August 6, 2024, by Jackie Thompson
Changing career direction – it can be easier than you think
By Christian Jameson-Warren, Senior Careers Adviser Image by GreenCardShow from Pixabay
Our brains are prediction-making machines that aren’t always very good at predicting the future. Our brains work continuously to keep us safe and free from pain or discomfort.
To do this, they constantly analyse our situation to predict any potential issues based on a lifetime of lived experience. However, making predictions about the future based on past experience is often a lot more difficult than you’d expect, especially when it comes to what makes us happy.
There are simply a lot of factors to consider, and while our brains do their best they often don’t have enough information to make a perfect prediction.
Things change…
So, it’s perfectly normal to make a decision based on the information available to you at the time, and later on realise it wasn’t the right thing.
This is where another part of how our well-meaning brains work to keep us safe may not be helpful – your inner monologue. What messages do you tell yourself? What are you worried about? Where does it come from?
For example, I see a lot of students who worry about not making the perfect career choice. When we dig into it, it’s often because they’ve been conditioned over time that to do well (academically, socially and so on) you have to get things right the first time.
It’s this messaging that has enabled them to be excellent students, but not always useful in this context. Acknowledging these thoughts helps to reduce their emotional impact.
What do you learn from this?
On the flip side, as part of our brain’s work to keep us away from discomfort, we often learn more by things going wrong than when they go right. By identifying what you don’t like, you can then consider if the opposite is more likely to be right for you, for example, the nature of the work, the environment, the organisation’s ethos and so on. It is more data for your brain to process to make more informed decisions next time.
Showcasing your experience
When thinking about your next steps, it can help to know that in most instances, you can apply for graduate roles up to four years after graduation. Therefore, changing career direction may be easier than you think.
Most job adverts put a strong emphasis on transferable skills such as communication, problem-solving, organisation and so on. Therefore, the experience you’ve gained in your role will invariably help you make a stronger application, even if it is in a completely different field. For example, you may have developed a deeper understanding of how business functions work together to achieve a common objective that only comes through having experience in the workplace.
To help identify high-level transferable skills, I encourage people to think about the challenges to achieving workplace goals. Next, what steps did you take to overcome these? What skills did this demonstrate?
What’s your narrative?
If you decide to change careers, it helps to craft a narrative to tell your story in a compelling way. The format I like to use is a past-present-future narrative.
For example, ‘Originally, I chose to work in A because B. I realised what I really liked was C, and therefore I wanted to do more of D.
The easy option would’ve been to stay where I was, but as I’m very passionate about E, I chose to take the harder option to pursue F.
This approach frames your decision to change careers in a positive way that highlights your motivation for what you are applying for in a way that differentiates you from other potential candidates.
If you’re already in a job and looking to change direction or investigate careers beyond what you think you’re able to do with your degree and skills, talk to us. The Careers team is here for life, use us! Visit our Careers website and choose the option that fits your situation whether you are a current student, alumni or postgraduate researcher.
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