Entering the turbulent waters of a new job market and into a field, you are not sufficiently familiar with can come across as tough prospects that have the ability to drive people positively mad. And this is completely true, of course.
Now, if you are one of the folks on their merry way toward jump-starting their career, you’ve come to the right place, alright!
In this here article, we’re going to talk about how you can go through this transitioning process without stressing too much over it. Truth be told, you can’t avoid the stress completely, but you can definitely do some things that would help you deal with it more efficiently.
So, here’s how to approach the sensitive transition into your new career.
5 Tips for Transitioning Into Your Chosen Career without Losing Your Mind
1) Make Sure You’re Sufficiently Skilled for Your New Career
If you were to operate a nuclear aircraft carrier without having any idea of how to operate a nuclear aircraft carrier, that would surely lead to some anxiety. The same goes for accounting, woodworking, repairing fridges, driving cars, and writing articles online in MS word.
Indeed, not having the necessary skills for the job you need to do would be one of the most disastrous situations that can befall a person entering a new professional field.
To prevent this, you have to do the obvious – fake it till you make it! No, not really. Simply ensuring your skillset is at the desirable level would suffice.
2) Connect to the Pool of People Already in Your New Profession
Nowadays, there are all sorts of forums out there on the Internet, where you can look up what different professionals are talking about. For example, if you’d like to become a translator, you can join a Facebook page for translators (in your target language, of course) and then you can see what the profession is like first hand.
You can see what the most difficult parts of the profession are, how the folks doing it are dealing with their problems as well as other things related to doing the job itself.
This can be a great way to determine whether or not you’re fit for the profession at hand, or a specific position within that profession.
3) Don't Be Afraid to Seek Support
Entering a new career is not a light prospect and wise people of yore have recognised this. So, to make sure people have more insight into what they’d like to do with their lives, these smart folks have ventured to organise structures such as career resource centres. You can also turn to a coach who can help you focus and overcome the hurdles that no doubt await you.
Many colleges have these inbuilt in the structure of the college itself, so you won’t really have a tough time finding these and connecting with them if you’re a student.
If you’re not a student, on the other hand, you can still reach out to one of these institutions and find out more about your designated career of choice before ever joining a workplace with that career. Grand stuff, indeed.
4) Try Shadowing Someone
Switching from college to work doesn’t mean you’ll just have to jump into a new position without ever knowing what awaits at the other end. In fact, there are multiple ways you can figure out if a job would suit you once you get employed.
For example, you can ask a friend who’s already in the business, inform yourself online by visiting a forum, or simply ask to shadow someone for a day. What you’d need to do pretty much amounts to doing their work for a day to see how you like it. If you find the whole thing favourable, you can apply for a position at that company.
If you don’t like it, you’ve saved yourself some nasty contract breaches and other problems down the road! What’s not to love?
5) Volunteer
This entry is fairly similar to the previous one, with the difference that you won’t be doing exactly the job you’re interested in, but a watered-down version of it.
Volunteering, in general, allows you to connect to likeminded people, get a general idea of how you like what you’re doing, and do some humanitarian work, as well. Of course, you need to make sure your volunteering work is in the same vein of work as your job position of choice.
There isn’t much use trying to figure out if you like accounting by volunteering for delivering calves at a cow farm, now is there?
All things considered, getting ready for your treading down your career path is no easy feat. It requires proper skills on your part, preparation, and perhaps a little support from the outside. Bottom line, as long as you’re willing to learn and work (and are not woefully underskilled), you’ll be good to go!