Aug 28

Aug 28 Pivoting in Your Career: Take These Steps Before Making a Leap

If you have ever worked in a industry or role that no longer aligns with your personal goals or values, it may be time to transition to a new role. This realization does not come easy and many factors should be taken into account before switching a job or career. Using these tips can make that choice a bit more clearer for you.

What are your strengths?

Assessing your strengths are incredibly important to identifying your strongest skillset. You can simply make a list of all of the strengths you have or widen the net and expand this question to your friend or trusted coworkers. This could actually surprise you on what you think may be your strength vs. what may actually be your strengths. This exercise could also be an eye opener and an opportunity to brush up on skills you may need for your career path.

What are your passions?

This sounds like the easiest question to answer. Simply ask yourself, “what makes you feel alive?” This could be anything, even outside of work. Whatever may be on the list, are things that give you energy or even your “why”. This is very important to understand your motivation and also find purpose in your work.

Identify Why You Don’t Like your Current Role

Any recruiter, HR person or hiring manager is going to ask about your previous role. Before we get to the interview, this is a question you should ask yourself. Maybe it is your workload, the culture of the company or maybe you are being micromanaged, there is no wrong answer, but learning how to frame it in interviews is important. This is also a good identifier of tasks you like and tasks you do not enjoy, this is helpful in the search for a new role.

What are Your Personal Goals and How Do Your Career Goals Match Up?

This is the fun part. Assess your career goals and line them up with your personal goals. Do they match up? Are they incredibly imablanced? Try this tip: Envision your life in 3 years - what does your life look like? You may not have a perfect picture, but this will give you a general idea of where the direction you want to go in. Review these goals and make sure your career goals align. For instance, maybe you see yourself traveling, so you want to choose a career that will allow you to do so.

Audit Your Time Management Skills

Time management skills can make or break your success. You can have the most talent in the room, but if you are not efficient and use your time wisely, it can negatively impact your performance at the job and in life. In roles where deadlines are tight and follow through is highly valued, time management is the key to your success. To get better at this, try blocking your time and tracking where you tend to waste time - you will be surprised to see where your time is actually going.

Assess your finances

Before making any switch in your career, run the numbers first. Review your banking transactions, subscriptions and other things that are tied to your money, so you can ensure this is a good choice financially. If you don’t have an emergency fund, now is the perfect time to start stacking up for any future inconveniences. How much money do you need to make in order to pay your bills? These are very important questions to ask yourself so your bills are not impacted.

Check Your Mental Health

Of all of the things listed, this is the most important. There is a high likelihood that the reason you want to change industries is due to mental health. If that is the case, congrats on making this decision. Your mental health means more than anything. Before making the step to another industry, check where your mental capacity is: can you handle a fast paced job? Do you find purpose in the work you are doing? Burnout among these notes tie into your mental health and could be a barrier in any role you are in.