Career changes are becoming common in this era, especially with the rollout of many newly formed jobs. For example, social media content creator wasn’t a thing until social media apps launched. The same is the case with many other jobs. Hence, the increased frequency of career change or switches.
Career change happens for a variety of reasons. Some of them are:
For Flexibility
Flexibility covers all, from work-life balance to closer locations and so on. While some vocations allow flexible working hours and proper work-life balance, others do not. Naturally, people prefer such jobs to stiff ones where they have little or no time for their personal lives. In this day and age, working remotely has inspired many. A teacher switching to freelance writing would have flexibility as one of the reasons.
Passion
Career changes also occur due to passion. For example, you may have been working for money for years and the urge to ‘fulfil your purpose’ nudges you toward doing what you’ve always wanted. That’s a career change because of passion.
According to Indeed, people aged 18 to 24 change jobs an average of 5.7 times. Between 25 and 34 years old, they change jobs an average of 2.4 times. The figure goes down again to 2.9 jobs between ages 35 and 44, then to 1.9 jobs between ages 45 and 52.
Usually, most of them boil down to passion. Many people do not stop until they find what they love.
Although there are other reasons people change careers including economic and emotional reasons, it is crucial to lay a path before making a career change.
Here are three questions to ask yourself before changing your career.
Why am I doing it?
Assuming you have a fantastic career in public relations, why do you suddenly want to switch to tech? Is it because everyone is doing it? Probe yourself properly. Doing a total career change for shallow reasons may result in regret.
For example, if you want to switch to tech because others are doing it, isn’t it better to infuse tech into your profession and be a part of an industry such as health-tech, fin-tech and so on.
What do I know about the new career?
Often, career changes are made on impulse. For example, a doctor may be frustrated about his measly pay and as a result, impulsively switch careers. But these things only seem easy on social media. Large pay may not be enough reason to switch to a career like data science. You may start it and regret taking the decision.
So, you must do your research before you venture into it. Ask questions from experts. Every job has its challenges so take note of them, because the beginning could be as sweet as honey while the road is as rough as dirt.
What is my backup plan?
It is not enough to switch careers with relative knowledge, you should have a plan about how to survive. No career is a get-rich-quick scheme so you must have a backup plan such as a job to pay your bills while you work your way to the top of your new career.
For instance, social media careers take time to flourish, especially if it’s independent ones. So while you build your brand on social media, you should have side jobs that fetch you income.
Also, there will be challenges, days when it seems you know nothing about your new career. What then do you fall back on?
This article was written by Sola Tales