Over the last few months I have been talking about the steps that are involved in changing careers. This week I want to bring it all together again and give you a short overview on how to change careers. It includes the following stages which I have been writing about:
Stage - Assessing your present situation
What’s going on now?
What to keep and what to change?
Stage - Discovering what it is exactly that you want
What is my ideal life?
What do I love, what am I good at and what do I need to thrive?
For scanners/multipotentialites: Which of my many interests do I want to pursue next? Or which of my interests do I need in my life constantly? (These can be more than one)
Stage - Overcoming internal or external obstacles
Are my beliefs about myself and my career really true?
What ways are there to get around, over or through obstacles?
Stage - Reality testing
Is this really my dream career or just a hobby or escape fantasy?
How can I do a dry-run of my dream career?
And this final stage:
Stage - Changing careers
Upskilling if necessary
Writing your CV or business plan for your dream work
Applying for jobs or setting up your business
Each of these stages consists of several steps that depend on your personal journey. I have given you a few examples and exercises over the last few months, so you can read back over them on this blog.
As I have said before, finding your path or changing careers is a process. It can take between 3-6 months or longer to successfully change careers. This depends on how clear you are at the beginning of the process on what you want to do next. Or sometimes you don’t have as many obstacles to overcome. I usually just went for it without thinking too much about if I could actually do it. I didn’t want to end up like my parents, regretting that they had never tried to do the work that they loved. And as I have frequently heard over the last few weeks: Failure is to never even have tried.
In my experience, clients who come to me to find out what they want to do with their lives, need at least 3 months to explore and discover their dreams. You are talking about the next years of your life. Would you not want to make sure they will be as happy and fulfilling as you can make them?
What stage of career change are you in?
