If recent events have caused you to take stock about your career or you know you want to move into a new career but you don’t know where to start know that you are now alone. My clients come to me knowing that they don’t want to stay where they are but don’t know how to find the answer of what next, what are the options and how to get there.
On top of which I am seeing lots of post on Facebook groups where people are being made redundant or looking to find a new career due to lack of support of flexibility in their current role but don’t know where to start.
Here are my 5 tops ways to help to find inspiration for a new career:
1. Start where you are:
What do I mean by this? What do you know? What skills, knowledge and experience do you have (don’t just keep this to work related – think about everything). Look at each one and see what is actually unique to what you do now and what is transferable (hint: there’s probably a lot more of what you do or know that you can take elsewhere than you realise!). If you are not sure how to work out which of it is transferable think about the behaviour, actions and skills and try to describe it without jargon. That reminds me of a great post I saw on Facebook a short while back where someone asked each person to describe what they do as if they were telling a child. It helps to put it in a different context.
2. Get curious:
Have an open mind and look at roles other people are doing. Scroll through your LinkedIn connections and see what they do. Chat with some where the job title intrigues you but you are not entirely sure what they do. You never know what ideas may come up for you to pursue or what roles your connections may know of that may be of interest to you. On top of which you are increasing your connection with them.
3. Know yourself:
What are your likes, dislikes, wants, needs, negotiables and non-negotiables. Don’t just think about the job spec. Do you want to work in an office, do you want some flexibility, are you willing to travel nationally or internationally for work? What type of team do you want to work with, what type of manager do you work well with. What’s important to you? All of these factors help to build up the picture.
4. Do you know what your values are?
What do I mean by this? They are your often unconscious but especially important internal barometers that link in with what motivates and fulfils us. Understanding your values is very helpful in understanding what motivates and fulfils you. Ensuring that what you do as a career, who you work with and who you work for connects with your values ensures that will be happy and fulfilled at work. This is one of the exercises I get my clients to do as part of my Career Change Coaching Programme.
5. Don’t view this as ‘forever’.
Think about it as looking at the next 5 years – do you remember when you were 16/18 trying to decide what you wanted to do for a career and how overwhelming it felt to come up with ideas for what you were going to do for the next 50 years (as no-one said you could change your mind!). So how about thinking about what you would like to do for the next 5 years and then build on that as you go?
More support:
If you would like more support in choosing your new career, download my free “Changing My Career Journal” which is full of more insightful questions to help you get closer to your dream career.
The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this blog. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this blog. Claire Bolsover disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this blog.