How to Change Job or Career — The Simple 3 KEY steps
One of the SIMPLEST, yet HARDEST to answer questions for many clients of mine. Am asked this all the time — “How do I change to a Career I want?”
For many people, this question might sound quite simple and straightforward. But for a lot of people who ask me, this question is actually quite overwhelming. There are simply too many choices and options involved.
They often feel lost, confused and just don’t know how to find what they want to do, and then to get it.
So to keep this story simple, I’m going to break it down into three main parts on how to find a job or career that you actually want.
The first part is clarity.
This means is getting clear on what you want.
You have to do a life audit, basically figuring out what’s not working and what is working in your life, to figure out which parts that you want to cut out and which parts you want to keep and take forward.
Getting clarity also means knowing what you’re great at, what you love.
What people say you’re great at doing, and also any values or missions that you believe in.
For example, you want a job which helps people as opposed to working for a company that makes money, but with values that you don’t believe in.
So that’s the first part, getting clarity.
The second is self branding.
Nowadays, self branding is more important than ever.
It used to be just the case of getting a job is doing a good CV, having a good Resume, sending it out and hoping for the best.
Nowadays, I guarantee you… before you even get a chance to send your CV, people will already be looking at your social profiles. Facebook, Instagram, anything they can find on Google and most importantly, LinkedIn.
Now, I know it sounds silly and I do get asked this quite a bit as well, but people do ask, “Do I need a LinkedIn profile?”
Yes. Yes, you do.
LinkedIn has replaced the CV and Resume. That’s another topic that we can discuss about another time.
But trust me, I have friends in recruitment agencies, I’ve worked with lots of recruiters and LinkedIn is the thing that people will look at first, look at the most and it’s how the majority of candidates are found nowadays.
So yes, you need a LinkedIn profile and you need to make sure your LinkedIn profile is clear, up to date and precise. To ensure it’s got everything that you’ve done, the results and also what you’re planning to do next.
It has to match your CV as well. Too often, people have a CV (Resume) that’s two or three pages long and then, on their LinkedIn profile, each job / section has just one sentence on what they did.
If it doesn’t match, it looks a bit strange, somewhat lazy, and most importantly you’re missing your chance to tell the world about what you do (and telling Google how to find you via SEO and Keywords).
So, the second part was self branding.
The third part is applying and exiting.
Applying basically means not only just job applications, but networking with recruiters, networking with people that you want to connect with in the future, the ones who are already doing the roles that you’re going after, asking them for help and tips. This step is often overlooked or seems daunting, but is absolutely vital.
Exiting is also needed, and it’s simply how to leave your current job properly. You definitely want to be in good relationships with the place that you’re leaving. So, do great hand over notes, do your handover and training processes properly. So that in the future, if anything, you can not only just come back, but you might end up working together in some extent.
With how global the work is now, and how are remote working, there is a huge chance that this might happen, and for me it often has.
So three steps.
- Basically get clear on what you want
- Second is making sure you’re self branding properly.
- Thirdly is networking, applying and also leaving your current job properly.
I know it’s very simplistic what I’ve just mentioned, but in this short story, that’s all we’re going to cover.
If you have any questions and comments, do let me know in the comments below.
I do also have an Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn (social branding that I’ve just talked about!) So feel free to follow me there.
And of course, if you do want to know more, I’ve also got a website (www.sloanejapan.com), so check out my website. It has free resources and also a 12 step guide on how to change job. Helpful!
So thank you for reading as always, see you in the next one!
Francis
For my FREE Resources: www.sloanejapan.com
Follow me on IG: @francis_fung_coach
Follow my YouTube for more advice: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKRoQz7cG30Bxgrf3GR-ow
