Are you among the 70 percent of American workers who aren’t engaged in the work they do at their job?
For any number of reasons, the vast majority of Americans are bored, aggrieved, alienated or have otherwise psychologically “checked out,” according to a Gallup poll.
Often, people say things like, “I’ve hit the middle of my career and know that I can’t stand doing what I’ve been doing, but I don’t know what else I could do or how to transition to it.”
There are all kinds of valid reasons why you might find yourself in the midst of a major inflection point in your career: Maybe you don’t like the way you are managed, don’t get along with one or more co-workers or find your work either too challenging or not challenging enough. Maybe you’re not proud to be associated with your company, or you just aren’t passionate about what you are doing and feel like there must be greener pastures somewhere.
[See: 10 Tech Jobs That Make the Most Money.]
Still, you can be prone to asking: “Who will hire me?” and “How do I even know what to apply for?” When you reach such a point it is time for an honest self-appraisal.
Ask yourself: What are you good at? What skills do you possess, and which are transferable to other kinds of roles or other industries? What kind of work environment and corporate culture best fit your personality? You need to take the time to reflect on who you are and what you want to achieve in your career.
In order to be realistic, however, it is important to recognize that by the time you have hit midcareer, certain doors are closed, just as others are opened. You might want to figuratively run off and join the circus, but maybe you haven’t spent the time developing the right set of skills that will make you a draw in the Big Top.
[See: How to Quit Your Job.]
No matter how much you might want to do a certain thing, potential employers care far less about meeting your hopes and dreams than they are concerned to figure out who will make the best possible contribution to their organization.
So, ultimately, it will be important for you to showcase yourself as the answer to your desired employer’s needs. To get to where you ultimately want to be, you must step back from your own desires to look at yourself from the other side of the hiring table. Figure out who will look at your skills and talents and conclude that you are the answer to their problems.
Here’s how:
If, for example, you have experience managing projects, but don’t want to be a project manager, make a list of the skills you have utilized to be successful so far. Perhaps you have become an expert in analytics, contract negotiation, strategic planning and training.
Use job boards just for research. You can scour job boards like Indeed, CareerBuilder and LinkedIn. Rather than searching for “project manager” roles, search by the skills you can bring to a new job. You’ll likely be amazed at the world of opportunities that might present themselves — often in other types of jobs — that you would never have thought of on your own.
Use LinkedIn to network with people in the industries and companies that come up in your search. Try to set up informational meetings with people to learn more about new industries in general, and jobs in specifics.
Make sure you don’t jump from the frying pan into the fire. Before you start applying to a whole new panoply of opportunities, don’t just rely on your gut feeling or sense that something would be really interesting or a great opportunity. Do you due diligence.
Learn about industry trends and research specific companies. Check out their LinkedIn pages, websites, Google Finance and sites like Glassdoor. What is their reputation? What do their current and former employees have to say? What does their corporate culture, current challenges and business competition look like?
When you are speaking with someone who is in the mid-to-late stage of their career, be sure to ask, “What do you wish you knew when you entered this field (or company) that you know now?”
[See: 25 Best Jobs That Don’t Require a College Degree.]
Network yourself into your new job. Bear in mind that when you are changing the nature of your role or the industry you want to work in, you likely won’t score high in employers’ searches through job board candidate databases. That doesn’t mean you aren’t a fit. It just means that you need to go about gaining consideration a different way. The more you talk with people, especially within your target companies, the better you will be able to gauge where your strongest opportunities will lie. And as they get to know you, they will be more likely to take advantage of employee referral programs and submit your resume for you.
Happy hunting!
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How to Transition to a New Career originally appeared on usnews.com
