People tend to choose and start the second career later in their life due to a number of reasons. Perhaps switching your career might be an alternate move for retirement. Most commonly, we encounter people selecting a second career due to the reason they aren’t satisfied with their current jobs and hope to find solace in a totally new field. Also because you might be too stressed to continue the job and have finally decided to hunt your passion. Regardless of the reason, switching career can be both a frightening and rewarding experience at the same time.
As for this blog, we are not going to talk about choosing a new career path, rather more about preparing for the transition period.
- Investment in further education and training
Your new career might have requirements for additional education, training, license, certifications, etc. There is a chance you’ll be asked to attend school again to acquire a new degree and equip your expertise with a new skillset. It is important to be thoroughly and authentically aware of all the mandatory prerequisites before you start throwing your resume for new job openings in the field.
- Pursue the required classes to make yourself the right fit before stepping into the new field. This will provide you an edge at the time of going through the transition phase.
- Consider starting a new career as an educator in an elementary school for children, here you’ll be required to go back to school yourself and obtain the relevant degree in education, or even a training certificate as needed.
- Go through your 529 or education savings plans if you feel that you’ll be required to attend the school in a few years’ time. The core aim of this plan is to save your educational expenses by contributing funds and more importantly, at a tax break. In doing so, you’ll get ample time to save for your education along with other financial tax benefits.
- Save money
Let’s accept the fact, no one knows when he or she is going to stabilize in financial terms in the new career. Therefore, it is advised to have sufficient savings that should be enough to support you and your family when you’re undergoing the transition phase. Perhaps you’ll be required to revise your budget, cut some luxury or irrelevant expenses, or even downsize your home or other large possessions.
- Try to move into a smaller home, cut down unnecessary expenses such as smoking, drinking, dining out, and others that mostly eat up your budget.
- Try to pay off as much of your debt as possible without incurring any further. The point is to keep your lifestyle on a nominal scale, especially at the time of starting a new career.
- Create and sustain a favorable credit score. Try to pay all the utilities and bills on time and avoid creating new lines of credit. Depending on the type of career you’re thinking about stepping into, there is a chance that new employers would want to run a credit check on you.
- Obtain experience from wherever possible
Look for volunteering opportunities or internships in the second career you’ve chosen for the sake of gaining valuable experience. This also means you can earn some extra cash by freelancing in the new field. The point is to gain as much valued experience in the field as possible, in order to land your dream job without wasting much time.
- You might be a healthcare professional considering a new career in nursing, which can be done by working as a part- or full-time volunteer in a hospital to get yourself ready.
- While transitioning in the new career, there is a high probability you’ll be forced to work as an unpaid volunteer in different positions. Perhaps, a hard call especially when you have spent years in the last career earning a nice package, however, for the time being, it might become necessary to work with some comforts off.
- Vigilantly inspect job postings
Once you have chosen the second career and ready to take the next step, now is the time where you need to catch and monitor different job listings in the field. Try going through Monster.com or LinkedIn to inquire regarding the desired jobs.
Take your time and thoroughly inspect the trends in the job market for availability. Figure out the time when the employers are highly active, more precisely the season in which you’ll find the most openings in your desired career.
Author Bio
Lara Hawkins is an experienced career development trainer having conducted numerous sessions for students and professionals worldwide. Besides her regular job and contribution in the corporate sector, Lara is also a proficient online assignment writing expert having a registered student base under her expertise in a plethora of academic disciplines.