How to Find a Career Top 10 Tips
OK, lets be blunt and honest here, how many people do you know who are working in a job they are 100% happy with and never want to leave until they retire? The answer to this is probably very few, if any at all. So, while doing some soul searching (and a lot of Google searching) we have compiled a top 10 tips on how to find a career.
Looking at how to find a career as one big lump will seem and feel daunting to most. There are just so many options and possibilities out there! Some options are on the safer side and others totally out of the box crazy U-turns, which at the time of consideration will feel insane, but might just pay off in the long run.
So, let’s have a look at our top 10 tips on how to find a career:
- Look for an Overlap
If you’re already working with a larger company, the chances are there will be other roles and positions within the company that you may want to consider when it comes to a career change. Let’s be honest, it would be much easier to move departments within a company than to go in a total new person at a new company. So, take a look at the internal jobs board, see what jobs they have open.
- Do some Career Quizzes
Now this suggestion might sound a bit potluck and guess work based, but there is actually quite a lot of science behind these quizzes and they analyse your personality and working style in a way you might not! It’s worth giving a few a go just so you can see what they suggest, worst that could happen is they have you down as a born Lion Tamer, doesn’t mean you have to take that as the final answer!
- Ask a HR Expert / Recruitment Agency
Ultimately, these are the people who do the hiring and firing in any company, so it would make sense for them to know which careers might be a good fit for your current skill set. They may be able to advise of how to improve and change your CV too so that you are more appealing for the new career you decide upon. So, get in touch and ask those important questions!
- Research Careers on the Internet
This suggestion may seem like a no brainer, but with the internet being so vast, what would you even start to look for?! Which is why we have made it tip number 4, if you have been following our list, you should by now be starting to form a quite clear idea on a few careers that really appeal to you and you want to know more about. Use the internet to give you a more detailed insight into what the careers on your shortlist would involve on a day to day basis. You can use websites like Glassdoor.com which will give you an overall view of potential careers with potential companies.
- Reconnect with your Inner Self
Now it’s all well and good having a shortlist of potential careers for you to look into trying out or taking on, but is there really any point if the career doesn’t excite you? The whole point of a career is it’s something for your working life, or for a good few years of it. It’s not just another job to help you pay your bills, it’s the reason you have a beaming smile on your face Monday to Friday, the reason you love what you do and you have a passion for working. So, if your inner self is not excited by figures and sums, there’s not really much point in you looking into doing Accountancy, no matter how attractive the pay packet and perks are. You have to have a passion for what you’re going to do.
- Consider a more out of the Box Career
The world of work has changed a lot, there are opportunities and careers in areas and fields that never existed 30 or 40 years ago. Careers you had to choose from when you were at school and choosing your GCSEs or A-Levels are still there, but they aren’t the be all and end all of the career options! Now you can investigate having a career in Coaching, Counselling,
Hospitality Management or even being a Private Detective!
- Make a list of Options
Again, you have to be a little bit practical when it comes to making a decision about a career change. Flipping a coin or randomly picking one out of a hat is not going to do the trick with this one. You need to be a little pragmatic and organised. So, get your shortlist of potential careers and start a ‘Pros and Cons’, so for example, if you were considering being a Lion Tamer (again), a Pro would be ‘Never a dull moment’ a Con would be ‘High chance of being bitten by a lion’.
- Network for Opportunities
If you haven’t heard of LinkedIn, get yourself onto Google and get reading! LinkedIn is like Facebook for careers, networking and finding opportunities. It’s all about you as the professional, so not the kind of social website you would be linked to your Grandma on or be sharing photos of cats in hats, it’s more about sharing your achievements, insights into training courses you have attended. It really is a wealth of information.
- Try an Internship / Apprenticeship
This one can prove tricky if you have bills to pay and children depending on you to cover school fees and holidays. But there are a lot of opportunities out there if you can work out a budget to allow you to either take a pay cut and start in an entry level job or even work for free within a company to get the experience you need for your new career. This really is a great way to not only find a career but also test drive it before fully committing.
- Make a career plan
OK, so like all good things, changing or finding a new career isn’t always going to be an overnight thing. You are going to have to make a plan, where possible based on a timeline, with strategic points and events noted. Then you use this plan as your motivation and drive to get you from your current place to your new career.