The Covid-19 global pandemic has caught us all unprepared and left us scared, confused, and anxious. Many people have lost their jobs, and many had to get used to different working arrangements. What’s more, the economic situation across the countries and personal financial issues have caused a lot of working individuals to change their career, be it by taking up some extra training courses to upgrade their existing skills or by starting something completely new from scratch. Of course, such a change is never easy, and especially not when we’re dealing with the Coronavirus. However, if you too are someone who’s looking for a career change, the following tips and tactics may prove to be rather helpful to do this successfully.
Table of Contents
Before You Start: Figure Things Out
If you’re determined to follow a new career path, first you must determine how you’d like to move forward. Reflect and consider where you’d like to go in your career. You may want to ask yourself these questions:
- Would you like to stay and move up in your present organization?
- Is a position at a new company a better option?
- If you’re currently unemployed, what kind of job do you want to have?
- Are there things about the present and previous roles that you like to focus on?
After identifying your goals, determine what skills need development, what experience you need, or what connections should help you go to the next step. If you’re in the military or have served in the past, consider schools that provide career opportunities for you. Carroll University, for example, provides help for students who are serving or those who have served in the Armed Services.
If you’re unsure what experiences and skills you need to strengthen, you can try asking people in your network. You can also look for job listings and check what’s required for the role you have in mind. Then focus on those required experiences and skills as you plan your career change during this difficult time.
1. Get Creative with Your Options
Even when we consider a career change, we tend to look at the opportunities that are within our already familiar scope. However, in the event of the recent global situation, it has become paramount to think outside of the box and get creative with your options. It may seem scary at first, but the thing is, nothing can change for you if you don’t take that step into the unknown.
The skillset you have doesn’t have to be limited to what degree and experience you have, but other abilities and hobbies as well. Moreover, you can always learn as you go. In that respect, your best course of action would be to think creatively when presented with a career change. Just because you may be used to working for a small business doesn’t mean you can’t excel as a part of a large company as well. You can also take a closer look into what industries seem to be thriving these days and show the prospect of doing so in the future, too. Utilize this information as a way to possibly start your own business, or maybe even contribute to these industries with your own unique ideas.
2. The More Opportunities You Take, the Better
Many people get easily discouraged by the fact that they applied for a couple of positions only to get turned down. But if you want to change your career successfully, you have to prepare yourself for sending out hundreds of applications if necessary.
Every single job interview is a chance to gain more knowledge and insight into the industry you’re interested in. What’s more, the more people you see, you have better chances at networking and building a professional opportunity for yourself, even if you may not end up getting that specific job. It’s also important to mention that experience with job applications and interviews comes in handy as well. After all, you get to boost these skills as well and improve your own presentation when being interviewed, which can also benefit your chances of landing a job you want.
3. Take Control of Your Life
You hear the advice to take control of your life, but sometimes those words just don’t carry enough meaning. In order to have control, you don’t have to gain some superhuman strength, become a rich entrepreneur, have no issues with your mental health, and so on. Actually, the control you need is what you already have – you just need to apply it right.
When it comes to your job searching, just like you have the power to control your daily routine, from waking up to going back to sleep, you also have the power to control your time, especially if you’re not working already. You can utilize this time to learn new skills and go through different training courses. After all, almost anything that you can imagine can be taught online, from a new language to specific computer skills. It’s even possible to get your ACLS Certification online, which you can read more about here. The point is that you control what you do with your time, and your time can be used to prepare and qualify yourself for the new career path.
4. Define Your Non-Negotiables
Employers prefer people who know what they want and why they want it. In that respect, don’t belittle yourself just because you may be switching careers and/or industries. Turn your previous experience into an asset and explain why it can be crucial for this new position you’re applying for.
Furthermore, it’s important that you keep yourself informed about the salary range for your location and the industry. Instead of being all shy about it, make sure to ask for the top of the range confidently and don’t hesitate to state the reasons why that’s only fair. Set your non-negotiables and show that you know your self-worth very well. Of course, don’t hesitate to show your enthusiasm about working at this new company. This is what the employers want to see during these trying times.
5. Don’t Hesitate to Ask for Help
When you make the decision to start looking for a new job, make it a point to share your decision with your friends, family members as well as colleagues. Not only can they keep an eye out for a new position and relay the news to you, but they can also recommend you if they know the person who’s looking to hire.
Keeping this decision to yourself only means nothing to gain but potentially everything to lose. In the end, other people might point you in the right direction when it comes to available resources for upgrading your skills or looking for a job opportunity, all of which you’d remain unaware of otherwise.
Just like we have to be patient as we wait for the situation with Covid-19 to stabilize, you also have to be patient with your career change amidst it all. As mentioned, don’t give up or get discouraged. Utilize the free time you have to take care of yourself and maybe even boost your knowledge. Most importantly, value your own work and the asset you can be to every single company that you apply for. Even if you happen to stumble upon some people who may look down on you, never look down on yourself.
