Once upon a time, not only could a person not change his profession, the profession itself was literally passed down by inheritance, and if a person was born, for example, into a carpenter's family, then he was destined to become a carpenter, as were his children.
Today it is much easier. It is now quite possible to change professions during your life.
But still, this is a rather complex action and there are a lot of nuances here, because many professions require a lot of time for training and to obtain the necessary work skills.
For example, you won’t be able to become a good programmer, copywriter or marketer in six months.
These professions, like many others, require a lot of time to master.
But still, if you decide to change your profession, how to do it correctly?
Understand the reason why you want change
If everything is great at your current job, then you are unlikely to want to make any radical changes to your life.
Before you take any specific action, first determine what you want. Here are the most common reasons why people change their profession:
- Transition to higher wages.
- More comfortable working conditions.
- Best personal achievement.
- The desire to learn something new, or, alternatively, to test your abilities.
- More flexibility.
Explore the market for a new profession
If you have decided that you really want to change careers, it is important to understand how this new market works. Your research should be related to the problem you want to solve.
Imagine that you want to change your profession to a higher-paying one, and then, after spending significant time, effort and money, you suddenly discover that this new field does not pay as well.
This is especially true because there are a lot of advertisements for courses now, which often “slightly exaggerate” the size of future salaries.
Go to any job posting site, see what employers offer and what they require. Also look at blogs with representatives of the profession you need.
And best of all, find a friend who already works in the specialty you need and ask him thoroughly about everything.
Identify your professional inclinations
Some careers may be too challenging for you. For example, if you're a strong introvert, going into sales, where you'll be in face-to-face contact with a lot of people, may not be the best option.
And similarly, if you've spent your entire life working as a humanities scholar, for example, writing articles for a local newspaper, how comfortable would it be for you to transition to programming, which would require completely different skills?
Recognize your professional gaps and strive for knowledge
Most likely, when you go to a new profession, you will lack some knowledge. This means that you will need to replenish it and learn a lot of new things.
Be prepared to start all over again
After working in your profession for some time, you will occupy a certain position in your environment.
You will no longer be the same ordinary intern you were when you came straight out of college or university.
If you decide to change your profession, then most likely you will have to start from the very bottom again. And if you initially started at a young age, now you will have to become the youngest, even if by your physical age you are no longer so young.
Be prepared for a decrease in income
There is a lot of talk about high salaries of programmers now. Yes, their salaries are indeed somewhat higher. But it can take up to 5 years to reach this high salary. Before that, a programmer will earn significantly less.
It is quite possible that when you move to a new job, you will earn less than you are currently earning.
This means you should take a close look at your current expenses: how much you spend on your mortgage, how much your children's daycare costs, and your other expenses, so that there are no unpleasant surprises later.
Create a career transition plan
Don't suddenly drop everything, write a letter of resignation and go looking for a new job. First, make a clear transition plan and answer some questions:
- How long do you plan to make this transition? Will it be a short-term or a long-term process?
- Do you already have the knowledge and skills to enter the desired field or will you need to learn everything from scratch?
- How long will it take you to develop the necessary skills?
Create a financial nest egg
During the transition, you will have some expenses, such as tuition fees.
It will be good if you can combine your studies with your current job. But then you will still have to quit, because to get a new job, you will have to go through interviews. It is clear that during this time you will need something to live on. And this is where your savings will help you.
When determining the required size of a financial cushion, remember that unforeseen events can always occur, so determine the required size of necessary savings with some reserve.
And only now begin the direct transition to a new profession, begin learning a new profession and looking for a new job.
If you do all these steps correctly, you will not have any extra stress from unexpected situations. Moreover, when you start working in a new profession, you will not feel any extra disappointment from the fact that you went the wrong way.
Earlier I talked about how to manage a team effectively.
For reference
A profession is a type of work activity of a person, usually his source of existence is work for which a person receives income.
