If you are thinking about changing careers, either now or at some point in the near future, then there are many things you might want to bear in mind. The truth is that it is a surprisingly easy thing to succeed with, but you do need to make sure that you are approaching it in the right way and giving it the best effort you can. In this post, we are hopefully going to make that easier for you in a number of ways, by detailing the things you need to do in order to change careers all the more successfully and easily.

These are some of the main steps you need to take if you want to change careers and to do so well. Take a look and see if you have forgotten any of these – or if you are just starting to think about it, you might even want to consider what you can do to help things along from this list. Let’s take a look at the steps now.

Think About Timing

Timing is always going to be one of the most important things you need to think about, because otherwise you might struggle to be in a place where you can change careers effectively and without having to worry about it. All in all, you have to make sure that you feel ready, and that is much more likely to be the case if you have thought about the timing and made sure that it is the right time to change careers for you right now.

However, forget about trying to time the job market – this is more or less impossible, and besides it’s just so much better to go by your own internal clock rather than what is happening in the world of work. So it’s vital that you forget that and just hone in on yourself as best as you can.

When it comes to timing, what most matters is that you are ready in yourself to change careers, and you know what kind of career you want to get into, or at least roughly, because that will affect how long it takes for the process to happen. And you’ll want to consider your finances too, because that will dictate timing very strongly as well, and is therefore something else you need to think about in some detail.

Focus On Your Finances

It would be untrue to suggest that your career has nothing to do with finances, because it certainly does. In fact, you will hopefully be expecting to change into a career that is going to pay you better, and you’ll obviously be driven by that at least somewhat. At the same time, you need to look at your financial situation to try and determine whether or not you are ready to change careers, because there is often a gap until you get your next paycheck at a new job.

These are just some of the things you’ll want to consider. It’s worth revisiting your budget when you are considering a career change, as you might find that you are able to improve how you approach this change on the whole. At the very least, it is not something you should ignore.

Carry Out Research

There is now an all-important research phase that you must go through, where you will figure out what is actually out there as well as how many of those jobs there seem to be. This is something that you can actually end up spending a lot of time on if you are not careful – you might even at times feel as though you have become a full-time job hunter. This is obviously a situation you want to avoid, so you will need to think about how you can limit this by carrying out your research more effectively and efficiently.

For that, you’ll need to narrow your search somewhat – even if you find you have to broaden it out later, this is a good approach to take at first. With plenty of research options available to you your task will be to think about what kinds of avenues you want to look down, and for that it is going to be helpful to consider what your preferred jobs are and which ones you are likely to actually enjoy and go for with all the passion you can. This requires an awareness of your own personality.

Look At Yourself Objectively

The task of looking at yourself from the outside can be easier for some than for others, but it is vital to at least some degree if you want to effectively change careers into the right kind of job for you. This is something that you can fortunately achieve in many ways, including thinking about some of the more objective ways to measure your personality, such as taking a Myers-Briggs test. It’s really worth thinking about taking such a test – and in fact, there are examples of this out there which can be used specifically for career transition periods.

However you do it, your goal is to figure out what your skills, talents and passions are, as well as what kind of working environment you tend to enjoy working in, and so on. The more clear you become on all that, the more likely it is that you are going to effectively change your career to the right job, and sooner, you’ll find you enjoy the process a lot more as well.

Grow Your Network

There is a lot to be said for taking a look at your network at this point, because the more people you have access to, the more opportunities you will find open up for you. Growing your network can be done in so many ways, including speaking to people in your current organization, or freelancers you know who work in the industry, and of course right up to attending industry events and parties as well. All of this is going to help you to figure out where the right people are, and to develop a strong relationship with them.

You must make sure to grow your network organically, rather than trying to force anything. That being said, you should be able to do this easily enough as long as you are simply speaking to people more and keeping yourself open. If you can do that, it’s going to help you out a great deal and you will find that you can change careers all the sooner and much more effectively. If you have to work on your interpersonal skills as part of this, so be it.

Think About Developing New Skills

Once you know the kind of job you are looking for, you might find that there are some new skills that you need to develop in order to land the job, or that you want to develop just to feel more confident. In either case, it’s something that you can approach in a lot of ways, and you will want to think about how you are going to develop those skills easily and quickly, yet thoroughly. That might mean going to a training center, a local university, or back to business school. Or you might be able to learn on the job. Of course, there are also vocational jobs where you receive all necessary training as you go.

There is no right and wrong, it’s just about getting the skills you need as well as developing your confidence in general, so you are going to want to make sure that you do just that here. If you can do that, it’s going to help your career change so much more effectively, and you’ll be in a new place of work before you know it. That is obviously what you are aiming for here.

Revisit Your Resume

Your resume or CV is obviously all-important in the job search, and it’s important that you revisit it to ensure it is up to scratch. It might be that you have not thought about your CV for years and years, so it’s likely going to need an upgrade and an update if that is the case. Make sure that it is honest and direct, as well as showcasing all of your best qualities. You need to think about how to sell yourself in terms of what people want to see, first and foremost. This is something that you are certainly going to need to think about as best as you can.

Make sure you have the right CV for each job you apply for, which might mean that you need to write out a few. This is some work, but it’s the best way of ensuring that you can be much more likely to get the career you want and need. All in all, it’s something that you are definitely going to want to think about, because it will help you out a great deal.

Those are the main steps to take when you want to change careers.