Not everybody has the luxury of choosing a career that they love. Perhaps you only ended up working in your current career as a way to make ends meet, or perhaps it was a convenient option when you weren’t sure exactly what you wanted to do with your life. But if you have come to realise your passions and career goals over time, it might be time to think about a career change. Changing from work that you’re familiar with and used to into something new can be daunting, but it can also be a very exciting process. Here are some tips to consider to help your career change run smoothly. 

Get Advice and Support:

Changing a career is not always easy, so do plenty of research to find out what your options are. One of the most useful sites out there is Refreshing a Career who provide advice and support for people in that exact position. The advice and information on here include how to retrain, refresh your skills, learn new ones and how to best reach your career-changing goals. You can also find more information on choosing a new career if you’re not sure exactly where you want your work to take you. 

Put a Plan in Place:

Ideally, you don’t want to be out of work, so put a plan in place to help you seamlessly change your career without missing a beat. This could involve retraining while working in your current career by taking an online course or evening classes. Think about your future career goals and look at your options for training. What type of training is required? Will you need to gain prior experience before you can work in your chosen new career?

Retrain:

Once you’ve weighed up your options, it’s time to consider how you are going to retrain in order to facilitate your career change. The good news is that there are several options available to help you gain new qualifications, certifications, and even experience without the need to quit your job and focus on studying. Online courses are an ideal option as you can even get a new university degree completely online. Consider the qualifications that you already have and determine whether you will need to get new ones or whether you can simply build on your existing credentials. 

Build New Skills:

Look into the ideal future career that you are working towards and consider which skills you are going to need in order to get a foot in the door. Consider the skills that you already have and make a list of skills that you will need to develop to facilitate your career change, then decide how you are going to do this. Many of the skills that you’ll need will be included with the course that you take when retraining, however, transferable skills are also important in the majority of careers. Spend some time working on important skills like communication, organisation, time management, and computer skills to ensure that you are a better candidate when the time comes to apply. 

Whatever the reason why you have decided to change your career, keep these tips in mind to ensure that the transition goes smoothly.