The Right Way to Jump into a Career Change - Hallie Crawford

The Right Way to Jump into a Career Change Here are 5 tips to make a  career change the right way! Avoid being unnecessarily dramatic When people are frustrated with their job, they often feel like they have to make a very dramatic change to feel better. Sometimes a change of company is the enough, or even a change in position at their existing company. Whatever makes you most happy is the perfect way to go. When you’re unhappy at work, your situation may be one of two things: it seems worse than it is and you’re just going through a rough patch or you may not have to make huge change in your career path. You may need more of a course correction. Carve out the time We are all busy, that’s not an excuse to put off your career transition. You must find the time in your busy schedule to devote to your career change. Look at your typical weekly schedule and figure out when you can find the time for your career process. Is it one evening a week after work for a few hours? Is it early Saturday morning before the kids get up? Do you want to use some of your lunch hour for time away from the office to go to a coffee shop with your computer and do some work? Find a way that works for you with no excuses! Create a specific space If you don’t have a dedicated space to work on your career change, you won’t remain as organized as you need to be and you won’t take the process as seriously. Setting aside a space for this is an important part of truly making a commitment to this work and this change for you.  It doesn’t have to be a huge amount of space.  It can be a few folders on your computer, a space on your desk where you keep your notes/journal, or even a vision board on your wall.   Get organized It’s imperative that you get very organized, and remain organized, throughout the entire career change process. This will help you so that you don’t get lost in the information you gather or lost in your networking efforts with others.  After you have set aside a specific space in your life for this work, devise a system to get organized with your material. Doing this up front will ensure greater success along the way,  and will prevent you from wasting time going back and re-doing research you’ve already performed because you didn’t keep good track of it.   Learn to love Microsoft Excel Many job seekers find that Microsoft Excel spreadsheets are an efficient way to manage and track their searches. You can create separate tabs for categories such as: Job ideas you’re considering. Relevant websites about those ideas. Networking contacts and groups. Job openings you have or plan to apply for. Recruiters and placement agencies you decide to work with. Elevator speeches you plan to use at networking events. Online job boards relevant to your search that you want to visit regularly to search for open positions.