Many people work at jobs they simply fell into instead of what they had in mind when setting out on their career path. Even some who have reached a high level in their career field may not have set off with any ambition to work in the industry they’ve been so successful in. After all, people usually need to find a job long before they really have a good idea of what they want in life and what’s available to them. Economic necessity can mean having to make the best of a mediocre situation. However, there may also be a moment when you look around and realize that while you can keep doing this for a few years, you really don’t want to do it for a few decades. Thinking about going on a new job hunt can be daunting, but the rewards are great.
Identify Your Unhappiness
What is that you dislike about your current job? Is it something particular to the job itself, or do you want to leave the whole industry? Be as specific as possible because you need to make sure that you don’t replicate the same problems in a new position. You also need to figure out whether it’s really a career change you need or if you just need to work for a different company or supervisor. Examples of things that might be making you unhappy include low pay, disliking your boss or coworkers, disliking working with the public, wanting to do less physical labor or wanting a better work/life balance.
Research and Learn
In addition to knowing what makes you unhappy, think about what you want in a new job. Be specific here as well, and list as many things you need. Maybe you want a regular schedule, or perhaps you’re looking for intellectual stimulation. You may want to be doing something more meaningful, or maybe you want something that you don’t have to think about outside of work hours. Start researching to find out what kinds of jobs fit your criteria and interest you.
Education and Training
Depending on what you do currently and what your background is, you may need to go back to school, take part in an apprenticeship, or get training or education in some other capacity to make the switch. Thanks to high tuition costs, the necessity of getting a college degree can feel like the end of the road for some career changers, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Most colleges offer their students financial aid. There are federal, state, and private sources of funding and assistance. At Navient Marketplace, you can look at student loan rates from top providers and compare the offers. This can help you find the right lender.
Spinning Your Past
Once you’ve done all this prep, you are eventually going to have to go out into the world and job hunt again. If you were working in your old career for a while, this can feel a lot like going back to square one, and in fact, you may be back at the entry level for the first time in a while. On the other hand, maybe you’ve always worked at entry-level positions, and this is the first time you’ve started looking for a career type of job.
Either way, think about what you can take from your previous experience and how you can present it in a way that is relevant to your new search. If you worked as a waitress and you’ve now trained to be a nurse, you could talk about how your waitressing years taught you to interact with a wide variety of people and remain positive and professional even when things went wrong, and customers were upset. Choose one or two brief, interesting anecdotes that you can tell to specifically demonstrate some of those strengths.
When you do get an interview scheduled, do some research on the company or organization that it’s with. This doesn’t just give you some insight into whether you want to work with them but creates the opportunity for you to demonstrate some knowledge about the company and ask smart questions. Finally, keep in mind what you disliked about your previous job, and make sure you avoid getting into a similar situation.