ALT-2 Tips for Planning a Career Move
Planning a career move is both exciting and daunting. Whether it’s your first major move, or the latest in a succession of changes, this kind of transformation requires careful consideration and planning.
The process of planning a career move takes time. This is not something that you can rush into and time invested in the planning stage will almost certainly translate into time saved later on. Focus on these key elements that will help ensure that you make the right move.
Do your research
You may think that you know exactly what you want to do, or you must just know that you want to do something new. In either case, research is important. Before making any kind of move, you need to ensure that you are aware of the details of your new career choice. You should establish what qualifications and training you need to possess as a minimum. What are the market opportunities? Are there any location issues? What sort of remuneration can you expect? Never move into a role about which you know very few details. Your plan may need to include various steps and goals that you had not previously considered.
Be self-aware – analyze what makes you tick
Understanding your capabilities is critical to good career planning. You cannot plan for success if you do not know what makes you tick. The right career choice should reflect what you are good at and what you love doing. Ideally, it should comprise both these elements. Review what it is about your current role that you dislike or would like to grow. Honesty is really important. If you fool yourself into making the wrong decisions, you are simply setting yourself up for failure. The Quint Careers site concisely explains whatself-analysisis all about. “Take the time to understand the motives that drive your sense of success and happiness.”
Explore training and development opportunities
Few career moves are likely to take place without any form of training or development. Realistically, these opportunities are not going to fall into your lap and you will need to hunt them out. They could exist with your current employer. Look to your networks for ideas and opportunities. Apply the term ‘development’ very broadly too. Activities outside work can just as easily offer up opportunities to apply and grow new skills. Consider formal training and accept that you may need to pay for qualifications. Look at this cost as a sound investment in your future.
Plan your finances
Career moves can be tumultuous when it comes to your personal finances. A good development opportunity can result in a temporary halt in salary increases, or could even see a drop in income. To get the right exposure and development opportunities, you may need to sacrifice short-term financial gain. Again, you should see this as a long-term investment, but you cannot ignore the reality of what this means. Daphne Mallory describes this as ‘preparing a financial cushion’ and recommends that you plan ahead for several months.
Create a career plan
Like any other big change, you need a great plan to guarantee success. Any career move is likely to incorporate various tasks or stages, each to be completed within a specific time frame. Without acareer plan, you are highly unlikely to achieve your overall aims. Draw up a road map of where you are, where you want to get to and all the tasks that you need to achieve to get there. Ensure that you apply realistic time frames to every task. Once initiated, review the plan on an ongoing basis to ensure that you are on track. It’s likely that you will have to make revisions as you go.
A career move is often a life-changing event, with potential emotional, financial and personal implications. As exciting as it seems, don’t rush into such a significant change without planning and considering your options carefully.
