Alumni/ae:
Changing Careers
Career transition can be as simple as managing a promotion and as complicated
as crafting a completely new career. We use a five-step model to describe
ways to approach career transition. Few people go through every step.
This is only a model; an individual's real-life transition is rarely this
linear and orderly.
Steps of the Career-Changing Process
Step One: Self-Assessment
Step Two: Exploration and Research:
Identifying Options
Step Three: Make a Decision and
Set Goals
Step Four: Job Search: Prepare
and Implement
Step Five: Manage Your Career
"The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths
offered by the present, but a place that is created - first in mind and
will - and next in activity.
The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination."- Anonymous
• Career transitions are challenging; get the help and support you need.
• Career changers almost always take an economic step back entering a new field.
• Taking enough time to reflect, explore and talk to people will pay off.
• If your current job is toxic, is a new job — rather than a new career — what you need?
• Completing a career change usually brings relief, exhilaration and a sense of renewal. Along the way, the emotional backdrop to career change is often a roller-coaster ride.
• Making a change is an option at any age; don’t assume you are too old to make a new beginning!