How to Successfully change your career path in Nigeria
Changing your career can never be easy – change is never simple, but you can make it less painful by following the steps itemized in this article and you will be proud of leaving your stressful and dr
Many people change career path because of several reasons. It may be to increase their pay-value, change from a job that’s too hectic or quitting a career that doesn’t make them happy. Whatever reason you may have for wanting to change your career path, it’s not always simple, but you can make it easier when you know what steps to take to achieve your desired result. The average person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life according to career change statistics. With an ever-increasing number of career choices, 30% of the workforce will now change careers or jobs every 12 months. This means even if you’re not planning to change career path now, you may consider this decision tomorrow. Life is filled with uncertainties, and this is the reason various internet sources estimate an adult makes about 35,000 choices each day.
Sometimes your interest may totally be in another career different from your field of study, but you know change is inevitable to pursue the cause you’re passionate about. In Nigeria, getting a job is a Herculean task not to talk of getting a job in a field where you literally have no experience or certification, but only a strong interest. It’s not always in your best interest to stay in a place where you’re unhappy, drained, and less motivated. Some decisions are quite risky, especially when it involves change, but if you decide for your happiness and fulfilment, you’ll, in the end, be happy you were courageous enough to take the step.
It’s possible to successfully change your career in a crippling economy like Nigeria’s, here’s how you can do it successfully with lesser pain.
Ask yourself important questions
Sometimes we want to make some decisions based on how we feel about others, not ourselves. Whenever you need to decide, it’s important to ensure you’re deciding because it’s in your best interest, not because of pride, envy or jealousy. The only constant in your life is you, every other person will eventually leave, and you’ll be left with yourself and the consequences of your decision. This is the reason you must ask yourself some questions to reach an actual conclusion for yourself on the reason for choosing to change your career.
Self-questioning is an effective metacognitive strategy, as it encourages you to think more deeply and filter the reason for your choice of action. This strategy helps you improve your decision-making by helping you focus your attention and interact with the presented information – reality. When the ‘why’ (the reason for making a choice) is not clear, failure is inevitable in the end. These are some questions you should ask yourself before deciding to change your career path;
How long have I been thinking about this?
How committed am I to this change? – are you ready to pursue this new career for a long time, or you just want to make some money for the moment to pursue a greater cause?
Am I feeling fear or intuition? – most times, we feel fear if the decision we want to make is important and needful.
What are the risks of changing my career?
What is the risk of not changing my career? If the risk of not changing is greater than the risk of changing, you should decide to change.
Is now the right time?
If not now, when?
Where is the fun? – changing career path isn’t simple, it may be harder than you think, but when you have something you greatly anticipate with the potential of happiness, it makes the road less steeply.
If you answer these questions sincerely, you will come to a less painful conclusion of your choice of a career change.
Research your new career
Changing your career is like changing your location, although some career change may require that you change your location. When you change your location, you must get yourself accustomed to the map of your new locality, you will need to make new friends, find out the location of the grocery store, the market, the schools around and other necessary essential places. Same way when you change your career, you will need to make new friends, and get yourself educated on the requirements of the new career. You’ll need to network with field experts and also find communities of people who are doing the same thing as you. You’ll need to know the skills you need to acquire to function effectively in your career and remain competitive.
Sometimes, you may need to change your dressing or communication pattern or learn the register of your new career. Use resources like search engines, job search websites (like Jobberman, Glassdoor and Indeed), and LinkedIn to find out about the career and your field experts.
Master skills that relate to your new career choice
You don’t need a certificate to change your career, the reality of our present world has made that a possibility. All you need are skills that can make you function in the career path. When you master skills that are required for the career, it makes it easier for you to find your place. Mastering a skill isn’t enough, but mastering skills that are essential for you to thrive in the new career.
Chris Donovan, who spent 25 years as a telephone repairman, took small steps to pursue his lifelong interest in shoe design, even though he didn’t know precisely where they would lead him. He first signed up for a 2-day shoe design class in NYC. With no design background, he applied for and got into the Polimoda Fashion Institute in Florence, Italy as a complete outlier student. You must be ready to invest in learning, apply for masterclasses, take online classes, attend events in your new career path, and watch enough YouTube videos. The more you learn, the more you know, and your interest becomes stronger in the career. Mastering essential skills are one of the best investments you can make in your life, it will not just open doors for you in important places, but also save your time and secure happiness for you.
Sail off without a map
This is like saying you should start out without much pressure on yourself to achieve a huge reward for your decision. Sometimes, the best you can do for yourself is to take it easy on you. Especially if you’re not too sure if you’re doing the right thing as you’re only following your gut feeling. When you put too much pressure on yourself, you expect too much from yourself too fast, and that inhibits your creative and raise fear in you when you’re not seeing your desired result as fast as you want it. Good things take time, so give yourself enough time to explore and understand your new career path.
Explore without expectations, and keep reminding yourself that even if you fail at this, you would have gain reasonably experience that can help you rebuild stronger and better. After you’ve sorted the advice of several persons, it’s good you dip your toe in the water because eventually, the burden of your decision is on you. Negate all preconceived notions you’ve, focus only on the good that may come from your decision without forgetting that the possibility of failure does exist. When you sail off without the map and you get to an enjoyable part of your journey, reach for the sky and when you reach the sky, find the next galaxy and explore it. No pressure, enjoy the fun and expect the best.
Network and Volunteer
The question would be; when and how do I start? The best time to start is not when you’ve all the confidence you want, you should start when you’ve acquired the minimum level of required skills in your chosen career path. So, to start with, don’t expect to get all the rosy deals and huge salary when you start with your new career. What you need first is experience and you should seek every available opportunity to get it. You can explore internships opportunities or volunteer at any group or organization in need of your skill-set or playing in your new career path. Ensure you build your CV/portfolio, and you want to have as many experiences as you can get on it. You can also work on open source projects.
All you should pursue in the first few months into your new career is portfolio building. This will give you confidence and also help you have hands-on experience that can sharpen your skill. When you attain the level where you are confident enough with good results from your work, you can either ask for a raise or seek employment where you can get better pay. It is also important that you seek to meet people playing in your career already, volunteering will give you this opportunity, you should cease it and use primarily for learning and expansion of your horizon on topics pertaining to your new career. Attend online and physical events, and connect with people of interest on LinkedIn.
Conclusion; build in the public, tell your own story, write your CV/Resume, and be aggressive
If you want more, you must do more. To get better job offers, gigs, etc., you need to take it a step further; you need to position yourself in a way people or organizations who need your services can easily notice you. Building in public is very important if you intend to have a successful career, it helps you take charge of your story because if you don’t tell your story by yourself, other will tell it in a way you do not like.
Put yourself social media platforms where people who need your service(s) use most often, and talk about what you do and the process you engage in achieving what you do. No matter the career path you are pursuing, you need a Resume, your employer will ask for one, your client will do the same and when they do, you must be able and ready to give a top-notch CV that can convince them of your competence in the first minute of reading your CV. The best way to go about this is to engage the service of a professional like us – Carrit to write a CV/Resume for you at an affordable price.
Changing your career can never be easy – change is never simple, but you can make it less painful by following the steps itemized in this article and you will be proud of leaving your stressful and draining career in the end.
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