Getting into a career rut is never a good situation.
The last thing anyone wants is to feel stuck in their current place of work, having little to no options to explore other career avenues.
It’s essentially going to feel like a dead-end job, and it’ll negatively affect many different aspects of your life.
But it doesn’t need to be that way forever!
With the right amount of planning, self-reflection, and research, you could drastically alter your career trajectory and find yourself doing something completely different by the end of the year.
If you want to learn how, then there’s some advice on how to explore your career options and seek new opportunities.
Step 1: Assessing your current skills and interests
First things first, you have to assess your current situation. This means looking at your skills and interests so that you know exactly what you’re good at and how to sell yourself to new potential employers.
There are a couple of ways to do this, such as taking an online Strong Interest Inventory test to figure out where you could pivot your skills to, or potentially working with a career coach so that you have a deeper understanding of your skills, personality, and potential career opportunities in the future.
You should also be taking this chance to identify your future goals, or at least figure out what you want to be doing in a year or two.
For instance, maybe you’ve realized that although you love working in technology, you’d prefer a more design-focused role instead of programming.
Or maybe you’ve been working so long in music production for a studio that you want to start making your own music and branding yourself instead.
Step 2: Researching your options
Now that you’ve got an idea of what you want to do and what skills you have, you can start to look at the various industries and roles that would be a good fit for you. Unless you’re working with a career coach or have taken some kind of assessment test, you’ll need to do this research yourself.
Use resources such as Google, or consider browsing LinkedIn. Alternatively, go for options that you know you want to explore, even if it means a complete career switch.
This is an important step if you want to advance in your career. It helps you learn more about different perspectives in the industry, and it gives you an idea of what someone could achieve with the skills and expertise that you have.
Doing research will help you realize what opportunities there are and how you can aim for them.
Step 3: Learning new skills
If you want to swap your career, then you’ll need to learn some new skills.
It’s vital that you build up relevant skills by taking online courses, looking for any workshop opportunities, and testing those skills with your personal projects. This can change depending on the type of work that you do.
For instance, someone looking to improve their programming skills could work on personal projects that are then used as a portfolio, or to show people what you’re capable of.
However, there are also soft skills that you could learn as well. These might not provide a certificate or any kind of proof of completion, but they will help immensely when it comes to engaging with people and communicating in a team.
Soft skills are also important to put on a resume as it shows employers what you’re capable of and how comfortable you are working in a team of new people.
Step 4: Expanding your network
Having the right skills isn’t enough to find a new job–you also need to work on networking as well. Networking is one of the key elements to any successful career transition.
The saying “it’s who you know, not what you know” holds a lot of truth in the world of business. You have to network at events, on social media, and even connect with colleagues in your existing workplace to discover new opportunities for the future.
This can be a difficult step for a lot of people, especially if you aren’t great in social situations or have trouble communicating.
Thankfully, this is a skill that you can work on. It also helps a lot if you’re skilled in social media, as many employers will use platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn to scout for talent.
Step 5: Transitioning to a new career path
It’s important to set realistic goals when it comes to transitioning to a new career path. Remember that your goal isn’t to quickly switch to a new career–it’s about smoothly transitioning over so that there’s minimal disruption to your daily lifestyle.
A lot of the work in transitioning to a new career will take place while you’re currently employed at your existing place of work.
This means that any certification tests or networking has to be done in your spare time. Ideally, you’ll want to create some kind of schedule so that you have an idea of when you have time to work on your new skills.
Transitioning also means updating your professional profile. You’ll want to rewrite parts of your resume, and you’ll need to update your LinkedIn profile to highlight new skills and experiences.
Step 6: Staying focused and resilient
Finding a new job is tough, especially if you haven’t been working on your personal growth and development for some time because of your current workplace.
However, it’s important to stay resilient and focused on your goals. Your applications will be ignored, you’ll fail interviews, and you’ll need to pivot to new options and opportunities as they appear.
Setbacks will occur, but it’s important not to let them get you down.
Focus on your growth, spend more of your personal time on improving yourself, and you’ll eventually come across fantastic opportunities that will help you grow as an individual.
Exploring new career choices can be challenging, especially if you’re already in a working rut, but it can bring a new sense of accomplishment, fulfillment, and satisfaction to your life.