Is a New Career Your 2019 Goal? Here’s How to Achieve It

• Update your LinkedIn

  One of the first things potential employers will look at is your social media, especially your linkedin. Make sure your profile highlights that you’re looking for the next step in your work life, and that while your current job might be in one industry, your job search and career goals go beyond that. For more information about using linkedin, click here.

of employers use social media to screen candidates

• Find a Career Coach to help you with career advice

  You can either hire a professional career coach or find someone in the field who’ll be able to help. For example, if you’ve always worked in hospitality but you want to get an entry level job in HR, there may be an HR professional at your current job who has the know how to give you advice on career options in the new industry, or even provide leads for a full time job or part time job, or get you a job interview that could lead to your new job! Sometimes there may also be jobs going in your own workplace that you may be able to apply for. For more on making a career change in your own workplace, click here.

• Find out what qualifications will help you in your new field

  A specific career may require a specific skill set or formal qualification. To get your perfect role, do some research and ask your career coach about what qualifications or skills you’ll need to succeed in your career development aims. Another great way to figure out what you’ll need is to look at job descriptions and job sites state you’ll need for different job titles. If you know that you want to end up being a corporate PR professional and all of those positions require a specific course, it may be something you need to look into, even if it’s not required for the entry level position you’re looking at. Once you’ve done that, browse our list of courses to find one that can help you get the new skills you need to achieve your new goal!

• Make a list of all relevant work experience from your entire career

  Different fields give you different skills, but just because your day job isn’t your dream job doesn’t mean you haven’t had any relevant experience. If you’re looking at going into HR and on a day to day basis at your current job have often worked on doing rosters or have done a consulting job with an HR company in the past, it’s all relevant work experience that you can use in informational interviews or just a job interview in general! For more on using life and work experience to change career, check out this page.

• Go to networking events to improve your job outlook

  If you’re looking to change careers, it’s always good to have a network in the new industry. Going to networking events can mean that you make valuable contacts, but can also show people that you’re willing to put in the hard work to achieve your goals. Plus, you get the change to hear about new jobs before people get a job alert about the position, and make a good impression before you have to do things like psychometric tests or answer 100 different questions in group interviews.

• Make a list of transferable skills

  There are some skills that are useful in every single industry. These are skills that are fantastic to highlight in your cover letter or help give investors confidence in you for your start-up business. Once again, looking at your target field for what transferable skills they value can be helpful – maybe Sarad from HR loves your time management skills at your current job, but businesses looking for HR professionals list good communication skills as crucial. Find out what your transferable skills are and then highlight them!