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Is changing careers for me
Sometimes I really don't like what I'm doing and think about changing careers. But I'm fairly risk-adverse and the thought of "starting all over again" really daunts me. Any advice on how to move forward?
Considering a career change should take steps so your in a good starting position. First, you need to find out what you are wanting in your career. This will determine if you are really just looking for a better salary, more responsibilities, desire a promotion or title, desire to work more with people or less with people, etc. Once you know what you are wanting it may not take you to a new career at all. Here is a example of what I am saying. I took a job straight out of college that was 128 miles each way. I was newly married and my husband was willing to find a job in the new location where I was employed. He was in sales and thought it would be easy to find a sales job in that area but he was wrong. He could not find work in the area. I began to like the job and thought I could go far with it. I continued to drive 128 miles each way for the next 8 months then I told my Supervisor that I just couldn' t do the drive but that I believed in the company and liked the work. My supervisor asked me to put together something showing that I could do my job at the office and partly at my home location. I did that and got to work part time in the office and the rest at home. Point is that changing the career path was not my problem the drive was so I worked on a way to adjust. But, if you really want to change your career you need to research the career path you are wanting to move to. You should check out the following 5 things: - Do you have the skills for this job and are you educated to perform this job? Research this career for duties, education, income, availability/need, etc.
- Do you have money set aside or are you financially in a position that if this new job doesn' t work out that you can take care of your bills and life needs?
- Does this new career exist in your area? Is there drive time, travel, etc. needed? Estimate the financial changes of this job and costs associated with it.
- Update your resume.
- Create a cover letter that links the duties, skills, etc. of your past career to your new career. So that a recruiter or human resources manager can see how you could fit to into this new career position. Do the work for them and take the question out of their mind about how your past career and the new one relate.
Once you setup an interview - check out the company you will be interviewing with. Be sure to mention something about the company you have learned. During the interview be sure to relate your links from past career to the new career. Lastly, be prepared to ask questions of the interviewer. A few key questions that I recommend are: - You asked me why I would like to work for "Company Name" can you tell me why you enjoy working with "Company Name".
- Is this a new position? If not what happened to the last person in this role?
- What would you say would be the first obstacle to have to work on in this role?
Okay, as someone who does the hiring for all support positions for all of the branches in three of the states our firm practices in, here are the problems with those three questions: - Don't ask the interviewer why they like to work for whatever company. First you are going to come off as sarcastic, especially if you phrase it as "I told you this so you can tell me that". Second, you can be sure that the answer is going to be along the lines of, "I enjoy the atmosphere and co-workers. It is a really enjoyable place to work".
- It is fine to ask if the position is a newly created one, but don't ask what happened to the person who had the job before you. The answer is going to be "they left for other opportunites". Do you really think the interviewer is going to say, "oh, yeah, well we canned her buttt because she screwed up". Likewise the interviewer is not going to say, "oh, she quit and took a job someplace else". You are simply not going to get a true answer for this because until you start to work there, what goes on is none of your business. (and some companies figure it is none of your business even when you work there) [an exception is if the individual left or is leaving because of pregnancy and wants to stay at home with baby]
- Why would you ask a question that is so negative and inquire how difficult the job might be? Plus, this is a very subjective question. The interviewer might see something as a roadblock to the successful completion of the project, but you may see it as no problem at all. Some interviewers have no idea at all about the position itself which is why you are being interviewed and not them. Why don't you ask, instead, about the positive aspects of the people, the workplace, the environment, the customers.
I have to say that I have an opposite opinion from yours on these questions. I've been a recruiter/hiring manager, too, and I've never had any problems being asked these questions, and in fact, am impressed by candidates who do ask these types of questions. - Asking the interviewer why they work for a particular company can give the candidate great insight as to why they should work there. It also shows the interviewer that the candidate is interested in the culture of the company and they are taking the position seriously. If the interviewer responds with "The benefits are awesome," and that's something that's important to the candidate, then great. If they say, "I love the people here - we're like family," but the candidate prefers to not be social at work, then they know this may not be the best fit for them.
- Asking why the previous person left can show the candidate what needs to be worked on. I've never lied, nor had an employer lie to me, about why a particular position was open. If the employer says, "We had some attendance issues," the candidate can point out their reliability and punctuality. I've even had an employer tell me that the previous person had a conflict with another person in the office, and so I stressed my ability to get along well with others (on the flip side, if there is a problem person in the department who's still there, does the candidate really want to work there? Follow up questions may be required).
- Asking about obstacles, or anything negative, shows that you are truly considering the pros and cons of this job and really contemplating whether it will be a fit for you. Granted, an answer to this question should be followed up with positives about how you've handled things in the past or could help with the obstacles they're experiencing.
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