Deciding to pursue a new career direction can be daunting, so the following steps can help you take the right actions to achieve your goal.
1) Be clear about why you want to work in a different sector.
It’s important to take time to reflect on your decisions, for example: why do you want to not work in the same sector you have before? What skills do you want to use? What business challenges/outcomes do you want to work with and why? Will your chosen new career direction give you what you want?
It is worth having a Careers Consultation to discuss your choice in more detail, and being clear about your new direction is essential.
2) Clearly articulate to employers why you want to change careers
Once you know why you want to change, put it together in a clear and concise explanation for applications and interviews. This will help employers feel more confident about you and your application. For example:
I previously worked in A, and what I really liked doing was B so am I currently studying C to start a career in D.
3) Conduct informational interviews and find a mentor
Informational interviews involve contacting people in a job that interest you to ask them a few questions about working in that role. It is not the same about asking for a job, but will give you invaluable information to understand more about what’s involved and what skills/experience employers value. More information can be found here.
A mentor can guide you in starting and progressing within a new sector. Tools like Lboro Connect can be used to find a mentor.
4) Understand what employers are looking for, identify your transferable skills and make a plan
In addition to the above steps, reading job profiles and adverts will help you understand what employers really value. From here, identify what transferable skills/experience you have and make a plan to develop the skills you are missing. This could include taking professional courses on Lynda.com, shadowing employers, voluntary work and so on.
5) Demonstrate your commercial awareness
This will be covered more in a later article, but in summary commercial awareness is understanding how business works. When changing career sectors it is advantageous to show employers you understand how their business/sector works, as it shows that you can add value to their organisation and will help with answering interview questions. This includes, but not limited to:
- Understanding a business, what they offer customers and the sector
- PEST (political, economic, socio-cultural and technological) and SWOT analysis of a business to understand the opportunities, challenges and threats
- Understand who their customers and competitors are
6) Make your transferable skills and experience clear to employers
You may see how your skills are relevant, but an employer unfamiliar with your previous work may not so easily. For instance, on CVs and applications you won’t have to write down every task you’ve done, instead explicitly highlight what is transferable. One technique for writing about your work history is to think of a challenge you overcame/target you achieved and how you achieved this. For example –
- Upsold to customers during quieter periods to ensure sales targets were still met
- Maintained a high level of customer service in a fast-paced environment through effective planning and delegation
7) Communicate your ‘personal brand’ and manage your online presence
Take time to think about how you want people to perceive you, and try to write a 1 or 2 line summary that includes your relevant transferable experience/attributes/skills and job goals. For example:
I am a [adjective] [job title] with [year’s experience] in [sector/industry] specialising in [theme/purpose]. Currently seeking [type of role] where I can [impact] for [type of clients]
This can be used when introducing yourself to new people in a professional context, as well on social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Weibo etc. Make sure that your professional social media profiles are consistent with the image you want to portray, e.g. writing about your previous experience in way that’s targeted to the job you want. This is important as potential contacts and employers may look you up, so you want to give the impression you are serious about the change of career direction.
8) Identify any other barriers stopping you
For example, you might be experiencing a fear of rejection or a worry that you’ll get the job but not be good enough at it. Which leads onto the next point –
9) Get help from Careers Network and respond positively to set backs
You can book a Careers Consultation to discuss moving into a new job, including strategies to overcome challenges, help with applications and interviews, and so on.
It is possible that you will have some setbacks (such as rejections), but getting support from the Careers Network can help you overcome these.
Christian Jameson-Warren – Employability Development Officer for international students
