How am I going to make my Career Change happen?

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

Is your career change not working out the way you want? In my recent article I wrote that one of the top 3 concerns my career changing clients face is their regular questioning “How am I going to make my Career Change happen?

A valid question yet not a helpful one when you face a lack of clarity and confidence – two common symptoms of early career change fears.

Searching for your HOW TO answers is a normal part of your change process. Yet consider that you may not always find the answers you want or are looking for.

If you start overanalysing or feeling overwhelmed from  figuring out your HOW TO strategy, it’s time to pause.

 

Perhaps it’s the right time to stop asking yourself HOW TO change your career. This may sound like the most absurd tip from a career coach.

In my view, strategising HOW TO deal with your change is not always the best forward strategy.

 

Sometimes you just need to let go of … whatever you think should happen and the idea how it should happen.

What do I mean I that? Let me explain through my story.

A couple of years back, just when I met my now fiancé, the company I worked for had to close down their operations. This was the first time in my entire career I experienced redundancy.

I learnt the news just after we planned our first holidays to Croatia together. The excitement soon turned into fear and uncertainty.

 Every time when I worked towards achieving my career ambitions before, I used to get prepared, develop my action plan, answer my How to questions and then go for it. I had my HOW TOs figured out.

This time was different.

I understood the company’s decisions and the rationale behind it, yet the situation caught me off guard. Every day I was falling asleep with mixed feelings, doubt and sadness.

  • Would I be able to find another great job like this?
  • Would I be able to work a four-day week (which was amazing btw)?
  • Would I find a great team to work with?
  • Would I find a job where I feel supported by my boss and management like in this one?
  • What shall I do?
  • Will I, should I, … ?
  • Where and How can I find my next dream job?
  • How, how, how … ?

It wasn’t easy.

This was not the end of challenge for us.

My partner damaged his knee. This meant cancelling our holidays and waiting for an operation.

Having lived in two different countries, thousands of miles away from each other, times were challenging for us. This was the longest we spent apart.

One day, just when I was still processing my emotions and crying on the phone, he asked the question “Why don’t you move in with me?”

For me this meant moving countries and moving in with a man I have grown to admire and love, yet not knowing if we were ready for this step.

It also meant giving up on my idea of finding my dream job in London. And instead looking for a job in a country I knew very little about the job situation or job market trends.

I felt so underprepared for this career change!

The thing is, everything was happening so fast that I had no chance to make any plan for success.

I had my flight for holidays booked and instead of cancelling it, I took the opportunity to take time off.

To my surprise, just as I mentioned this my mum recommended a company that I can try to apply for a suitable position. Off I sent the CV with my application.

Believe it or not,  at the beginning my holidays I had the phone call interview and on Friday I found myself being interviewed for two possible positions. Just after I landed back to the UK, I heard those magical words “We would love to offer you … “

The life figured it out for us.

It happened so fast that I had no time to question How.

It just happened “boom-boom-boom” style without any strategy or a detailed plan of action for my career change.

 

If I was too fixed on finding my next job in London or too scared to say Yes to moving in with my partner while I was without a job, I’d never experience this new amazing change.

 What have I learnt from my career change and redundancy experience?

  1. I don’t have to know HOW all the time. I don’t have to have it all figured out.
  2. Brave decisions can lead to unexpected and unplanned steps forward.
  3. Allow the change to happen without trying hard or pushing hard.
This was my story.
I get that maybe right now you don’t feel that lucky. Maybe your plans are not working out the way you want. Maybe it’s not happening as fast as you wish. Perhaps you’ve been trying very hard yet not seeing any magical results.

Instead of punishing yourself to find your HOW TO answers, my TIP is to explore the following questions.

Connect with your career aspiration and ask yourself with compassion:
  • What can I let go of today? 
  • What’s my part in this today? 
  • Who can I approach today to have my questions answered (clarified)? 
  • Who can I turn to today who would listen to my aspirations? 
  • Who can I turn to today to feel the support and encouragement I need right now? 
Give it a go and let me know what have you discovered. I ‘d love to hear from you.
Also if your fear and lack of clarity are keeping you stuck, preventing you to kickstart your career change, feel free to reach out to me to discuss what your options could be. You can message me directly through my LinkedIn.

ps: Finding your dream job is more fun when you’re in a community of like-minded people, I invite you to join our Facebook group –  ZERO TO DREAM JOB CLUB.

Author: AdriAna Kosovska

Professional and certified coach & founder of ZERO TO DREAM JOB ACADEMY

 

I work with employees, couples and organisations that care about

Stress reduction |  Talents and strengths development | Dream job