What if I want to change careers?
A recent post yielded a comment asking about career changes with some specific questions on this topic. I responded that I would write a post about this topic but other issues came up that spurred posts on different aspects of careers. Then, on Friday I received an email about a friend who was thinking of changing careers and wanted some advice. With so many people unemployed or underemployed (now I sound like a RETS commercial) this is the perfect time to discuss how to go about changing careers and what this means for your career (re: earning) potential.
First of all, before you decide to change careers you have to ask yourself a question. Do I need a new career or a new industry? My desire to be a nurse made me realize I didn’t need a career change, I just needed to do PR for a company or in an industry I really believe in. Secondly, you have to ask yourself why you want to change careers. Is it to do something you really love, because your job won’t exist in 5 years, or is it because you just broke up with your girlfriend of 4 years and you think you need to change something big to be happy again? Then ask yourself what it is you really want to do. I can’t answer those questions for you, only you can.
Let’s start with transferable skills. When I began my first semester as a college freshman one message was consistent throughout each of my communications classes: “communications is the most important skill you can learn.” At the time I thought my professors were merely exaggerating the benefits of their class but now that I’ve been part of the workforce for some time now I know they are right. It doesn’t matter if your job is marketing or astrophysics and it doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do, if you don’t have oral and written communications skills you can only go so far in your career. Every single job I have ever applied to, thought of applying to or sent to a friend to apply to lists “communication” among the necessary skills. If you hone your communications skills you will be able to stand out as an employee in any field.
As for other transferable skills, let me say this – unless you are looking to get into the medical profession there are very few jobs out there that really require a specific major. Could an English, History, Culinary Arts major do my job – you bet. I might have a slight advantage as my resume says “Corporate Communications” but the important thing is to highlight the skills and experiences in your past jobs that will help you in the job you are applying for. What’s the easiest way to do this? Look at the job description, they tell you exactly what you need to be successful at this job!
Now say I wanted to get into human resources. I would just tweak this opening paragraph to say something like: Corporate Communications professional looking to transfer experience and skills acquired during internal communications, public relations, marketing and community relations positions to contribute to a corporate human resources department….”
Now I just wrote that in about two seconds, imagine if you really thought about what it is you want and then wrote it out like this? That would catch any employers’ attention.
One question I was asked in both the email I received and the comment on the earlier post was about changes in pay that come with changes in careers. I think this is a very common question. Ultimately, it depends on how you are switching careers. Some journalists switch to PR to make more money! But for the most part, if you are completely starting over or if you were in a high paying field (ex: sales, engineering) and you are looking for a lower pressure more rewarding position you are probably going to take a pay cut. That is part of the trade off, very few people find a job that never requires working more than 40 hours a week, has a remarkably flexible work environment, is extremely fulfilling personally and pays enough for you to take vacations to France every year. There is a reason it pays more to be a doctor or a VP of a department, more responsibility and more work.
I hope some of this insight helps. This is a very broad topic so if anyone has any thoughts or other areas of career changes you would like me to address let me know.
I would like to end with one final note. The comment I received asked if the reader should “suck it up with the job they have because at least they have a job.” I can tell you with complete confidence the answer to this question is: NO! We spend too much time at work and with the people we work with to dislike what we do, where we are or who we are working with. If your job doesn’t make you happy find another one that will. (Just remember not to tie your overall happiness to your job!) Plus, if you like what you do and are happy you will do a better job and that will almost always lead to more money!
September 14th, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Love the post. One interesting complain I’ve heard a lot from people looking for a career change is that they dont want to start at an Entry Level position.
In my opinion, if at an Entry level Job will give you more fun, will make you feel more competent and will pay you the same amount of money, its your current job that sucks with an over inflated title.