Co-Founder of Early Stage Careers, providing tailored career guidance solely to college students, recent grads, 20-somethings to get hired.
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Whether you are still in college or already graduated, choosing the best field for your skill set can be challenging. Who you were at 17 or 18, in terms of determining your career path, may not align with who you are now at 20-something years old. Maybe you realized after declaring a major that your chosen field doesn’t align with who you are. Maybe you committed to a job in your chosen field, but it doesn’t seem to be what you imagined.
Now is the time to decide whether you will let your current career path shape who you are or if you will shape your career and job around who you know yourself to be. With the helpful tips and tricks below, you can assess whether you are ready for something new, to make a career change or to make the most out of your current professional situation.
Consider a career assessment.
Career quizzes and career assessments are helpful tools to find career paths that align with your thinking styles, behaviors and interests. If you recognize that you are feeling mostly negative about your day-to-day tasks, feeling envious of peers' roles or considering graduate school in a new field, these tools can help you decide how to change careers. Career assessments used by Fortune 1000 companies today are what we use as the starting point to help college grads and young professionals seeking to make a career change.
Are you feeling constantly behind on discovering the next step in your career journey? Do you feel pressure to have everything figured out before or right after graduation? Analyze the pros and cons of your results and recognize if your responses are an indication of a career change. If you find yourself relating to these questions, it’s important to stay positive and foresee there is going to be a favorable change in your future if you set your mind to it.
Transform your current job into your dream role.
Maybe you’re not completely ready to make a career change and find yourself asking, "Should I change jobs?" Instead, you may want to make the years of education you completed apply to a career and job you find worthy that can also satisfy your lifestyle needs.
A good first step is adding external work sources that could potentially tie into your current role. Examples include local organizations and clubs that relate to your current position where you may have the opportunity to grow your skill set. This is a productive way to test the waters and try out new things without the possible overwhelming feeling of too many obligations in the workplace. Not only will this allow you to grow your skill set, but it will also give you the opportunity to rapidly expand your network.
With new connections, you can organize informational interviews to build your understanding of other roles within your desired field. Additionally, this will help you continuously build your professional portfolio and prepare you for your next opportunity.
Take the leap to make the career change.
If you know you desire something different from your current field and role, and have lost passion for your day-to-day tasks, it might be time for a career change. However, it is important to be patient and recognize that a career change does not happen right away. Changing career paths takes time, and you want to make sure you are fully prepared for the next opportunity.
Prepare yourself by determining which role is right for you, and build your skill set based on requirements in that field. Use online resources, peers, mentors and social media networking platforms to connect and learn from individuals who hold positions you desire.
If your desired field is completely different from your degree, consider additional training to obtain certificates that can help you compete and stand out from other candidates. It is also an advantage if you can find some overlap between fields to express why you wanted to make the career change, thus building your story for your career change.
Consider additional help.
Finding unbiased resources—including peers, network connections or career coaches—to hold you accountable during your progress is a great way to stay on track. Be sure they are very focused on, and relevant to, your specific career stage. These resources can help you recognize your strengths and gaps where you can improve. By leveraging an objective accountability partner, you can feel at ease when tackling career obstacles.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with hundreds of career options, but with the right help, you can feel confident jumping into a job search for that next right-fit career opportunity. Whether you want to stay in your comfort zone and degree of study or expand your professional horizons, you can feel optimistic with a career change and path that align with your needs and styles, which can lead you to your next career opportunity.
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