CAREER SHIFTING or JOB CHANGE: Step by Step guide for transition

What is Career Shifting?

A career shift, also known as a career change or transition, is when someone leaves their current job to pursue a new career in same or different domain/technology.

There can be many reasons for shifting career, few of them are listed below:

•Work pressure

•No work life balance

•No growth

•No future in the domain/field

•Saturation

•No financial growth

•Change in focus

•Looking for better opportunity

•Forced shifting

•Medical reason

What does the stats show as per previous survey’s:

•Trend shows that more than 40% of professionals around the world are showing interest to shift their careers.

•Around 50% of professionals in their current position have come from shifting their careers.

1. Promotions

2. Internal transition

3. Project change

4. Cross functional switch

Career shifting is not a bad idea as long as you have clear picture on why you are shifting and one should be careful before going for it as there are lot of factors which needs to be considered before thinking of career shift.

We have tried our best to put all the points in detail. So, Let’s discuss in about it detail.

Do proper Analysis

If you have really decided to shift your career then please do some analysis before you consider the decision because without proper analysis you will get struck in between hanging nowhere.

We suggest to do SWOT analysis for career shift which will help you to identify issues/problems during the transition:

SWOT is one of the tool which helps gap analysis to provide the facts to make better decision.

SWOT stands for:

S – Strengths: Identify all the positive points and strong points related to why you want to shift, such as experience, performance, education, qualification.

W – Weakness: Identify all the weaknesses you have during the transition. This part includes their negative personality traits, lack of skills or knowledge.

O – Opportunities: Identify the future that in case you have shifted the career then what other opportunities you can have.

T – Threats: Identify the problems you can face with the career shifting.

Assuming you know which career you want to move. Few checks before you make on your move towards new career shift and this can part of your SWOT analysis:

•Are you eligible for a career shift?

•What is the qualification required?

•What is the age limit?

•What kind of skills required?

•Do you require to relocate? Are you fine with it?

•Do you need to travel frequently? Are you fine with it?

•Do you need to up skill yourself continuously? Are you fine with it?

•What is expected growth in new career?

•What is the backup plan if you fail to shift or after shifting?

•Any language barrier?

•Will you qualify background checks?

•Any other blockers?

Assuming you have done the analysis, now the next question in front of you will be:

1. Do you need to quit current job and try for career shift?

2. Will you continue in current job until you find new one?

Option 1: What if you have decided to quit current job and try for career shift

If you choose to quit current job then what are the consequences on your living and dependents? Let’s talk about few checks related to it:

•How do you manage your day-day expenditure

•Are you single or family? If you are family then how about dependents and their basic needs?

•Do have any loans like home loans, personal loans, car loans or any other EMI, how you plan to pay them?

•Do you have any other debt?

•Any medical conditions exists

•Policy premiums, if any.

So, if you fall into any of the above category without doing proper analysis it might be very difficult during the transition period.

If you are thinking to borrow money or take loan then please reconsider your thought as it may or may not work but for sure you will be under constant pressure to repay these amounts apart from focusing on career transition.

Few options which can help us if we choose to quit job and trying career shifting.

•Existing bank balance

•If there is earning support from other family members

•Getting monthly rents

•Systemic withdrawal plans

•Claiming PF amount

Few points as above can give us boost during transition but let’s hope you are not disturbing any planned events of family members or dependents.

So, if you have any one or more options on the steady income side then how long you can continue without any impact on dependencies? Do some planning on it, like:

•How much money you have in bank account

•How much money you will get monthly

•What is monthly expenditure

•How much reserve money you have for any emergency situations

•How many months you can survive

Option 2: Should I continue my current job until I got the new opportunity?

If you have decided to continue working in current organization and simultaneously you will do career shift then keep in mind below points:

•This works well among most of the people but keep in mind of the current organization’s policy and compliance structure and act accordingly.

•You will be under less pressure because financially you are stable with this option.

•You need to prepare to have strong mind-set to do this.

•You need to spend more time to prepare and execute your plan to shift career.

•You need to spend 4-5 hours daily and during week off & holidays spend almost 14-16 hours depending on goal you have chosen. This may vary from case to case.

•You will be distracted frequently due to normal work life balance.

•Avoid prolonging as you may not focus on the goal for long period as the prolonging can make you lose interest in career shit plan.

Now once you have prepared a better plan now who is going to help you?

After doing all the analysis on various factors, now you should be in better position to prepare a plan on how to make career shift.

Again, multiple options will come in front of you on where to start the transition. You will try to take help or consult from anyone of the below:

1. Family members

2. Friends

3. Reference contacts

4. Online learning such as YouTube, social media, e-books, blogs, websites etc.

5. Training's

6. Part time course offerings (like college)

So, if you have any friends or family members or known person or any other source who can help you with all the knowledge on concepts in the career shift plan then it should be fine as long as it is free of cost.

But, if you are planning for paid training's from online or offline through college or professional coaching centers then we better need to do market research in choosing the best option for you.

There can be 2 types of paid training's:

1.Online Training: It is a method of instruction that takes place entirely through internet, and can be accessed via a computer, tablet, or smartphone. It's also known as computer-based training (CBT), distance learning, or e-learning.

2.Offline Training: It is a method of instruction that take place in a classroom attend physically and communication can happen through manual writing on white boards, presentations, activities etc.

Though offline training has more advantages than online training but based on your interest you can choose anyone of the training types.

So, now once you have decided which mode of training you prefer then from which source you will get trained?

Be it online or offline, you need to find out proper information about the source of training. Few check points which need to figure out before joining the course/training:

•What are pre-requisites to attend training with them.

•Do they provide any demo or initial counselling.

•Ask them what are the problems in your plan to shift career and any corrections possible.

•Are they covering the required topics, domain, skills, knowledge, tools and techniques you require – do some research or request them for a demo and ask all the questions/doubts before you join.

•Are they trustable? Verify about them through online reviews available in different domains.

•How much money they are charging for the training? Do some competitive analysis about other sources as well.

•Are they providing any case studies or practical knowledge to you?

•Any tools will be provided practice?

•Will they help in resume preparation?

•Mock interviews conducted?

•What kind of support you will get after the course completion?

•Will they provide any certifications and how it is going to help you?

Pitfalls to avoid:

•Don’t trust any fake promise.

•Anyone offering any job guarantee and if yes then what is the source and how can we trust them.

•Please DO NOT pay any amount for any job placement. Since they all end up in failure mode.

•Every year there are plenty of professionals who fall prey to such fake promises and lost money and chances for recovery are very less.

One should have intent and strong mind set to become great professionals and Training's will just give you a push by providing the necessary skills to figure out an approach to achieve your goals & dream job.