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Job-Getting Techniques for Career Changing

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Have you heard about the police officer turned science teacher, the maintenance superintendent turned boat captain, or the professor turned management consultant? What about the ballerina turned product manager, the homemaker turned booking agent, or the farmer turned politician? You may have heard of at least one of these career changes, but you probably know of many others through your personal experience. Perhaps you’re contemplating your own change, but you just don’t know what to do.

If you have not yet experienced a career change, you may be considering one at some time or another. The typical American changes careers three times during a lifetime. Because of this important social phenomenon called ''career changing," this article may be dedicated to you.

Career changing entails a refocusing of productive energies from one occupational field to another and a new commitment to develop and grow in that new field. Career changing may involve a radical changeover in which little of the acquired skill from a prior job can be reapplied to the new job, or it may involve a modest changeover in which much of the skill acquired in previous work can be directly reapplied, transferred, and reutilized.



Driving Forces behind Career Changes

People change careers for many reasons. One important reason is the lack of compatibility between individual and career; this is particularly attributed to ''poor career planning" in earlier years. Many modern career changers started their first careers without the benefit of self-analysis, job analysis, or market analysis information. Important decisions were often dictated by family expectations, popular fads, or economic circumstances.

To help young people today to make better initial career decisions, modern education attempts to provide ''career education" experience. Through career education it is hoped that people will be able to satisfy themselves better and to grow personally within intelligently chosen careers. In addition, career education attempts to provide young people with the knowledge and flexibility to change careers if and when such changes are dictated by events.

Today, in our scientific and technological age, changing events seem to be the rule rather than the exception. New specialties and fields emerge, while others disappear; new technologies, processes, and methods are created, while others become obsolete. Young graduates of modern educational programs will probably make better initial career decisions and know how to cope with change. But for the rest of us, attention must be given to the development of those skills at this time.

Following are many of the reasons for career changing:
 
  1. Escape from boredom and routine.
  2. Avoidance of frustration, pressure, or undue stress.
  3. Desire to satisfy new or different personal needs.
  4. Desire to satisfy new or different family needs.
  5. Desire to find a new life-style following a serious family disruption, such as separation, divorce, or death.
  6. Realization of a dead-end career.
  7. Forced or induced early retirement.
  8. Drastic changes in working conditions, job requirements, or health.
  9. Industrial or professional phase-out.
  10. Opportunity for employment in new and attractive fields.
  11. Greater freedom of choice for minorities and women in career selection.
  12. Increased availability of adult education, opening up new career options.

With your career planning completed, you are ready to start preparing your job-getting documents and searching for your new career position. 

Career changers who plan well for this occasion should not possess any ''real" job handicaps. Yet, because of fixed attitudes by some employers against career changers who tend to be older and come from different fields, career changers at times experience job-getting handicaps. Although these handicaps exist in the minds of employers, they do affect you directly. Therefore, you must take active steps to resolve your image problem and overcome any obstacles in your campaign path. 

A person going through a career change is generally older than one just embarking on a first career. Oftentimes, you’ll see employees suddenly deciding that they want something new at age 30, at age 40, or even older. But age need not present an insurmountable obstacle if it is de-emphasized in your presentation and if, instead, “experience that comes with age" is emphasized. Realize that employers can get greater problem-solving ability and productivity from more experienced workers who have proven track records in other areas and who have made successful transitions. 

If your experience in a prior career can be directly reapplied to solving problems in this new field, then that experience should definitely be emphasized in resumes, letters, and interviews. The fact is that in this job market, the word experience can be a magical selling point.

In selling yourself during a career change, all past experience should be considered, even though some experience relates only distantly to the new job requirements. Almost any work experience can be translated into and sold as maturity, reliability, people ability, situational finesse, organizational know-how, and other important, desirable job-related traits.

In applying for positions in which younger people are generally employed, the career changer should consider conducting a job search with greater emphasis on campaigns in which initial company contact is in person rather than by mail.

Professional appearance, proper personality, and well-developed oral communication skill are qualities that career changers can more successfully demonstrate and sell than can younger, less experienced job searchers. If your career transition period involves a professional educational degree program, consult with professors for career advice and future leads. Also contact practitioners within your new career for advice. 

A problem of new college graduates embarking on careers is the lack of awareness of important experiences acquired while in college. Similarly, a problem of career changers is the lack of awareness of important experiences acquired in prior jobs that could reapply to future work. It is imperative for career changers to carefully search their pasts to locate every bit of evidence which would demonstrate skill, ability, and potential for success in their new careers. Where such evidence is lacking, education and training must supply it.
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