An Introduction To: A Practical Guide To Changing Careers
Why Did We Create This Guide?
We think that because changing careers is such a big decision, it shouldn’t be decided based on a single quiz, or article.
There are A LOT of potentially-useful resources online that can help make you to make decisions about your career. But they often exist just to collect your email address, or because top 5 reasons to x are an easy way to get people to visit a website.
The outcomes of these articles, lists, or quizzes are often: think about what makes you happy and pursue a career in it. BUT IT’S NOT THAT EASY RIGHT!? What if you don’t know what makes you happy, or what if you’re not sure how to start looking for opportunities, you may not even know if such a career exists!
The aim of this guide is to give people access to a single, practical resource that will help them to identify if they’re ready to make a dramatic career change.
Who Is This Guide For?
You’re probably here for some of the following reasons:
- YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE ON A CAREER PATH CHOSEN BY SOMEONE ELSE
- YOU’VE WANT TO BE MORE CREATIVE
- YOU FEEL YOU’RE NOT REACHING YOUR POTENTIAL
- YOU’RE NOT GETTING YOUNGER
- YOU’RE BORED IN YOUR CURRENT JOB
- YOU’VE REALISED SWITCHING CAREERS MIGHT NOT BE THAT HARD
- YOU’VE SPOTTED AN OPPORTUNITY
- YOUR OUTLOOK ON LIFE HAS CHANGED
- YOU WANT TO MAKE MORE MONEY
- YOU’RE SUFFERING FROM BURNOUT
If you’re a natural-born over-achiever, it’s also easy to justify feeling the way you do about your career. You make excuses and tell yourself that everything will be okay as long as you keep working. And working hard is good, but only if it makes you happy and fulfilled, not if it causes you anxiety, and turns you into a detached, zombie person.
More than anything else, if you feel a sense of dread on a Sunday night when you think about going to work the next day. You’re probably in the right place.
This guide will give you some practical ways to figure out how to carve out a career that gives you purpose.
Chapter 1.
Is It Time For A Career Change, Or Do You Just Have A Terrible Boss?
You know that you’re unhappy and you think a change of career might be the best solution ... and you might be right. However, it’s important to step back and ask yourself what’s making you feel this way. It could be your colleagues, your boss, your salary, a lack of clear goals, or even a lack of purpose. In this chapter we’ll help you to identify what’s making you think about switching careers, whether there’s an alternative solution, and most importantly, we’ll identify how ready you are for a change of career.
Chapter 2.
Find Your Dream Job Without It Destroying Your Will To Live.
It’s not uncommon to read career advice articles and see the phrase “identify what makes you happy and look for career opportunities in this field”. That’s great advice, but not very practical, right!? In this chapter we’ll help you to identify your strengths, weaknesses, passions, and purpose. So that you can begin to truly assess what your new career path should be. This is essentially a practical approach to defining the types of jobs that give you purpose and play to your strengths (aka your dream job).
Chapter 3.
How To Start Living Your Life On Your Own Terms (Or At Least On The Terms Of Someone You Admire)?
Identifying the personality traits that you admire in yourself and other people can set you on a path to living life on your own terms. By making a conscious decision to emulate your heroes, their behaviours, and their purpose. You’ll attract the people and opportunities that will lead to your dream job.
Chapter 4.
Ways You Can Change Career Without Embarrassing Yourself And Losing All Of Your Money.
Age, self-confidence, and money can all seem like barriers to changing your career path. You might even be surprised by how many other people feel the same way. Identifying and overcoming these barriers can seem daunting, but with the right approach you can overcome them and focus on switching to a career that makes you happy. In this chapter we’ll give you simple tools to build confidence, and help you to financially prepare for taking the next step in your career.
Chapter 5.
Change Careers Without Losing All Of The People You Care About.
When you’re ready to switch careers, it’s not always clear if the people around you will support your decision. Personal and Professional relationships need to be assessed and managed, so that you career transition can be seen as a positive step by the people you value in your life.This chapter will help you to identify the relationships that can help you to change careers, as well as providing strategies for managing and maintaining relationships that may be standing between you and your dream job.
Chapter 6.
Change Careers Without Having To Go Back Into A Broken Education System.
Not having the “right” skills and being unable to find the job that you’re looking for are both common reasons why people choose not to change careers. In this chapter we’ll help you to define your transferable personal and professional skills, review methods for transitioning without having “all” of the required skills, AND we’ll help you to explore ways you can create your dream job.
Chapter 7.
Build The Confidence To Change Careers By Ignoring The Opinions Of Almost Everyone You Know.
Everyone has a person (or people) they seek the advice of, look to for inspiration and permission, and who acts as a guide during times of transition. This could be a wife, girlfriend, child, boss, parent, friend, hero, or almost anyone. In this chapter we’ll help you to discover who they are, how and how you can seek their support during your career switch.
Chapter 8.
Take The Final Step In Changing Your Career, Even Though It’s Secretly More Than A Single Step.
Changing careers doesn’t happen overnight, even if we wish that it could! It’s important to plan your transition, develop skills, build relationships, create a safety net and grow your confidence. In this chapter we’ll guide you through the steps required to successfully plan, commit to, and undertake your career change.
