How To Brand Yourself For A Career Change

• 2-minute read •
Job-seekers worry about their branding, but the folks who worry about it the most are people who are trying to change careers.
They wonder whether hiring managers will consider them for open positions when their resumes don't seem to show any relevant experience in their pasts.
Here are some of the branding questions that keep career-changers up at night:
• "I'm accomplished and credible in my traditional field, but there are no jobs in that field anymore. That's why I'm changing careers -- but why would a hiring manager choose me over somebody who's already worked in their function and industry?"

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How to answer the question 'Why do you want to change jobs?'

It’s not an invitation for you bash your current job. In fact, it’s just the opposite.
It’s always important to be honest in a job interview, but no question will cause you to stretch the truth as much as this one:

“Why do you want to change jobs?”

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What Should I Say As The Reason For Job Change?

It is helpful to first do a SWOT of yourself so that you know which are the areas in your personality and experience that you can capitalize upon. Then seek a job which offers you an opportunity to build on those areas further so that you bring a lot of value to the table.

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How You Can Confidently Make a Career Shift 10 questions to ask yourself before making a change

So, you’ve been thinking about changing your line of work?

Don’t worry; you’re not alone. In fact, more and more people are following this previously unpopular career path. In fact, it’s becoming much more common for men and women, especially those in their 30s and 40s to do just that.

Tragic world events have also contributed to this new phenomenon—people are reconsidering work/life balance issues, their legacy, and how they want to be contributing to this world in the here and now. Doctors, interested in work/life balance and greater safety, are nurturing their artistic interests. Corporate employees, desiring greater independence, are swapping suits for bathrobes and starting up home-based businesses.

You can change your line of work AND be successful
If you do your research and plan well, you’ll be able to make a confident, well-informed decision about making a career change. Knowing the answers to the following 10 questions will provide you with the information, motivation and confidence to move forward and choose the right new line of work for you.

1. What are your skills and competencies?
Make a list of your general (e.g. management, organization) and technical skills (e.g. specific software skills, other industry-specific skills). Don’t stop until you’ve exhausted your list. Refer to online career development sites for help.

2. Which of your skills are transferable?
Note where you are strong, average, and/or weak. Also note your preferred skill set—which responsibilities do you enjoy.

3. What key competencies are required to be successful in your new field of interest?
Talk to others in the line of work you wish to pursue—ask them to list the key competencies that enable them to be successful. Match these against your list.

4. How many of these key competencies do you currently have?
Are they your strongest skills? Where are the gaps?

5. If there are skills you don’t have, ask how you might build them.

6. Would school or a certificate program support you in making the transition?
If so, can you/do you want to pursue this option?

7. What would making the change entail?
Would there be a temporary setback in pay? If so, can you live with the temporary adjustments?

8. What are the costs/benefits of staying right where you are now?
Have you carefully considered and weighed the positives/negatives of your current situation? Determine whether or not the negatives can be improved by a change in environment. Or, do the negatives revolve around the work and a conflict with your interests?

9. What are the cost/benefits of making a change?

10. Which is more appealing to you?
Once you’ve weighed the positives and negatives to both options, what have you found?

Once you know the answers to these questions, a clear choice should emerge, and you should be armed with key information to help you find work in your new field. Having a list of your strengths and transferable skills, and a clear understanding of how this new field better fits with your lifestyle, interests, etc. can also help you present yourself in a compelling way to a prospective employer or business partner.

Moving ahead
If the benefits clearly outweigh the costs, or, if you’re completely adamant about making the change, then carry a list of the benefits/reasons why you want to make the change in your back pocket. Anytime a “doubting Thomas” thought pops up, squash it by reading the list aloud.

Still sounds good? Then keep going—you will achieve your goal!

Career Change Advice

Are you struggling in your current job? Have you looked for career change advice in all the traditional places - career counselors, business magazines, trade journals and are still stuck in a job you hate? Below is an easy process to get you moving forward.

How Unhappy are You on a Scale of 1-10?

Most people need to encounter significant dissatisfaction and pain in order to step outside of their comfort zone and make changes. What is your level of satisfaction? On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being "I can barely get out of bed in the morning" and 10 being "I would do this work for free", what is your level of satisfaction with your current work situation?

Do I Hate the Work Itself?

If you are doing your right work, you will get energy from your work. Helping people break free from the corporate world gives me energy. I get off our Fearless Action Group calls with more energy than when I started the call. I know I have found my right work.

To choose work that is aligned with your true nature and calling, you must know who you are. This includes an honest evaluation of your skills and aptitude. What work do you perform naturally and effortlessly? Also, you must know what you value and what your life purpose is.

If your work is in alignment with your natural abilities, values, and purpose but you are still not happy, then you need to look at your work environment.

Do I Hate the Corporate World?

Many of my clients are unhappy in their current jobs because they don't fit into the corporate world. Every company has a unique corporate culture. You may enjoy your work and find it gives you lots of energy, but you are not thriving in your current company.

I help my clients to diagnose their company culture and determine whether or not they fit into this culture. Corporate culture is a powerful and invisible force. The more that you understand how culture influences you and those around you, the better you will be at making informed decisions about your career.

Are you better suited to work on your own or to build a company with an un-corporate culture?

If your current level of dissatisfaction is high and you hate the work you do, then start paying attention to what you enjoy doing. Don't think, "I could never make money doing this". You will be surprised to learn what is possible with the right intentions. If you love your work but hate the corporate world, then put together a plan to build your own business.

Changing careers takes courage, inspiration, and a solid plan. Life is too short to waste it doing work you hate.

How to Change Career Horses in Mid-Stream

You’ll get wet but the reward just might be a more fulfilling ride!

In Survival is Not Enough, author Seth Godin says change is the "new normal.” Rather than thinking of work as a series of stable times interrupted by moments of change, Godin says we “must now recognize work as constant change, with only occasional moments of stability."

For many of us this very thought stirs both a nervous anxiety and an enjoyable excitement. Even if we are fearful, we crave change: the opportunity to try something new, to build on what we know, to stretch our professional muscles.

So how do we deal with the fear, change that career horse in mid-stream and move down the career exploration path on a new stallion?

First we have to acknowledge our fears. They may not be rational even to us but we are not seeking our rational thoughts. We are in search of those underlying fears that operate whether or not we are fully aware of them.

Try this…take out a piece of paper and write down all the reasons you can’t or won’t make a career change or job move. Don’t hold back. What are your fears, concerns, reservations etc? Are they related to a loss of income or the expectations of others? Fear of failure? Success? Don’t get caught up in how you should feel or that you know a concern is not entirely valid. Just write them down. Think of yourself as a researcher looking for information in a non-judgmental way. We are simply observing ourselves, reserving our conclusions for later.

As you study your list you can easily see that underlying most of our fears is your reluctance to trust your ability to be capable, creative, and resourceful. But a close examination of your track record will reveal that this lack of trust is unfounded. After all, haven’t you accomplished many professional and personal goals? Haven’t your setbacks lead to a renewed determination? To an enriched experience? To a more well rounded professional outlook?

Now take a look at that list again. Read each fear or concern slowly and ask yourself, where am I in all or nothing, always or never, black or white thinking? Are your thoughts fraught with extreme terms like… If I change jobs I’ll be broke. If I take less money my family will hate me. If I change careers my parents will go berserk. If I pursue a new career my education and experience will be for nothing. If I make the wrong choice I’ll never recover.

Are these statements really true? Can you know for a fact that if you make a professional move something terrible will happen? While your worst fears could happen, how likely are they to occur if you trust your record of resourcefulness and creatively? You may have heard that FEAR is an acronym for False Expectations Appearing Real. Our fears are generally rooted in the perspective that the worst will definitely happen. After all if we really understand the true odds we would move forward with far less anxiety.

In short, coach yourself to be honest about your irrational thoughts. Name your fears. Review them and look for the misconceptions in them. Where are you in an all or nothing perspective? Don’t judge yourself for having irrational thoughts. Acknowledge them when they happen and remind your self that such thoughts only trip us up when we pretend we don’t have them!

Once we become aware of our fears we become more agile and willing to cross the proverbial stream with a new horse. The following seven steps will keep you astride that lively and spirited career steed even when things are bumpy and unpredictable.

1. Money isn’t everything. Don’t expect to take a pay cut, especially if you have transferable skills. But, if you do accept a lower salary, make sure it’s a fair exchange for a more rewarding career. Be careful here. Sometimes we get caught up in how it will look to others if we take a pay cut and what does that say about us? Remember only you can assess whether a pay cut is worth it.

2. Know your passion. When you're true to your mission, you experience peace and stability. When you ignore the truth, you experience disharmony, indecision and doubt. Work at achieving goals that are compatible with your passion. Trust that your resourcefulness and creativity will make things happen.

3. It’s your life. Close friends and family members may have trouble envisioning you in a different career. Expand your network; make an effort to meet new people. Attend professional events, join an industry association or meet other job seekers online. Remember, what do you want? If you know that answer, your personal power will help you achieve your goals.

4. Jump often. Risk taking gets easier with practice. Start with small risks in daily activities. Think of a risk you would like to take. What would you gain from taking it? What's frightening about it? What's the worst thing that could happen if it turned out badly? If the worst happened, what would you do? What could you do to minimize this? What information would make this less risky? If you broke the risk into small steps, what would the first step be? When could you take it?

5. Get creative. Become involved in activities, relationships, hobbies, and spiritual/community activities. With this new focus you may even discover you’re enjoying that unsatisfying job now that you have a more balanced perspective.

6. Don’t give up. The career path is not linear – it’s more like a spiral. On average, it takes four years to change careers, according to Herminia Ibarra, the author of Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career. It’s a process of trial and error – you will likely face a few disappointments and failures.

7. Be a cheerleader. As you go through a career transition, enthusiasm can help you meet the challenges and overcome the obstacles. When you're networking or job hunting, your enthusiasm can often overcome the reservations potential employers may have about your career change.

Follow Your Bliss...Or, Safe, Smart Career Change?

Hello Fellow Seekers!

I don’t know about you… but I’m pretty tired of hearing about how you can “follow your dream” in three or four easy steps. I’ve seen plenty of people leap before they sufficiently looked --and end up dissatisfied or broke, or both. I’ve also had clients come to me after reading a hot, new book or attending a workshop. And they still can’t figure out what it is they want to do for a living.

Of course not! You can’t think your way to a new career – or, at least you can’t 99% of the time.

The truth is that career change is no walk in the park. It takes focus, a smart strategy and guts.

Focus

Anyone can start their career change effort with vigor. But keeping your fires burning for the duration of your journey is another story. Given the roadblocks and the absence of any hard deadlines, it’s just the kind of “priority” that can fall through the cracks of your busy life.

The key is to create an environment of accountability. Here are four ways to do this:

1. Schedule your career change activities into your weekly calendar. As Steven Covey would say, make it a “big rock” priority.
2. Register for a class or workshop that keeps you engaged and focused for an extended period of time.
3. Career change can’t be done in a vacuum. Work with a mentor or coach who has a good business head and market perspective.
4. Know exactly what you hope to gain from your career change. A clear and compelling personal benefit is your secret weapon to hanging in there for the duration of your journey.

A Smart Strategy

The old adage “look before you leap” is perfect advice for prospective career-changers. Keep your day job and let your paycheck enable you to take all the time you need to discover new work options and test them out. Once you are clear that a particular path is right for you – craft a good plan to get there. At a minimum, your plan will include new training requirements and timing, building a new network, and a communications strategy for leaving your current employer.

Guts

Successful career-changers know two things: First, how critical the courage factor is to their ultimate success; and, second, that it’s not possible to feel courageous 100% of the time. By its very nature, the career-change journey is a wiggly road. When your courage is on the wane, try these approaches:

1. Don’t confuse uncertainty with disaster. Avoid the mental “drama” that takes you to the worst possible outcome. These projections are not your present reality.
2. Focus on your gifts and talents. Acknowledge yourself – deeply, and at the feeling level -- for the experience and skills you have gained. Write them down as a reminder of your abundance.
3. Trust in Divine Presence. As long as you continue to pursue your career change smartly, and take solid, active steps (i.e., do your part!), providence will support you as well.

Finally, remember that we are indeed, a ‘free agent’ nation. Safe, smart career change is possible and thousands of people just like you have successfully re-invented their working lives. Without question, you can, too.

May you thrive in work -- and life!

How to Shift Gears, Change Careers, and Become a Yoga Teacher

Do you enjoy practicing Yoga? Does teaching Yoga seem like your ultimate dream job? Does the thought of becoming a Yoga teacher feel like a “calling from within?” How would you pay your bills teaching Yoga? If your life mission is becoming a Yoga teacher; let’s look at a few practical solutions to your obstacles.

If you feel like a “fish in water” during a Yoga class you are not alone. However, when teaching Yoga becomes your own long-held aspiration, your spirit will not be fulfilled in the “daily grind.” You begin to feel frustrated in commuter traffic, and during office hours, when your dream job of teaching Yoga seems out of reach. So what do you do next - if you really want to become a Yoga teacher?

Apparently, you are focused on your goal, so you are far ahead of the majority of people who do not have a clue about what they really want. Here is a formula, and sequence of events, for you to consider: Focus, action, plan, envision, pace yourself, and goal realization.

Focus: It seems like you already are focused on becoming a Yoga teacher, but you should do some research on what teaching Yoga is really like. The types of Yoga teacher training courses will vary, according to style, hours required, on-site training, or correspondence course. Also, the preparation for a 90-minute Yoga class is something the average Yoga student is unaware of.

Action: Most of the world’s population never gets to this point. Most people fall into a “rut” and never take any action to move forward. This requires even more research about what you plan to do, how you plan to teach Yoga, and who you plan to teach Yoga to.

Plan: Write your goals down and only share them with people you can trust. Look at your goal of becoming a Yoga teacher as often as possible. Write down the exact chain of events required for you to become a Yoga teacher.

Envision: Visualization is important in reaching any goal. When you practice meditation, you should see, feel, hear, and possibly smell, what your new career of teaching Yoga will be like.

Pace Yourself: There is a saying, “Rome was not built in a day.” If you try to get to your goal of teaching Yoga too quickly, you will “burn out” along the way. Life is a journey, not a race; “stop and smell the flowers” along the way.

Goal Realization: Once you become a Yoga teacher, do not “rest on your laurels.” Continuing education will be an important and valuable part of your life. A Yoga teacher is a student of healthy living for life.

10 Tips on Making a Successful Career Change

Are you looking for more than just a better job? Are you looking for a more rewarding profession, one that better aligns with your skills, interests, values, and plans for the future? If so, be prepared to face a lot of reflection and planning.

It's important to take a serious look at the many possibilities and outcomes before you jump into a new career or field. Consider these 10 tips as you make a transition from your present career to your next:

1. Have a clear plan. The smartest move that you can make is to carefully map out an effective career-change strategy. This should include a detailed action plan that takes into consideration finances, research, education, and training. Keep in mind that a successful career change can take several months or longer to accomplish, so patience is key.

2. Wait for the right time. The best time to consider a new career is when you are safely ensconced in your existing position. It goes without saying that a steady paycheck can relieve a lot of pressure. There are many ways to take steps toward your new career path; you can volunteer or offer yourself as a freelancer or consultant. This can help you to "test the waters" in your desired new field.

3. Be sure of your reasons. Just because you're unhappy in your current job isn't a strong enough reason to make a total career break. Carefully analyze whether it is your actual career you dislike or whether your employer, supervisor, or office situation is the problem.

4. Do your research. Be sure to examine all possibilities before attempting a career jump. Talk to people in your network; read career and job profiles; meet with a career management professional. The more information with which you arm yourself beforehand, the more successful you will be.

5. Decide what's important. This is the best time for thoughtful self-reflection. Ask yourself what it is you really want to do with the rest of your life. Take an honest inventory of your likes and dislikes, and evaluate your skills, values, and personal interests. Many people who are looking to change careers do so to find a balance between their personal and professional lives, to accomplish the right mix of meaning and money. You may want to consider consulting a career coach and/or taking a career assessment test.

6. Examine your qualifications. Do you have the necessary experience and education to be considered a qualified candidate in your desired career field? If not, you need to find a way to bridge the credentials gap. This might mean making your goal more long-term while you go back to school or receive additional training.

7. Learn about the industry. Get a feel for the field that interests you. Read industry journals, attend conferences, and talk to people in the profession about what they do. Learn whether your target industry has growth potential. Trade magazines, organizations, and entrepreneurs have created a slew of Web sites that offer searchable databases where job openings in many specific industries are listed. Start looking at these sites on a regular basis.

8. Develop your network. Begin nurturing professional friendships early and tend them regularly. Professional organizations and job industry trade associations are a good place to start. Many of them hold networking events and job fairs.

9. Update your job search skills. It is especially important to polish up your job-hunting skills and techniques before you get out there and start networking. Make sure you are using your time and resources as effectively as possible.

10. Pay your dues. Don't expect to begin at the same level of seniority in your new career that you held in your old one. It will take time to move up the ranks, but if you find a new career that you absolutely love, it will be worth it.

The Discovery Cycle - A Model for Career Development/Change

To a large extent, moving forward in your career and life is about learning from your experiences and overcoming the obstacles so you can strive to create the future you want.

The good news is you can learn these skills. One model you can use is called the Discovery Cycle, an assessment tool created by Dreamsheet. It is based on the premise that human beings must go through a personal learning or discovery process to create the future they want.

There are four distinct steps in this process of discovery:

Step 1: Projecting a Vision

It is often best to start this process with a description of the future you want to create -- something you can picture, like a movie projected on a screen. It should be very meaningful to you and become a source of energy and commitment. Even if you aren't sure what you really want, making your best guess enables you to begin exploring it more. Refining that vision over time is how you can create the future you really want. Without a stake in the ground, you will never get closer to your vision.

Step 2: Taking Action

Executing a plan is how you can move closer to turning your vision into reality. Like an actor in a movie, it is turning a good script into a great performance. Executing a plan is all about taking specific, concrete steps toward your vision. Good plans are realistic, specific and always focused on moving forward. Since visions are usually longer term and can seem almost too big to achieve, executing a plan lets you break a long journey into shorter trips.

Step 3: Experiencing Results

Evaluating results is how you get feedback from the world around you, so you know how close you are to achieving your vision. It's the feeling actors get when the audience applauds or the critics pan their performance. Evaluating results is sifting through this sea of sensory input to find evidence that your actions are working. Being as objective as possible is important, since even bad news can offer tremendous learning and insight.

Step 4: Reflecting on Lessons

This is sometimes the most difficult and essential part of the Discovery Cycle. It can turn bad news into great insights -- about the world and about yourself. The truth is, as long as you are willing to learn, you can create the future you want. The more clearly you see yourself and the world around you, the sooner you will realize your vision. In fact, the lessons you learn will help you clarify your vision and make it stronger.

You may already do these things to some extent, but most of us are hardwired on one side or another. Ideally, your Discovery Cycle should be balanced. Like the tires on your car, the more balanced and fully inflated your cycle, the smoother the ride and the more likely you'll get to where you really want to go.

Turning a Love of the Arts into a New Career - Career Change Profile: Brian Johnson

When Brian Johnson tired of his job at a small financial advisory firm in Madison, Wisconsin, he wanted to make the transition into a career closer to his passions.

“I knew I wanted something different, something more,” Johnson says. “After four years doing something I was good at but wasn’t crazy about, I knew it was time to find something I could really put my heart into.”

Johnson always loved the arts. At the University of Oklahoma, he received a bachelor of music, focusing on percussion performance. And while living in Madison, Johnson spent his free time as a freelance musician as well as music arranger and instructor for the Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps.

Starting the Search

After taking some time off to go to Thailand, Johnson returned to Wisconsin and scaled back to working part-time while he thought his career through. He worked on construction projects at his late father-in-law’s house, apprenticing under his wife’s grandfather -- it was a perfect forum for self-reflection. As Johnson trimmed and nail-gunned Sheetrock, he asked himself over and over again: What do I want to do next?

A friend referred him to an occupational psychologist, who gave Johnson tests to find out what jobs appealed to him most. The psychologist helped Johnson understand he was searching for a career that could fuel and coexist with his happiness.

“I was going about it the wrong way,” Johnson says. “All along, I was focused on finding a position where I could maximize my talents and have a big impact, but after talking with him, I realized that what was more important was to find an organization whose vision I agreed with; something in the arts.”

Networking Turns into a Job Opportunity

As Johnson set out researching potential professions by thumbing through headings in the Yellow Pages, a friend on the board of the nonprofit Madison Ballet mentioned the group needed a new business manager. Johnson was intrigued and applied. He got an interview.

“As I started talking to these people, I realized that while the ballet wasn’t music, it was still very much the arts, which meant it was a way to facilitate creativity in young people while teaching them about life,” Johnson says. “The arts are laden with educational opportunities in a way that not much else is.”

After a series of interviews, the ballet board offered Johnson the job. He quickly was promoted to executive director, a position from which he orchestrated tremendous growth. Under his leadership, the group amassed hundreds of new members, dozens of new dancers and launched a number of new programs. During Johnson's tenure, the ballet was also the recipient of a $210 million gift for a new performing arts center: The Overture Center for the Arts.

Johnson left the ballet for a job with a high tech startup in January 2008 but says his time at the Madison Ballet was one of the most fulfilling professional experiences of his life. “Every day, we were helping these young artists learn about ballet and about life,” he remembers. “To me, there’s no greater calling than that.”

Four Ways to Follow Your Own Passion

Here are Johnson’s top four tactical suggestions for changing careers and following your own passion:

• View Job Hunting as a Job: “You should take finding a job as seriously as a job itself,” Johnson says. “Commit to the process of working on the resume, networking and finding job postings. Spend at least five to 10 hours a week. If you’re really trying to hit a home run with your next job, it’s not enough to wait for a new career to fall in your lap. You have to get out there and find it.”
  
  
• Get Impartial Advice: “Your family will always encourage you, but talk with people who are not vested in your career outcome,” Johnson advises. “Personally, I recommend an occupational psychologist or mentors. You want to find someone who is objective to help you dissect the issues and help you figure out what it is you’re truly passionate about.”
  
  
• Focus on Your Resume: “The resume is a standardized tool for the employment process, and it behooves you to spend the time to get it right,” Johnson says. “Read sample resumes, and pay close attention to the phrasing, words and verbiage. Ultimately, your job comes down to how well you can market yourself, and you may need to extend your vocabulary beyond where it is now.”
  
  
• Build Your Network: Since a friend’s recommendation landed him his job at the ballet, Johnson is up on networking. “Joining service clubs such as Rotary International, the Lions Club and Kiwanis is a good way to network and find new opportunities,” he says. “In these groups, you will create relationships that are deeper than they would be in a traditional employee-employer situation. In the end, the relationships can only help you follow your passion.”