Considering a Career Change? Here are 8 Steps to Take

Career changes and transitions can be scary and feel overwhelming, especially if they are forced upon us through a layoff. It's much easier to begin to make that transition for ourselves, and on our own schedule and terms.

If you are contemplating a career change there are steps you can take to ease the transition and help you feel ready to take the plunge.

Here are eight steps to making a career transition:

1. Meet with a career counselor. The first step you might consider is to meet with a career counselor and discuss your training, skills, experience, and interests. The counselor can help you explore the career options that would be most suitable and help you develop a plan to get there.

2. Take a skills or interest assessment. Identifying your skills and interests will help clarify your direction and this can be done with a career counselor or on your own.

3. Job shadow. Once you've identified a job or career area of interest consider spending a few hours job shadowing someone currently working in that field. This will help you get a clearer sense of the job and whether it matches your interests and skills.

4. Research education or certification requirements. Some jobs or careers require you to attain a specific level of education or to have state certification. Find out if you need to supplement your education.
 
5. Take a class. You might need additional education for certification requirements (see above) or you just might need to update your skills or learn a new technology. If so, consider signing up for a class at your local community college.

6. Online training. There are many opportunities to take free classes online and you might find something to increase your skills as you consider your new career.

7. Seek guidance from a mentor. Talk to someone you trust and get their advice and counsel about your career and possible plans for a change.

8. Network. Work to expand your network of contacts, especially in fields related to those you're considering for your career change.

6 Qualities of Effective Leaders

Leadership is a highly discussed topic, with many good books published each year on the subject. But for those who don't have time to read all those leadership books we've identified six of the top qualities you should strive to cultivate if you want to be a good and effective leader.

1. Effective leaders listen more than they speak. Leadership is not about making great speeches or
telling everyone else how to get the work done. A great leader spends much of his or her time listening to others in an attempt to better understand both the situation at hand and the people involved.

2. Effective leaders praise others instead of themselves. A good leader knows that others are the key to success and praises the members of his team rather than making himself look good. An effective leader is humble and doesn't waste time trying to impress others by constantly promoting his own "individual" successes. Very few successes are "individual."

3. Effective leaders take responsibility instead of passing blame. When things go wrong, as they inevitably will, great leaders take responsibility and acknowledge the mistakes rather than blaming them on others.

4. Effective leaders serve others. Leaders who focus on others, on the team, and work to serve the needs of the team and of customers will generate greater trust and respect. Leadership is about serving others and serving well.

5. Effective leaders lead by example. A good leader knows that she must do the hard work and not simply expect or demand others to work hard. Effective leaders work hard, demonstrate appropriate work-life balance, and show the appropriate way to communicate and treat clients, co-workers, and customers.

6. Effective leaders never stop learning. A great leader understands that he does not possess all knowledge and continues to learn. He or she is curious about the world and about others and strives to continue to learn more about being a better person and a more effective leader.

Six Options for Continuing Education and Career Advancement

Every job or career path requires some knowledge or education to be successful. For some careers you might be able to learn on the job. Others, however, require additional education or an advanced degree.

Obviously if you want to be a psychiatrist you'll need to go to medical school. That bachelor's degree in English won't cut it. But there are many others jobs and careers where that English degree can be used broadly and supplemented with other forms of learning and education.

If you need to add some additional learning and education to your resume here are a six options to consider:

1. Local Community College. Many community colleges offer excellent courses to provide you with a specific skill, such as using Photoshop. They also offer associate degrees or certificate programs in many fields that might supplement your career development.

2. Local Government. Most cities and towns offer community education courses in a wide variety of
subjects and fields. You might just find a low-cost course that will help to gain the skill to qualify for that promotion.

3. Local Organizations. Small (and large) nonprofit organizations, along with other local businesses and community libraries typically offer training in the arts, financial management, computer programs, and more at very low-cost and some, like at the library, might be free.

4. Mentors or Tutors. Do not overlook the training and learning opportunities that a mentor or tutor can provide. A mentor might allow you to job-shadow with him or her to learn more about their work and profession. Hiring a tutor can be a great way to enhance those computer skills or to learn a new language.

5. Online Courses. You can learn just about anything online, such as coding or a new language, through free courses at a variety of great online learning sites, including Codecademy. Check out this previous post about online learning.

6. College or University. Of course, you just might have to go back to college or university in order to complete that degree or earn an advanced degree.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Shaking Up Your Career and Being Productive

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 7 Deadly Sins of a Job Seeker: "Planning for your job search enables you to properly target roles as well as manage your time and those you approach more effectively."


• Building Trust Will Get You Hired: "In order to show that you will be reliable in the future, demonstrate how you have been so the past."


• How to Shake Up Your Career in 2015: "Expand your talents and knowledge by signing up for a Mooc (massive open online course). From branding and management to film-making or forensic psychology, there's a huge range of free courses available to everyone."


• How to Stop Negative Thoughts: "Instead of allowing unfortunate situations, unlucky circumstances and foul people to suck the energy right out of you, turn to humor for a levity break."


• Surround Yourself with Productive People: "Productive people tend to organise not only themselves, but systems, schedules, and the other people around them. This is beneficial for the entire team."

How to Leverage Education in a Career Change

So you are ready to take your career in a new direction. However, the completion of education was a critical part of the transition. Most likely, you don't have any industry experience to support your education within the resume. Let's look at some tips on how to leverage your education when writing a resume to support this career change.

Highlight your education.
Education often ends up as the last thing on a resume. However, when education is your most important selling point, it must take center stage on the resume. You still need to have a summary or profile section that highlights your key skills. However, your education will be the next section.

Use your courses and course content to load the resume with key words.
A newly graduated Aerospace Engineer may not have hands on experience designing propulsion systems for a rocket, but listing Propulsion Theory as one of your courses allows you to integrate this important key word into the resume. List a section on your resume under education where you detail areas of knowledge and expertise. This is a perfect opportunity to add in key skills and knowledge you gained in your education that will also add these ever-important key words.

Demonstrate hands-on application of your knowledge.
I often find that career-changers who are relying on their education spend as much room discussing their education on a resume as they do their work experience. After you list your degree or certification, focus on hands-on experience. This can come in the form of projects, clinicals, internships, externships, or extracurricular clubs.

Focus on relevant skills in your work experience.
No matter how relevant your education may be, if you only focus on irrelevant work experience and skills the employer will feel a disconnect with you as a candidate. For example, if you are transferring from telemarketing to being a medical assistant, your resume would focus on communication, customer service, and your ability to follow exact specifications. If your resume was awash with your talk time statistics and the call center dialer systems with which you are familiar, your resume would not be as effective.