19 Dec Obstacles to Career Change

The end of the year is always a good time to think about the whole year, what we have liked and what we haven’t, what we do like and what we would like to be different. Our career included. Some may wish to change it but may need some advice or a little push to move forward. Which are the obstacles to career change and how to overcome them?

• Find alternatives. Some people may want to change but they wouldn’t know another option, another company they would like to work for. So, do you want to make a change? Try to come up with at least 10 alternatives: you can’t? Doing some research may help. Maybe you simply don’t know the next organization of your dreams or maybe what you need is not another company. This exercise may reveal some of the most intimate desires.
• Try new things. Would you like to make a change, but you don’t know where to start from? Try new things. Attend a course – online or in presence – that interests you. Improve your knowledge and develop new skills. You may find out something you still don’t know about yourself.
• Enjoy groups you feel comfortable with. Hanging out with new people with open new horizons. Sticking to the usual limits our imagination. Think out of the box. Let others inspire and motivate you.
• Find your uniqueness. You would like to change career as it doesn’t satisfy you but you feel you are good at anything. Impossible, everyone has their own strengths. Think about your passions, your skills and your experiences, what do they have in common? Which experiences have satisfied you in your life? Which ones would you like to replicate? What are you good at? Find your uniqueness and make it a profession.
• Make your skills become relevant. You would like to change but you feel your skills are strictly connected to the single field you have been operating it for quite a few years now? You will be surprised to know that your skills may be transferred to a new field adding values and bringing a new perspective to a different field. Try to make a list and identify which ones are transferable and highlight them on your CV.
• Find you guidance. Some may count only on themselves, some others may feel they need a little more guidance. Do you follow some professionals and experts? Look at their resumes and get inspired to set up your path. Would you like to have a mentor instead? Find a professional coach that you like and ask for advice.
• Focus on your why. As Simon Sinek teaches us, focus on your why and not on your what. Why do you do what you do or why would you like to do something different? These answers will set your goals, and only once you have these clear, you can move to think about how you would like to achieve them and consequently by doing what. As he states, people don’t buy what you do but why you do it. So, what’s your why?

Yes, career change is hard. But we have many tools to become better at making transitions and the prize is usually worth it.

Gaia Urati