Tag Archive for: #CareerChange -How Serious Are You About Changing Careers? Four Questions To Test Your Commitment. A #MustRead !

When unhappy professionals contact me to discuss their biggest obstacles around changing careers, usually the focus is on getting other people in their new field of interest to pay attention. I’ll hear:

·      I only get called in for the same old jobs (i.e., my old career)

·      Employers are only interested in hiring people who have done the job before

·      I think my resume or title or story doesn’t translate

All of these things may be true. It’s certainly true that people hire people, so you will need to convince others along the way. But in my 11+ years of career coaching, the biggest obstacle I have seen isn’t with other people, but with the career changers themselves. Career change takes longer than a typical job search. You have to rebrand yourself. You have to learn about a completely new market. You have to meet and establish relationships with different people. All this means you need to be comfortable with being a beginner again.

Not everyone wants to feel like a rookie after years of other professional success, and as the discomfort mounts, the career change journey stops. That said, many people have successfully changed careers (like the cop turned travel agent or the taco shop owner who used to be in film). I was over 40 when I changed my business focus, and I don’t feel like I’m done. If you are really serious about changing careers, you can do it. Here are four questions to test your commitment:

1 – Are you clear on your end game?

Successful career changers are not running away from the old career, but rather they are running towards the new career. Successful career changers have defined exactly what their priorities are for this next stage and are willing to stick to them, even when these are radically different from what might have mattered before.

In her new book, What Game Are You Playing?, author and Equifax COO of International Robin Moriarty likens this steadfastness of priority to playing your own game. Some people play the salary game, where earning the most money determines the winner. Some people play the prestige game, where title rules. Moriarty, an avid traveler, defined her game as “Spending the Most Time in the Coolest Places”. When she came to a decision crossroads and was tempted to follow the tried-and-true career path of more money, more title, she reminded herself of how she defined success. On one stop in her career, this meant taking a job in Argentina that paid Argentinian wages – not the most prestigious, not the highest pay, but the right step for her:

There is not one definition of success. We have options.

If you’re committed, you’ll make moves that others may not understand (or even you might be hesitant about) but make perfect sense in your own game.

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2 – Do you believe you deserve it?

As a career changer, you don’t only have to convince other people, like employers or new contacts you want to network with, but you also must convince yourself. Convincing others is about rebranding – refining your resume, online profile, networking pitch. Convincing yourself is about confidence and self-worth.

In his new book, You Deserve It, by business coach and chiropractor Dr. Josh Wagner, he writes how self-worth provides the critical foundation for success:

Why would life give me what I want if I can’t or won’t give it to myself?

In the case of career change, if you believe you deserve to be in that role, in that industry, in that new life, then you will persevere through the inevitable ups and downs of your job search. If you’re committed, you’ll believe you deserve it and will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

3 – Are you willing to stop what you’re currently doing?

In his new book, Start Finishing by productivity coach Charlie Gilkey, Gilkey breaks down the journey from idea to execution, highlighting the pitfalls that come with taking on too many projects:

Be courageous enough to commit more fully to fewer projects. We often don’t focus our resources on fewer goals and projects because we’re not sure that we’ll be successful with those projects and thus want to hedge our bets. The result is that we invest too little into projects to make them successful and we’re perennially scattered.

In career change, you need courage to stop investing in your old career and instead spending that extra time and energy on your new career. Flitting back and forth from your old career to your new career may seem like you’re hedging your bets, but as Gilkey points out, it’s also a way to stay perennially scattered. Taking on too many projects – i.e., attempting a new career while clinging to your old one – is a recipe for not doing either well. If you’re committed, you’ll stop doing enough of the old to allow for something new.

4 – Are you willing to start something new — something else, somewhere else?

In their new book, Work In Progress, HGTV renovation stars Leanne Ford and Steve Ford detail their unexpected and circuitous route to starring in their own TV show. Leanne started in fashion, and Steve started in recreation, with both of them having multiple roles, employers and business ventures along the way. Leanne credits landing new opportunities outside her area of expertise to her willingness to just jump in. She said Yes to projects outside her immediate expertise, just to get the hands-on experience. She traveled to different cities, even as a student, just to get on a project:

Your answer should always be “I’ll be there”.…If someone asked me to do a job, I simply showed up.

In career change, your answer should also be, “I’ll be there” as much as possible. If you’re committed, you’ll agree to projects that might seem small in scope (or that seem too big), to networking events that make you uncomfortable, to traveling to new places – either literal geographic places or figuratively outside your comfort zone.

Career change depends as much on internal readiness as it does on external forces

When you ask employers to hire you for a job you haven’t done or for an industry where you have never worked, you are asking them to commit on a leap of faith. Are you willing to make that same leap of faith for yourself?