It’s never too late to find a new career or pivot from what you’re already doing to one that better suits you as you are now. Despite the push to know what you want to do with your life as you leave high school, the reality is that many people only find their dream career or learn what they want to do after doing other things.
If you’re at a career crossroads in your life, be it in your 20s, 30s, 40s, or beyond, these tips can help you pin down your ideal career and get on the right path to doing something that gives you more career satisfaction than what you’re currently doing.
Take A Test
More specifically, the Strong Interest Inventory Test is designed to help you uncover your interests, what your personality is suited for, and where you should focus your career interests. You can find these tests in various places, so finding Where to take The Strong Interest Inventory Test isn’t too hard, be it via your current employer, finding an online test, or going through a career counselor.
This test can be helpful if you know what you don’t want to do but don’t know exactly what you might be best suited for. This test and its results can open up many options for you that you might not have even considered before.
Look At Your Skills
If you have any type of work experience behind you, then looking at the skills you have accumulated can help you in figuring out what you are best suited for. These skills can be anything and everything, and many skills are transferable, meaning you can use them in a multitude of careers. For example, suppose you currently work in retail and have exceptional customer service skills. In that case, these skills can help you out in the medical field, as a receptionist, working for a charity, or even running your own business.
Determine Your Career Goals
What exactly do you want from your career? If you don’t know, figure it out. Your career trajectory doesn’t need to look the same as other people’s; it simply needs to be something that makes you happy. You might simply want to gain a relevant qualification and position and then stay at this point until you retire. Or you might want to climb the ranks, meaning you need to start at the bottom and then plan your progression to the top.
So before you start planning your new career, determine what exactly you want to get from your working life, what you want to aim for, and what you expect in return. This can help you identify more suitable career paths as you can get exactly what you’re looking for.
Look At Your Strengths
Looking at your strengths and particular skill sets is always a good idea. Are you a good communicator? Do you have exceptional writing skills? Can you problem-solve with ease and see solutions to problems? Or do you perform better in a team or alone and so on? Find what you excel at, how you work the best, and when you get your best results. Some people work better under pressure, meaning they would thrive in a high-pressure environment. In contrast, others need a less pressured working environment that allows them time and freedom to solve problems and experiment with different things to reach the end goal.
Research Career Options
Once you have an idea of what you would like to look into as a potential new career, it’s time to start researching your options. This can open up many different areas within certain industries for you to consider and allow you to uncover more about what each one entails to ensure it is right for you. You can talk to a career counselor to help you find options or use the results from your inventory test to help you find a starting point.
Compile everything that meets your needs, and then find out as much as you can about each job role, the education required, if any, what the future is like for the role, and what career progression you can expect.
Make An Action Plan
A career action plan is a complete list of how you’re going to approach your career change, what goals you need to hit and by when, and what your future looks like, whether it’s the next 12 months or 12 years. You should have already done your research now so you will know what to include.
Start by identifying vacancies in the industry, completing training, knowing what you need to do to get a head start, e.g., attending networking events or seminars, and knowing what opportunities you need to find or take as you progress on your new journey.
Include appropriate timelines for training and finding employment/leaving your current job role. For example, if you can quit your current employment and enroll at a college full-time, you will complete your studies faster than if you need to study alongside working a full-time job. The more you know, the easier it will be to put a realistic action plan in place to push you forward and make sure you’re progressing as you need to.
Improve Yourself
Not that there’s anything wrong with you as you are, but from a professional standpoint you need to improve who you are and what you can do. Rebrand yourself by updating your CV, cover letter, headshots, etc, and develop a persona representative of the career you want and the person you want to be. Project this image onto those around you and with whom you network so people know how capable and competent you are. Use your experience and connections to help you create changes and improvements that help you work towards your goals and not hinder you. Ensure everything aligns with your new career path so people know exactly what you’re about and why they need to hire you.
Changing careers might seem like a gargantuan effort. However, if you’re not happy in your current position, moving forward to a new career, a new industry, and finding employment that suits who you are and gives you job satisfaction can help you improve your life.