Making a career move is essential for personal and professional growth. When you are bound to log into work every day, but see no scope to learn or develop your skills – or even become an expert in the near future, then it’s time you should start planning to change your job.
That said, planning a career move is never easy. Some common reasons to take such a step include leaving a toxic workplace, poor rapport with the employer, no potential growth, lack of workplace flexibility and more.
But before planning a career more, you have to take into consideration a few things to ensure that your “big” step is the “right” step for you.
After all, planning and analyzing are always better than regretting.
In current times, where the market is so volatile globally, carefully examining if your move is right or not is a prerequisite.
Let’s first look at when you should plan for a career move.
😤 Feeling stressed while doing your work
Do you happen to always feel stressed about the objective or goals you need to perform at work? Has it been interfering with your work-life balance? Then this indicates that planning a career move is the right thing to do.
To some extent, stress can motivate you to complete your tasks within the deadline or dateline given to you. Such a type of stress is usually termed eustress. Eustress can also help you do your things on time, have a good impact on your mental and physical state and also keep you from procrastinating.
But, if the stress from your work is making you feel demotivated and unwilling to do your job, then it’s time you should focus on making a career move.
😔 You feel unmotivated at work
If you have been feeling bored or unmotivated every time you start your work, then try to evaluate what is going wrong. If you work on a full-time basis or as a freelancer, what are some obstacles that are coming on your way making you feel this way?
If the answer to this question is you are feeling unmotivated to work, or have become bored of the same old routine, then it’s time for some change.
Analyze what it is about the work that you are not enjoying. Is it only one aspect of your work or everything in general?
If you choose the latter, then you are certainly looking for a different opportunity.
At this stage, it will be worth doing a SWOT analysis. It will help you get a complete view of your strengths and weaknesses. This would then help you understand what type of work you would be interested in.
Now let’s take a look at the steps you need to take to plan a career move.
📝 Make a list
You don’t want to be in oblivion when planning to switch careers. So, before you plan to make a switch, write down a list of activities you like to engage in.
Note the industries that seem interesting to you or happen to be curious about. Then write down the companies you wish to join in those industries. Go through their websites, LinkedIn page, or any social media platform they are active on.
🙌🏻 Evaluate your skills
You have figured out the industries or the companies you are interested in. Now, it’s time to figure out if you have the skills that those industries look for.
List down the skills that you are an expert at. Then evaluate some of the job descriptions in the industries or companies you want to work in. Do your present skills align with these job specs? If you believe your present skills do not match well with the companies’ expectations or if you are looking for an opportunity with a better package, then it’s time to upskill yourself.
👨🏽💻 Upskill yourself
It’s always good to learn new skills and capitalize on them. Nowadays, you can learn new skills that are in demand in the job market right from the comfort of your home. Platforms like Udemey and Coursera are some of the many sources where you can learn new skills like data analysis, digital marketing, coding and much more.
👤 Update your profile
Recruiters are always looking for candidates online. So, it’s important to keep your digital professional profiles updated. This means if you have created any profile on a job board or social media platforms like LinkedIn, then update these profiles with the correct contact information.
Ensure that while you apply for any job, your resume is updated, and you use the right keywords in the online profile and also attach your portfolio.
✍🏻 Check out company reviews
Before you join a company or even apply to any company, it’s always good to take a look at the company reviews, their culture and what are some employees doing on platforms like LinkedIn.
This will help you get an insider’s perspective of what it is like working at the company you have applied to, how good is the work-life balance, the senior management and more.
Competition is fierce now and only those who constantly keep upskilling and updating their profile can stay ahead of the curve. Make sure that you follow the tips listed above to make your career move seamless and get an opportunity that you always wanted.