more junior roles in your desired craft, similar roles in your desired industry and/or roles that leverage more of your soft skills but expose you to more relevant projects.
Bridging Experience: Not everyone can quick their current role (as we spoke about above). This means you may have to be a bit more creative and long term in your thinking.
This could be taking on different projects in your current role, doing some extra freelance work outside of your 9-5 or even picking up some pro-bono work.
It could also look like taking a free or paid online course or potentially undertaking a full degree course part-time or full-time.
Step 5: Build Skills + Experience
Okay then.
You now have identified:
the unique skills, experience and expertise you bring
what potential employers want
where the gap is
how you may need to bridge that gap.
Now the real work starts. Now is the time to set some goals and build a 30-60-90 day plan.
This can be as detailed or simple as you need, but you want to build on the momentum you have and keep defaulting to action. As a guide:
In the first 30 days, you should commit to researching specific things you can do to help work towards your target role. (Again, if your experience is a close match already, skip to step 6.)
In 30 days after, aim to start that online course/bootcamp/volunteer work/freelancing.
(Note: really make sure your doing extra research before you spend a large amount of money on a degree or course of any kind - for the majority of roles it likely isn’t needed)
In the final 30 days (unless your skills/experience building takes longer) it’s time to start applying.
Step 6: Tailor Your Application
No surprise, after you do all this work - it’s time to showcase it properly
Create a new resume, targeted to the specific role and/or industry you are targeting.
Remember that research you carried out in step 2? Look back at the common responsibilities and requirements. Make sure you address as many of them as possible on the first page of your CV.
You may be able to do this within your experience in the standard reverse chronological style (i.e. starting with your most recent experience and working backwards), if not look at the hybrid or functional style resumes.
Extra tips:
On top of tailoring your CV, make sure to reach out to your network to help identify opportunities that may be of interest. They may be able to refer you and your application goes to the top of the pile.
After submitting your application, try and find out who the hiring manager is (it may be listed on the job application itself).
Reach out to them separately, letting them know you have applied, how excited you are about the opportunity and if they have any other questions you’re there - try to keep it short and sweet.
Keep the faith. It may take some time but if you keep improving your skills, your network and your interviewing skills - you will eventually make that dream move.
