Career change and career transition are real concerns nowadays. People lose or give up their jobs for various reasons. Today’s aggressive, performance-oriented business ethos mean that career change and career transition happen to a lot of people; this is quite unlike before when one could get into a job and stay in it for life.

Considering a Career Change

If the change is a voluntary one, then the person undergoing the career change should take as much care as possible. Not only is one’s income-less (or non-existent) during such a time, but change itself always puts stresses on a person as he or she strives to steer his life in a new direction.

Nevertheless, not all is doom and gloom: the time spent between careers offers a chance for value appraisal and career assessment. The shock of finding one’s self adrift may provide a good impetus to accomplish a useful task that has often been set aside because of lack of time or lack of motivation. Indeed, once in the middle of a career change and career transition, you may find yourself exploring new and better career paths that you thought were closed to you.

Marketing One’s Self to Potential Employers

In the midst of your career change and career transition, you must carefully assess what job you wish to take on next. You must list down your credentials and skills, your interests, and your goals (house, car, salary grade, position, prestige, etc). Your credentials and skills will be your basis for assessing your worth to potential employers. Your interests will dictate the direction that you can possibly take. Your goals will be your basis for choosing the specific direction that you will take.

The time spent reevaluating one’s career direction is followed by a time of writing cover letters, updating one’s resume, leveraging whatever influence one has on people in a network that might help one get into a new job or completely different line of work (which is one reason why it’s nice to cultivate friends). It’s not necessary to have experience when shifting into a whole new profession, as long as you stay educated, can play up your strengths to the recruiter, and transfer the necessary social skills to your new setting.

As you sit down to write your resume, it is helpful to remember something that salesmen and marketers know but others often overlook: you must be able to sell yourself in order to profit in the job market. To increase your value to potential employers, recruitment agencies or headhunters, you must do your best to highlight your value so you will always remain on top of the recruitment heap. Only then can you be sure of a successful career change and career transition.

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A career change can be riddled with mistakes and ambiguity for many people, even those in mid-career. This, as a consequence, relegates them to where they are despite additions to their job and personal skill sets and the larger market scenario. This small but indicative list of career changes Dos and Don’ts will help to make things clearer.

Career Change Don’ts

-Never come out any job before you have another one. Don’t quit a job on impulse, only when you have a solid plan. Leaving a job too early will have obvious negative effects. You could easily find yourself without a job with no leads in sight.
-A career change cannot be spontaneous but must be the result of a well-planned and well thought out decision. Do not plan to change your career in just minutes.
-Don’t change your career just for the sake of big/instant money or glamour; rather, give some real thought as to whether you are really interested in switching to another career. Sure, the new career might seem great at first, but will you still enjoy it after several years?
-Don’t have unrealistic expectations from the career that you are going to choose.
-Don’t pay attention to rumors or gossip or even react to them during your job change process.
-Don’t spread the word about your leaving the job until it is confirmed in writing.
-Don’t leave your ’safe’ job until you know where and how you will be compensated.
-Don’t leave the job for until you have ensured that you will not have to pay your monthly bills from your savings
-Don’t ever spread misinformation about your past employer

The Dos of Career Change

-While still in your current job, you can gather information or rather work part-time for the career you have chosen. It will give you some idea of the scope and nature of your target job.
-While still in your present career, learn as much as you can and plan to take that knowledge with you.
-List your strengths and qualities in fields you that you already excel. Identify your need for a career change.
-If it is sheer frustration or stress and all other aspects are fine in your present job, then target these two problems rather going for a career change.
-Maintain a positive relationship with your present organization and leave the job on a positive note.
-As soon as you join your new employer, get down to business without wasting time; you will have lot to learn in a new environment.

About Author

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

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Now begins the hard questions that you have to explore to make your decision. You need to begin evaluating who you are and what you want in life. Maybe a different job and not a different career is what you really want.

You won’t know until you really take a good long look.

Step One – Identify What Suits You

The first step one should take when considering a career change is to make a list of jobs you want to explore. There are free career tests online to help you narrow down the list and decide what you want to focus on. Next you want to research your list.

Take a good long list and research all the jobs on it. Look into all aspects of these potential occupations you can think of.

Get a book from your local library so you can see all the good and potentially bad aspects of the occupations and get a book on career change while you are there. Career change can be scary but worthwhile.

What would bring you more happiness in your life? Are you looking for more money or are you more interested in affecting social change?

Step Two – Sounds Like A Plan

Any career change is going to require you to set some goals and make an action plan. Are you willing to get further education? Try to talk to someone in the occupation you are interested in.

Grill them about the skills needed, how they got started, what they see as the challenges. Any career change requires some flexibility on your part. Are you willing to go all the way and do what it takes to be successful. Do you feel passion when you think of it?

Trying to get an internship is one way to test your career change. Is it all you imagined it would be? Before you go out and get a degree, answer these questions.

Step Three – Tactics In Your Existing Job

If you are currently employed, keeping quiet about your plans may be the best thing for you. That may mean not telling co workers you are close too. You especially don’t want anything getting to your boss if you are just testing the waters.

Remember many people before you have made a career change and were happier people for it. Finding a mentor to guide you can offer valuable career change advice.

This opens up a whole new network of people for you to gain experience and may eventually lead to a job.

For most of us the thought of a career change is so scary. But, if we all just stayed right where we are right noe, what more can life offer us? Look inside yourself and take inventory of what you want out of life and it is entirely possible that the fear is the only thing holding you back.

Sometimes it only takes one initial step to overcome fear and to get you up and running.

About Author

(c) 2007 How To Land Your Dream Job. You can have the job of your dreams. There’s a great free, e-course at htlydjmini@aweber.com. More? All you need at Martin Haworth’s website, http://www.howtolandyourdreamjob.com

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Are you unhappy with the overall situation of your career? Has it got something to do with your job profile or your company? If that is the case, the thought of career change must have crossed your mind.

Now the flipside is you probably depend on your paycheck to discharge your financial obligations. A career transition has to be pondered over in the right perspective. You want to make sure that a job shift is in the best interest of you and your family. If you have asked yourself these questions before, please read on!

A number of important factors need to be taken into consideration when you start thinking of making a career change. No two individuals are in an identical situation when it comes to relying on your salary. So these factors should be carefully considered, and then you can use them in your own personal situation. This way you can properly weigh out the pros and cons of a career transition.

Your current job’s paycheck is an important factor to be taken into consideration, before deciding if you want a career change. For instance, try to judge for yourself whether the salary you are getting in your current job is a fair salary. To find out, you can start by comparing your current salary with the salary that is being offered in job openings in the local newspapers, recruitment agencies or online recruitment portals. If you do that, you can find out by yourself whether it is difficult for you to earn the same salary elsewhere. Unless you are lucky enough to land a job in the upper tier of an organization, you might find yourself having to work your way up the ladder all over again.

Apart from the crucial factor of your salary to pay your bills and support your family, there is the matter of other benefits too. Health insurance is one such important factor when you are toying with the idea of a career transition. If your current employers provide health insurance benefits for yourself or for your whole family, you should attach a lot of importance to that. You may of course buy health insurance for yourself or an extension of your coverage, but you should keep in mind that it can be quite an expensive proposition.

When comparing the pay packet of your current job with career job opportunities elsewhere that don’t offer health insurance benefits, you should take into consideration the imputed cost of having to buy one. If you still decide to make a career change, you may want to schedule your doctor’s appointments, including the dentist and the ophthalmologist if the coverage permits, before you actually quit.

Another factor that needs looking into when you are on a job search is the current job scenario in your area. Do you already have a firm job offer in your pocket? If that is the case then there is little to worry about. If you haven’t, you will at least want to ensure that there is a good prospect of seeking employment elsewhere.

You need to remember that you might not be eligible for unemployment benefits if you leave your job of your own volition. In such a situation, you may need a backup plan if you have financial obligations like a family to support or bills to pay like rent or mortgage.

When you decide on a career change, you need to have all the career information at your fingertips. Keeping the current job scenario in mind, you have to look at all career job opportunities in your area for any required training, work experience, or education. It is no use realizing too late that you are not qualified for that career dream find. Instead, you should scrutinize the average job requirements by examining all available job openings in the local newspapers or online recruitment portals. If you find yourself lacking the necessary skills, you may consider enrolling in a career training course to improve your chances of finding a new job.

It must be quite clear by now that you should proceed very carefully when you think about a career transition. There are just so many vital factors that need to be considered. Keeping all this in mind, whether you really want a change is ultimately your call.

About Author

James Utterson is a writer and publisher specializing in self-help and internet marketing subjects. He is passionate about helping others fulfill their life’s ambitions and dreams.

His career and recruitment website has loads of useful information including a free report on preparing and planning your career change.

To obtain your free copy Click Here

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The idea of looking for a new job and switching careers can be both exciting and scary at the same time. A lot of people in the workplace are unhappy with their present jobs and are yearning for a better one, but have no idea what to do with the problem. This is extremely stressful for a worker and more often than not, this affects your personal life. if you want change, then you might want to try consulting a career connections coach. Career connections coachers are professionals equipped with the training that can help you change and better your life at work and if the situation calls for it, a new career.

We live in a fast paced world. Everyday new ideas and technologies are introduced at the workplace, and it’s imperative that we roll and try to cope with these changes. In the workforce there are a lot of changes happening. Each day someone new is hired, someone that could be better than you are and might even replace you. this happens a lot, everyday in fact if looked at closely. Career connections coaches help you navigate through all these challenges. With their help, you can learn and acquire the necessary skills to adapt with the changing times.

What does a career coach do? First s/he will help you fill out forms seeking information from everything about you. this includes your personal life, interests, your relationships in the job and outside your job, as the two are always connected with each other. This forms will help the coach evaluate you and your lifestyle. With a career coach you learn how and what you’ll probably need for a career makeover and even a new life. they will coach you on how to trust and believe in yourself, and help you gain confidence in your abilities and skills.

Do you think you can be a career coach too? Do you want to help others cope with the changing times? If you do, then a specialist in career connections can help you become one. Coaches will work with you on each step, and through evaluations, will figure out and design training for you, and how you can get them. Helping others to be happy is a rewarding job, especially so when you were at the side of this person all the way. This is why we have career connections coaches. You benefit from both receiving and giving ends.

A lot of companies now offer career connections coaching for their employees. If in doubt, you can always call the company or a local job service agency to contact one. Many companies are found online now too, so the internet can be of great help to you. through the internet, you can now check what are the services companies offer and which ones interest you. Another bonus is that you can apply and submit your resumes online, making it easier for workers to change careers. Never has switching careers and finding jobs been easier than at the moment.

About Author

Abhishek is a Career Counselor and he has got some great Career Planning Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 71 Pages Ebook, “Career Planning Made Easy!” from his website http://www.Career-Guru.com/769/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

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