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Feature Article

7 Mistakes to Avoid When Making a Career Change

1. Changing careers without a plan
Too often people dive into a career change without first planning how they will get from their current situation to where they want to be. A valid career change plan includes an honest assessment of all of the assets you can currently offer an employer, all of the assets that will be required to competitively market yourself in your new field of work and an achievable plan to fill in any gaps in what employers in your new field require and what you can currently offer.

2. Failing to thoroughly research your new career
There are many different facets of a career that come together to make a job wither your dream job that you look forward to each day, or complete drudgery that you drag yourself to each day. If you haven't thoroughly researched the work requirements, labor market outlook, long term growth potential, typical wages and day to day work related tasks of a new career, you really don't know enough about the career to make an informed decision about whether it will suit your needs.

3. Using research from unreliable or biased sources
When you embark on a career change, you can often find plenty of people ready to help you with your decision. Some of those people, however, have biases and motives that have very little to do with your best interests. The most common source of this type of biased career advice can come from staff at schools that offer retraining. Their immediate motivation is to fill their classes and get your tuition dollars and not necessarily to ensure you find a great job when you finish their courses.

Before you accept career advice from anyone, ask yourself whether they have any kind of bias that might make them inclined to give you unreliable advice. Take their input with a grain of salt, and look for more unbiased sources to confirm the information you have been given.

4. Accepting the first job opportunity the comes along
Considering the enormous impact your career has on your lifestyle, it is amazing how many people simply accept the first career opportunity that comes their way. Career choice is simply a matter of chance for so many people. If you truly want to build a career that meets your needs, it may mean walking away from some opportunities that are not such a good fit for you.

5. Only thinking about money
Often people feel they have thoroughly researched a potential new career, but when you ask them for details about that career, all they can provide are the average starting wages in the industry. While earning a paycheck is a big reason why most people go off to work each day, there are several other factors that make going off to work enjoyable and that make you a good fit for the job. Don't limit yourself to salary information when you are researching career opportunities.

6. Failing to make yourself marketable
In order to successfully make a career change, you'll need to have the skills and experience that make you competitive and marketable. while people from all areas do this, I have seen this mistake most often with clients who want to become administrative assistants (a field that has declined over several years due to technology and, therefore, is highly competitive).

Employers demand administrative assistants with a high level of technical (computer) skills. If you lack these skills and hope you'll find a job that involves nothing more than filing, you'll be hard pressed to make a successful career change into this field.

In order to make a successful career change into any line of work, you must take a very honest look at the skills that you have as they compare with the skills that employers require. If you are not willing or able to attain all of the skills you need, then you'd be wise to re-think your career choice or risk facing a very long and difficult job search.

7. Discounting the value of your past work experience
If you are making a career change, there is probably something about your current career that no longer meets your needs. Keep in mind, though, that some facets of your current career may still be a very good fit for your needs. You may not have to throw away everything you've build up over the years in order to launch a new, more satisfying career.

Take a look at your current job. What is it about your work that you still enjoy? These positive attributes of your current career can be a good starting point when making decisions about your career change.