At some point in your professional life you will experience a Career Transition. This is different from changing jobs. Transition is an internal shift within you. It will begin with an ending, develop into a neutral in-between zone, and end with a new beginning. Here are 4 common situations that lead to career transition:
- You’ve been fired, or suddenly lost a job for another reason
- You’re in a dead-end job
- You’re faced with an unexpected opportunity (opportunity being a key word here)
- You’ve decided to take a leap
I have experienced a career transition twice in my life for two of the reasons above. Once when I had the opportunity to join start-up company at the same time I had just been promoted at work. And a second time when I left successful long-term career to join my current employer LaSalle Network. Two transitions that changed my career dramatically.
What would you do if you were fired tomorrow? Would you have a plan? You Should. Start by connecting with both your personal and your professional network. Don’t wait until you need something to reach out. Invite people to coffee chats, and let them know ahead of time what you hope to get out of the meeting. But these meetings don’t always have to be career related. They could be about any business topic you are curious about.
Most of us don’t think about updating our resume until we are looking for a job. Take the stress out of the task by creating a resume dump. Continually add key accomplishments and achievements to a resume as they occur at work. No need to word them perfectly, just keep track so you can easily update your resume when the time comes. And make sure you keep up with industry trends through reading and research.
As a career coach, I have helped hundreds of individuals go through a career transition, many of who felt stuck in a dead-end job. Further advancement just wasn’t possible. When this happens, take a step back. Identify relevant skills that would add value to prospective employers in the future. These might be acquired through formal education or self-taught. Write an article about an industry or career of interest and post it on your LinkedIn or consider writing a blog. Reassess priorities. What do you enjoy most now? What is most important to you now, or what has become more important over time? According to Bill Burnett and David Evans, who wrote the book “Designing Your Life,” we all contain enough energy and talents and interest to live many different types of lives, all of which could be authentic, interesting and productive.
When a positive situation unexpectedly occurs, take the opportunity to learn and grow. This is a time when you need to maximize your hustle. Hustle at work is all the things you do to rock your career and get stuff done. Put in the time and energy, go the extra mile and you will ultimately build a job you love.
Finally, career transition can also occur when you decide to talk a leap. Who hasn’t at some point thought about a dream job that you would leap to if everything was aligned? When someone voluntarily leaps into a new career, location or responsibility that requires big life-impacting choices, they are experiencing transition.
It’s true. Things are going to happen in your career. Some of them will be good, others not so good. If you couple relationships with guts, character with values, and skills mixed with hustle nothing can stop you!
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