Career change

Making a career switch

You may now be in your first graduate job or the one after that. Sometimes, of course, these jobs are limited by way of short-term contracts. There can be other limitations as well to do with lack of medium-term prospects and when all is said and done, a lack of satisfaction. Is the job you have not a job you love?

Reasons why you might want to change jobs

Perhaps you just needed work and you were glad to get a job in what has been an extremely competitive graduate labour market. But has it outgrown its usefulness?

Work cultures can change as well, sometimes very quickly depending on who takes over higher up roles. An ethos or working culture can change for the worse. What attracted you to the job and the organisation may no longer exist. It may also be the case that you feel that managers will just not support your professional development.

Over and above all else, a good aim to have is to find that job which you will love. It will capitalise on your strengths so much that it is something you will just enjoy doing.

Also remember though that it is always easier to find the right next job if you are currently employed.

Managing a career switch

Are you thinking about changing job or changing career?

Changing job is sometimes about finding an alternative employer who will enable you to utilise your existing skill set better and in a more supportive work culture.

Changing direction is more challenging: which route to take and then how to adapt your self-marketing to the new organisations you’ll find along it. You will want to reflect the recruiters’ language in your CV and cover letter.

What can you do?

Look for resources and a structure for self-reflection and making career comparisons. This will help and also to contact friends and colleagues for ideas and feedback. A new career often involves new thinking, new learning and even a new phase of preparation. The job profiles on Prospects are excellent at outlining what you need to succeed.

But it is about you and what energises and motivates you. What are your strengths – things you love doing which you and other people know and observe are strengths of yours? Also, what are your skills? These are learned competencies some of which you’ve probably been using in the job you wish to move on from. Are there skills you have which you’d like to utilise but have not had the opportunity to?

To manage your switch, you need to take account of and work with key factors such as your own interests and motivations, and you then need to build a step-by-step plan to implement. As you initiate that plan, you move on from reflection and analysis to action.

Your step-by-step plan should bring in different strategies which will move you forward to your new career goal. The main ones are networking with existing and new contacts; vacancy search but with the right, often bespoke sites; speculatively reaching out to possible hirers; and use of recruitment agencies – again the sector-specific ones that fit with your goal. Agency Central has information on agencies working to recruit into different sectors.