Are you thinking of switching to a different career than you currently have? Have you thought about what you need to help you navigate the sometimes off-roading, thrilling adventure of changing careers?
Changing Careers – 3 Focus Areas
I was recently on a panel discussion about careers in technology, where I shared a few insights when considering a career switch, especially later in your career. That happened to me in my career journey.
There are three areas of a mindset that have helped me throughout my career. Here are the three focus areas to consider when changing jobs.
Focus Area One – Reflection Time
Spend some focused time to seriously reflect on what you want to do and why you want to change your career. Do you want to change from an individual contributor to a leadership position? Or vice versa? Do you want to increase your studies and become a subject-matter-expert (SME) in your role? Or do you want to leverage your current work experience and transfer that to a different career? Also, what are the transferable skills you currently have to strengthen and leverage for a new position? Most importantly, be super clear on your why.
Focus Area Two – Curiosity
Curiosity is one of your superpowers for either career switching or career development. Have an open mind, and be curious. Learn as much as you can from your conversations, networking, job fairs, phone calls, meetings, emails, research, job interviews, rejections, and eventually job offers. Approach all the experiences with the intent to learn new insights. Think of curiosity as a propeller for your career.
Focus Area Three – Patience
Understand that developing and growing your career as well as switching your career takes time. The best definition I learned for patience is that patience means “be ok with the process.” Career development is not an instant, overnight, one-and-done experience. Each of our career paths is a journey throughout most of our adult life. We are learning and growing throughout our careers. Be patient with the experience. Most of all, be patient with yourself in the process.
Your Turn
Take time for deep reflection, harness your curiosity, and be patient in the process are three areas that will serve you well when switching to a new career or growing your career development path in your current area of expertise.
Where are you in your career journey? What are your best practices in growing your career or switching to a new career altogether? I would love to hear your insights and perspective.
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