Rebranding Yourself For a New Career Path

Rebranding Yourself For a New Career Path via Pexels.com 1. Identify your transferrable skills. When its time to make a career change, the best thing you can do for yourself is identify the skills you have that will transfer to a new job. Oftentimes, teachers pursue career changes and are successful because of all the skills a teacher develops during their career. Someone who can communicate with coworkers, parents, and administrators, stay organized, handle emergency situations, and keep track of several different sets of information at once is a gold mine for a new-hire in any field. There are opportunities for a person in every career field to change and do something else; you just have to know how to identify whats valuable about your experiences and sell them to a board of people who are making a hiring decision. 2. Do your research beforehand. Before you walk into an interview and try to sell yourself to another industry, make sure you do your research. Its important, not only, that you know what the company is looking for, but that you know the skills you have that will make you a good choice for this position. You dont want to seem like youre grabbing at straws, being willing to accept anything that comes your way. You want to sell yourself as intentionally choosing this career change. Make sure  before  you walk into an interview that youve done a substantial amount of research. via Pexels.com 3. Justify the reason for a change. Career changes arent unusual so the people sitting on the hiring committee are anticipating an applicant who is switching from one career to another. The thing that will impress them the most is if you justify the reason for your career change extensively. You want to steer clear of Im ready for a change, and, instead, think about what it is that you want to accomplish in your life. You want to come into an interview with reasons for the switch that are more substantial than Im ready to do something different. 4. Be careful about the process. You likely dont want your current boss to know that youre looking to get out of the field. More than anything, you dont want to be seen as a disgruntled worker. When youre thinking about switching career fields, make sure that you are honest with your current boss  when its the right time.  You need a reference that can discuss your promising characteristics, so its more beneficial to you if your boss can write about the reasons for your career change. 5. Update your LinkedIn profile. When youre rebranding yourself for a new career, make sure you update your LinkedIn profile. Hiring committees will  definitely  look you up on social media, so its important that you keep your information current. If youre switching from working in a factory to a career in human resources, make sure your LinkedIn supports your career change. Otherwise, things look a bit awkward. 6. Strategically use your cover letter. You want to justify the reasoning for your career change, and a perfect place to do that is in your cover letter. When the hiring committee reads your cover letter, you want them to understand exactly why youre switching careers. You want them to know not only the reasons for your change but how the change came about. Discuss your passions, your internal motivations, and your experiences that led you to change paths. When you want to change career paths, there are several things you should be sure to take care of. The last thing you want is to walk into an interview with no idea how you want to explain yourself. Make sure you do your research ahead of time and be ready for questions like why now? Remember, changing careers is  typical in this day and age. You have every reason to pursue what you want to be doing. Happiness is everything.