How to be Successful in Changing Your Career?
Change is always a constant fear. We don’t know what will happen after the change. When it comes to career, It’s even worse. We need the income, and we want to progress up the corporate ladder. Any wrong move will lead us back to the starting point but this time, more wrinkles on the face.
For a smooth and successful career change, it involves not just a change of office or a title. We do also need to change our mindset. A mindset which will enable us to learn as fast as possible and get that promotion earlier then expected.
My first career started in Republic of Singapore Airforce. I was an aircraft senior technician specialized in radar and communication. My contract with them ended after 7 years, and I decided to move to a greener pasture.
So I embarked on a journey in the online world, starting as a project executive in an online advertising agency. It was a totally different environment, and it did freaked me out when I started working.
I would not say that I’m successful now. But after 3.5 years, I could safely say that I’m able to earn a decent income from my second career. Now, I’m exploring a possible third career.
I speak from experience that career change is not easy but with the right attitude and mindset, everyone can craft out a bright future in the new arena. And here are some tips to make your journey a lot easier.
1) Be humble and friendly
Since you are starting from scratch, people are more willing to teach you if you are humble and friendly. And it will never do you harm if you carry a smile while you work.
2) Ask, ask and ask
Always ask when in doubt. Don’t let the ego hinder you when getting things done. It’s better to be teased by something that you don’t know than scolded for the errors in your work.
3) Be an information sponge
Read everything on the company, job, and the industry. Get a RSS reader and subscribe to anything you can find about your job. Information is the king. You do want crucial information to be at your finger tips when you are making a decision.
But do not be overloaded with information. You do not need to know all the things but do know where to get it. And usually, by knowing where to get the information, you can establish yourself as the go-to guy. And this will help you in your working relationship with your colleagues.
4) Join the Red Cross. Be a Volunteer
Not to ask you to donate blood but if there is any new internal project coming up, do volunteer for it. By doing so, you can learn more and you might work for people from different department, thus making your presence felt.
But before you put up your hand, do consider your current workload. You do not want to divide your attention and energy too thin that you can’t perform in your daily work.
5) Relate from past experience and contribute
Your experience in your past career are not wasted. Although the industry might be different but soft skills like managing people, managing team, etc are still useful.
Other than soft skills, process used in your last job might be applicable with some modification. Most successful organizations are looking for best practice used in other industry and implement it on themselves.
So do look around in your job and see whether there is anything that can be improved with your experience from your last job.
6) Goal setting with manager
In order to get what you want in your career, you will also need to let your manager know of your goals. Check with him on what’s required for you to achieve what you want (e.g promotion, pay increment e.t.c) And with the understanding of your requirement, set goals and decide the timeline to achieve it.
This will be useful during your performance evaluation. You will be able to prove to your manager that you deserve the promotion or pay increment once you have fulfilled your goals.
You can learn more on getting your deserve promotion with my other post, “How to Get Your Next Promotion in Your Career?“.
7) Put in more hours
Go to office 1 hour earlier and leave office 1 hour later.
Use the 1 hour in the morning to read on the latest happening and plan for your day. List your to-do list. And use the 1 hour in the evening to reflect on yourself. Look through the day and see what you have done right and what you have done wrong. And also anything that you feel that you can do better. Make a mental note on it and do it when you encounter the same situation.
For the first 6 months, you need to understand that you will need to put in more time to understand what you need to know about your job, your company, and the industry.
Summary
There is always an emotional fear that you will not make it in your new career. But do understand that you are not starting from a piece of blank paper. You have working experience and by that, it means that you have gained the basic skill in communication, learning and situational analysis through your last job. And what you need is only time to learn everything relating to your job.
So have some confidence in yourself and claim your next blue sky. All the best to you.
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6 Responses to “How to be Successful in Changing Your Career?”
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This is so for me, the master of “self-induced stress”.
Hey like your blog and attitude!
Hi Stepmon,
Thanks for your comment. Hope that the info is useful for you.
Best regards,
Gerald
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You explained how to work hard and get other people to help you. But you didn’t tell us how to get a job outside of your experience in the first place.
Hi Recruiting Animal,
Just realised that the title of the article can be misleading.
Basically, article advise on how to do well in your new career when you have changed to one which is outside of your experience. But in terms of getting one, it will require another article.
I will work on it and post at the earliest possible time.
Thanks,
Gerald