Top tips for changing your career

Thinking about a career change? Want to join the “Great Resignation”? Karmjit at The Lowdown sets out some questions you can ask yourself before taking the leap, along with some top tips for making that big move.

The turn of a new year is often a time for reflection, resolutions and new goals in our work life. This year more than others, we might be considering joining “The Great Resignation”. Prompted by the pandemic, we saw unprecedented numbers of people voluntarily leave their jobs and change careers with reasons including burnout and re-evaluating what we want not just from their careers, but, our lives, particularly when it comes to a better work-life balance. 

While the pandemic isn't set to leave us in 2022, it also appears there will be another year of the “Great Resignation” in the UK. 

But what questions should you be asking yourself before making a career change, and how best can you get there? The Lowdown has 5 questions to ask yourself when considering a career change as well as some top tips to change careers. 

1. Do you actually want to change your career?

Perhaps a silly question when you’re reading an article on how to change careers, but, it’s the most important, and the first question you need to ask yourself. There are many factors that can affect our career satisfaction and wellbeing.

So ask yourself if it is a career change you want or something about your current job that you could change to get the outcome you really want. Some questions to ask yourself are:

• Why do I think I want a career change? Is it the hours, certain colleagues, the work-life balance, the money?

• Is my job affecting my health and emotional wellbeing?

• Would I be happy if I address this issue in my current role, or by moving into a similar role elsewhere? Do I have a plan to address relationships with colleagues, work more flexibly, create a path for a pay increase, for example?

• Would I be happy doing the kind of work I am doing, but at a different organisation, or elsewhere, like a different city or country, closer to family and friends?

Write down why you’re not happy in your job, the action you could take to address this, whether it’s a dramatic change or some tweaks to your current role, then honestly ask yourself if that would genuinely make you a lot happier. 

2. What is my current skill-set? What skills are missing for the career that I want? 

Whether you know exactly what kind of job you want, or, you just know what you don’t want, a Lowdown tip is to have an honest assessment of your skills and to write your strengths down. Plenty of these skills will be transferable, and it might be helpful to ask some close friends or colleagues who you trust what they think your key skills are. 

If you’re unsure what career you want to go into, this list will also help you identify what you would be good at and what kind of roles you could go for. What we dream of doing, can, at times, be different from what we are good at. We don’t all have the voice of Adele, so, if something is just unrealistic but you have some amazing strengths that would help you flourish in a different career, it’s good to have this honest conversation with yourself. 

Making this list of skills will also help you identify what’s missing. If you know what kind of career you want to go into, look at job ads and job descriptions for those roles. What qualifications and key skills in the descriptions are missing from your list?

3. What do I need to do before taking the leap?

While you might already be dreaming of that big “I QUIT!” moment and victory walk out of the building (or more likely in these times, the “leave meeting” function on Zoom) you may want to make a plan to ensure you’re in a strong position to nail that career change you’ve been dreaming of before you resign.

Are there any particular qualifications or training courses you need to get your foot in the door, that you could save money for and complete while working in your current role so that you’re in a strong position for your chosen industry?

You could also explore opportunities to get work experience in your chosen industry to build your knowledge and CV. Which leads to two other tips: get networking and re-write your CV. Reach out to people who have the kind of job you want, contacts, networks you know of (get your Lowdown mentor to help you!) and see if you can secure even a day or two of work shadowing with someone who, frankly, has the job that you want. If you approach them in the right way, most people will be flattered that you would like to shadow them and hear all their pearls of wisdom. 

Rethinking your CV for an entirely different kind of role is going to be vital too. Read our top 5 tips for a standout CV for any industry and look at the job descriptions and person specifications for the roles you want to go for and make sure your CV reflects the keywords, skills, and responsibilities.

4. What do I want from a career change? 

There is no point in creating upheaval, potential temporary unemployment, and a dip in income if you don’t really know what you’re aiming for and can’t quite look back and say you’ve met your career goals from a significant career change. Your goal isn’t necessarily “a career change”, it’s reaching a set of outcomes that you want from a career change. Think about what you want in a career, what are your values, and how do you want your career to make you feel? 

So ask yourself what it is that you want such as - 

• A more diverse environment that embraces equity, diversity and inclusion?

• Being your own boss?

• Less admin in your job?

• Relocating to another region / country?

• Working in a role that reflects your values and passions, such as climate change?
  

5. How much money do I need? Am I willing to start from the bottom?

While we don’t want to be a wet weekend and pour water on anyone’s passions, let’s face it - we need to pay the rent/mortgage and eat. You will need to have a detailed look at your spending and finances and have a realistic figure in mind to have the quality of life you want. If this figure is more than your expected salary for your dream career, you don’t have to give up - think about what costs you can cut, and create a saving plan to increase your financial cushion so you plan to take the leap to a lower salary. 

Finally, a bonus question - ultimately, will you regret it if you don’t leave your job and make a move? No one has ever said they wished they worked harder, for longer in a career they didn’t value or enjoy! It’s been a turbulent time for all of us that has forced us to reassess what we want in our lives, and the “Great resignation” shows us that our careers and jobs need to work for us more than they have done in the past, whether that’s work-life balance, salary or flexibility. If you’re considering taking the leap, we hope these questions and tips will help!

Career Change Case Study: Marnie Greenrod  

After moving from Australia to London, Marnie Greenrod moved from her career in teaching music and leading a school department to project management and consultancy. Here are her top tips for changing careers:

What career change did you make?

Originally from Australia where I was teaching music and leading departments in music education, I moved to London 15 years ago and continued a career in teaching, before transitioning to project management and consultation in medical education.

Why did you change your career? 

Teaching is an extremely rewarding job but I felt it was all-consuming and overwhelming. Teachers carry the weight of young people’s futures on their shoulders and it is very hard to feel like you have ever done as much as you can. I was no different and together with my students, and music colleagues, we achieved some phenomenal results particularly in performance. But I was absolutely exhausted. I would work long days, and then come home and mark, create musical arrangements. I would often come to school, crying on the train from stress and exhaustion and then have to pull myself together before I reached the school gates. School holidays I would just sleep, while usually fighting off a cold because I was run down.

Outside of school, I was surrounded by friends who were management consultants and project managers. They would flash about their “flexible working”, “time off in lieu” and “working from home”, when that was a novelty. They were given autonomy and I realised that was what I so desperately craved!

How did you make the move? 

I eventually resigned without a job and had no idea where I was going – I just knew I couldn’t stay where I was. I was paid over the summer, and did an online project management certification. This was all the retraining I was willing to do or could afford but it was useful to get me through the door for interviews and taught me a new set of vocabulary that was going to come in very handy.

What was the biggest obstacle?

The biggest obstacle was adapting my CV for industries outside of teaching. These CVs were very particular to the industry and it was full of teaching jargon and language that had to be converted. “Students” became “internal stakeholders”, “GCSEs and A levels” became “products or qualifications” for example. I referred to and paid a careers consultant to help me with this. It was money well spent and was the springboard I needed. She was also able to give me some advice as to the roles that would be good for me; this is where project management became apparent. 

I applied for a couple of project management roles and was eventually successful through a royal medical college; two days a week on a six-month contract. (The second biggest obstacle was the initial pay cut). I ran with this and was made full-time within 4 months and eventually permanent after 2 years.

After 4 years, I became a contractor in project management and medical education consultation and started my own limited company working for various medical education institutions including Health Education England. I have satisfying work, but above all, autonomy and work/life balance. I still keep my hand in music by tutoring GCSE music students in composition and marking exams for Boards.

Marnie’s top 3 tips for a career change: 

1. Plan for the interim between roles and give yourself a buffer of savings. I had enough to cover the absolute necessities, including my mortgage for 2 months. I needed to put myself under a little bit of pressure so didn’t save too much; I knew I would have coasted and been too casual in my approach to finding a new role.

2. Focus on your transferable skills, not just your direct experience to date. I asked friends in other professions what they thought my strengths were. What I took for granted, such as ability to build strong rapports, work well under pressure, not taking myself too seriously, a good leader. These, and more, were all transferrable skills that were going to be useful in getting my next job in a new profession and not reliant on my musical expertise.  

3. Try to at least have a shortlist of industries in which you are interested in working. Or, in my case, education was my theme so I was able to look for roles with this as the focus. Reach out to people already working there. Linkedin is a brilliant resource for this and more often than not people are willing to help and give advice. If you have no clue where to start, look at roles available online, and see what starts to sound good to you.

And one final tip, for good measure. You don’t owe anyone an explanation as to why you want to change professions. Be selective who you share your intentions with; people will be fearful of your “recklessness” and I let nay-sayers get in my ear more than once. Surround yourself with people whose opinions you respect and trust.