The job market has been a flipping nightmare for a while already and many are thinking about ways to change your career path.
The biggest question for many is: can you start working in a completely different industry? An industry you know nothing or very little about and have no specific skills for.
I’m here to tell you that of course you can! I’ve changed jobs and industries a lot during my life, and this circus started as early as the age of 14. Okay, perhaps my first summer job as a library assistant couldn’t be counted as a “career move” but it did introduce me to the world of work.
My list of industries I’ve worked for include but is not limited to:
- IT
- precious metals
- marketing
- sales
- banking
- event management. How’s that for work experience?
Obviously, experience brings a lot of confidence that helps when you’re planning to change your career path. But it’s not necessary, which I’m going to prove to you!
I am aware that for most people big changes, like completely changing careers, doesn’t come naturally. But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be 100% worth it.
7 x How To Successfully Change Your Career Path
I can’t deny, when I made the jump from sales to IT, I did doubt myself and whether I might be kicked out within the first 2 weeks. But for my personal health (mental and pysical) the change needed to be made. My options were joblessness or change of career.
I chose the latter and am very glad I did! Since I’ve done it I know what it takes, and how great it can be for you as well. So, here is my advice on how you can also change your career path to another successfully, and find a whole new respect for yourself in the process.
And make sure you stick til the end, because there’s a twist to this story! Changing careers is an option, but there’s another, often even better option.
Know your ‘Why’
You can keep on sending job applications, and you might get lucky. In case you already have a job, but want a change, make the process easier for yourself by knowing exactly why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Stop for a minute and think why exactly is it that you want to leave the comfort of the familiar job right now.
Understanding what is driving you to make such a big change in life will set you up on a whole new level. For example, for me the potential threat of joblessness was enough to get me moving.
But if the idea of joblessness isn’t yet reason enough for you, what is it then? Why do you want to change your career path?
Is your current career
- not flexible enough
- too stressful and demanding
- or does it pay too little and you find yourself struggling each month?
Or do you just wish to prioritize yourself rather than work? Once you’re clear on the ‘why’ it’ll be a shit-ton easier to start applying for jobs. You’ll see!
Do your research
You probably do a bit of a research about the company when preparing for a job interview, right? But you must also remember that once you change your career path, the nature of your daily tasks is going to be different than what you’re used to.
That’s no problem at all! We human beings are the most efficient learners on the planet. And to enhance those learning muscles on your brain, I suggest you do some serious research on the particular tasks that your new job requires. Especially before your first day at a new place!
A simple thing like Google can help you get started. I remember simply googleing the job title almost every day to get a clearer understanding of what the job actually entails.
I had no previous experience with this kind of work, so this made me feel a little bit more confident. The purpose was to find out what exactly the job would be in practice.
Google, of course, couldn’t give me much insight on the systems I’d be using daily in my new job, though. But since I knew the basic facts, learning to use the new tools and systems became that much easier.
In the end I was able to work by myself after 1 month’s training although most often this particular company reserved 3 months for training.
Get social
When you change your career path, it’s important to network. Make sure to introduce yourself to everyone who’s relevant to your job. You will be spending most of your weeks with these people, and the least you can do is to know what everyone does.
There will always be people who might not be your cup of tea. But getting along and knowing how to interact with each colleague can make or break you in a new place.
Immerse yourself into the company culture from day one. The easiest way to do this, in my opinion, is to find someone, a team-mate or a Team Leader, on the first day who can take you through everything that the company does. Particularly everything that you will be involved in.
This will make starting off so much easier because you already know who to go to for help and who knows what it is you do on a daily basis.
To help you network, I have one easy tip that I myself use: suggest an after-work at the end of your first week! What could be a better way to get to know your new colleagues than through all the gossip and stories shared around a pint or two.
Build on the skills you already have
However big of a change this is to you, there are core skills in every job that you probably already have, either from your previous job or from growing up.
When you change your career path, you can make it easier for yourself.
- Pick all the things from the training period that seem even slightly familiar to you.
- That way you can start dissecting the job in your mind to practical steps that make sense to you.
For example, when I moved from sales to IT the most comfortable aspect of my new job was the fact that I’d be communicating with other teams quite a lot.
Being social is one of my core strengths so I rested assured that even if I wasn’t sure about some other aspects of the job, I could always contact someone from other teams to ask for assistance.
Secondly, the software and programs that we used were completely new to me. I had never used anything more complex than SAP but this was SAP with computer parts and codes. Completely foreign territory to me.
But the process itself was quite straight forward. So, I wrote myself a little ‘roadmap‘ on my notebook, which I could follow when doing assignments. Don’t get stuck on little details, like product codes, but learn the path of completing a task from start to finish.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
There are still people who consider asking for help to be a weakness. Can we finally settle the fact that the person who doesn’t ask for help, and screws up because of that, is in fact the weaker person than the one who did communicate their uncertainty and executed the task successfully on the first go saving everyone time and effort?!
I learned this the hard way by making a shite-ton of mistakes because I was too afraid to approach any of my new colleagues. But honestly, having to go to those people to ask them to fix what you just messed up is much more embarrassing.
Your colleagues are there to support you when you change your career path. Just like you are there to support them if need be.
Sometimes even your colleagues do not have an answer to the issue that baffles you, but trying to find a solution together is much more fun. It can also be a bonding experience.
Believe in yourself
No matter what you do, whether you change your career path between jobs or industries, you will always transition successfully as long as you believe in your skills and capabilities. Because they are there! You’ve gotten this far in Life, why on Earth wouldn’t you be able to go even further?
And you can’t deny the fact that you will learn whatever it is that you need to learn, because you are intelligent enough. What if you make a mistake? We all make mistakes! Daily!
To deal with mistakes is to use them as learning opportunities so you can do even better in the future.
And now to the plot twist I promised you in the beginning:
Start Freelancing
Does changing careers always mean changing from one company or industry to another? What about if you change your career to be the company yourself?!
With Internet we are blessed with a plethora of opportunities and possibilities to start freelancing either along your daily job or as a full-timer. This is exactly what I did!
I was fired some years ago, and when walking out of the office for the last time I promised myself “Never again!” No more working for other people, filling other people’s coffers, no more gifting my time, skills and energy for a fraction of the money that I actually make.
The amount of money our efforts and skills make is always much more than what corporations pay us as salary. But as a freelancer you get to keep every penny you make. As I quickly noticed, that makes all the difference!
I started as a Freelancer and a year later I became a full-blown entrepreneur. It all started from Freelancer platforms like UpWork and Fiverr. All you need is to find couple clients who pay you enough to cover your living costs, and then it’s just about growing your skillset and customer base from there.
Easy for me to say? Yes, it is, cause that’s exactly what I did.
How to get started?
If you wish to change your career path and “go rogue”, the only thing that’s stopping you is YOU. We have everything we need right at our finger tips even if we don’t have much money. For example, starting a podcast can actually be completely free!
The first thing to do is to sign yourself up for some freelancing platforms to look for clients. And then you definitely need a website! Building a website is actually super easy these days (I’m your proof, I’ve built 2 websites!) But first you need a hosting service that takes care of the actual technical backstage stuff for you.
I switched from GoDaddy to Lyrical Host some years ago and I can very happily recommend them! Their services are well priced especially considering the quality of service you get with that money. You can also get a 10% discount from your chosen hosting package with code OUTLANDISH10
And once you’ve got a hosting service sorted, it’s all about registering to WordPress (or Wix, etc.) and choosing a Theme! I recommend choosing a Theme that is a ‘drag-and-drop’ model. That makes building a website a fun experience. Just try!
Have any of you lovelies ever changed from one industry to another? Have any of you ever planned this? I’d love to hear your stories and thoughts, so comment below and let’s chat! ♥
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