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Desperate for a Career Change? Here’s the Inspiration and Advice You Need

12 tips from expert coaches and people who found the courage to make the move

As many employees grow disillusioned with the demands of late-stage capitalism, weary from a lack of work-life balance or enamoured with the idea of chucking a safe position to pursue a creative dream, more and more of us are pondering a career pivot. But how many of us will actually take the plunge? It’s intimidating! But it is doable and not that uncommon (only 27 per cent of college grads have a job related to their major). For inspiration, we chatted with four people who’ve made the leap and are loving it and with a couple career experts for their top tips on how to follow a new path and find more joy in your work.

1. Take some time to figure out what you really want

Doreen To was sick of the long hours and burnout that came with her job. She worked in fashion as a pattern maker and fit technician—neither of which paid very well—and freelanced as a costumer in the film industry as well. “I had goals to have a family one day and wanted to make more money. I became a mom in 2022. I think my passion for working in fashion died when my paycheque did not reflect the amount of work and hours I put in, as I always worked overtime as it was expected,” Doreen says. “For film, I couldn’t do 12-plus hours a day anymore. I value my relationship with my partner, my health and my personal time.” She decided to take back some time for herself, enjoying the flexibility that entrepreneurship brings. She now creates a line of handmade natural skincare and bath products, and runs a photo-booth rental business. “I really enjoy running a photo booth. It gives me the same excitement as working in film, lots of set-up and planning and meeting new people,” she says. “I’m in control, I make my own schedule and charge my worth.” She’s also setting herself up for a stable career in the future by taking UX design in school part-time: “I hope to eventually work full-time in this field to have stability. I chose UX Design because it’s a creative and collaborative field, which fits my work goals.” She recommends taking some time off to reflect on what you want your career to look like, even if it’s just a day or two, or setting aside some time on the weekend or after work.

Focus on your favourite responsibilities—even the surprising ones

Chelsea Omel always envisioned a curatorial career in museums, but once she got into one, she gravitated toward the business side. For someone with such a deep passion for the arts, this was a little…unexpected. “At one point I had a role where I was working with the director and the senior leadership on a new strategic plan and subsequent reorg and I really liked it,” says Chelsea. So she pivoted from museum-related masters programs to an MBA to help her bring a different kind of expertise to the arts—and she didn’t even end up there after all. “I thought I’d go back to the cultural sector, but once I got to school, I realized I could find work that was really fulfilling in other sectors.”

Expert advice:“Before looking out at the world of work, take a deep look inward: What are you good at? What are your interests? What do you need in terms of a work environment? What is important to you? The clearer idea you have about who you are and what you need will help you to be able to then look at the world of work through your own lens and perspective. Things like career testing can be really helpful for this.” —Lydia Laughlin

2. Determine what values are important to you

Figuring out what you really need in a career is key, according to Chelsea. A mentor told her to get really clear about what’s important to her about her work life. What are your top three values for a job? What are the three things that you need to feel happy and fulfilled in a job? “It might take some soul-searching to get there, but it is so helpful to have a clear idea of what you are looking for, and having this clarity can help you keep an open mind when you’re looking at job postings, especially when a title doesn’t necessarily align to what you have in mind—sometimes those are the best jobs!” Chelsea says. For example, her drivers were autonomy, collaboration and delight.

Expert advice: “Listen to your body. We’re used to making decisions mostly from the neck up, but have you ever noticed how your body definitely has some opinions about things? That’s by design. Every mammal on planet Earth has biological feedback to help it navigate the world, and we are no exception. Does thinking about a certain career path make you clench up? Give you hives? Make you feel more open and expansive? If your body is giving you a strong response one way or the other, listen.” —Sarah Vermunt, Careergasm founder and bestselling author of Careergasm: Find Your Way to Feel-Good Work

3. Hire a career coach—for more than career advice

Kaarina* got a job in sales directly out of college and ended up staying there longer than planned. She eventually turned to a career coach to help her forge a new path. “The one-on-one support they provide made a huge difference in my job hunt,” Kaarina says. “Even past the insight they are able to provide on resumé and cover-letter building and navigating interviews, the career coaches I was provided with gave me the emotional support I needed in my career change.” Working with a coach helped Kaarina make her way to a new field: web development.

4. Find a mentor

Another great person to have in your corner is a mentor. Kaarina suggests finding folks who have a similar story to yours who can help guide you in your job change. Poke around on LinkedIn to find people who may have switched careers like you want to or get to know people in your line of work who can give you some good insight.

Expert advice: “LinkedIn is a truly powerful tool. The advanced searching you can do on there really helps you to be able to see the connection between who you know and who they know, to be able to find and get introduced to contacts in different industries and organizations. This is not an easy task, because it requires you to put yourself out there, but it can truly be so rewarding. Over 70 per cent of jobs are [found] through networking, so spending the majority of your time on this is time well spent. This is especially important when transitioning roles or industries because talking to people and explaining your career story is always more powerful than what can be written in a LinkedIn profile or resumé.” —Lydia Laughlin, Senior Career Consultant at Feldman Daxon Inc.

5. Network, network, network

Kaarina was terrified to network, but it’s crucial in finding opportunities in your new line of work. She started off with folks she already knew. “For me, I found it easier to just keep communication with those I met through school or in interviews vs. just reaching out to complete strangers. I have some amazing connections and relationships now, and being on the other side of it I also see the joy felt when you’re able to help someone new to this industry as well,” Kaarina says. It’s also smart to expand your network into people you haven’t met yet.

When Chelsea was pondering an industry change out of the museum space, she set up dozens and dozens of coffee chats. She made a list of questions and then set up as many conversations as she could with people who were working in her target field of service design, who had made a similiar transition, or who she generally admired. “The key thing here is that you can’t go into these conversations looking for a job,” Chelsea says. “You need to go in with the mindset that you are there to learn and connect. I kept a list of my top three questions at any given time, so I was always prepared. Also be courteous, punctual and follow up with a thank-you.” She’s managed to secure a series of fancy positions in her new field, but she still keeps up this practice to continue building her network. And one other bonus? She’s met at least two good friends this way, too.

6. Fine-tune your cover letter and resumé

It can be tough to stand out in a crowded field, but a killer cover letter and resumé can help. One easy trick? Rachael* started out in customer service but wanted to segue into a new type of role: horticultural technician. When the time came to craft their resumé and cover letter, they pored through each job description and pulled out important keywords to add to her application package. This shows hiring managers that you have a good attention to detail and can parse how to apply your experience to the job at hand—and can also increase your chances of getting your documents past any automated job-application scanners.

Expert advice:
“You want to think about your resumé not as a chronology of everything you have done but instead a marketing document for what you want to do. This one shift in mindset can really help career-changers to see the possiblities instead of the limitations. From your former roles you gained valuable skillsets and experience that will help you to be more well-rounded in your future experience. You want to identify transferable skills, experiences and background that you do have and leverage those to make you marketable for where you are looking to go.” —Lydia Laughlin

“Once you know what you’re targeting, strip all the old jargon and industry-specific language out of your resumé. I ask [my clients] to write their experience like they were explaining it to an 8-year-old kid. When you do that, it forces you to really boil things down to their essence. And once you have things boiled down to their essence, you’ll see that you have way more transferable skills than you thought you did. Once you’ve done that, use a couple of job descriptions for the new area you want to work in and notice what the main themes are. What are the main skills they’re looking for? What kind of language do they use? Borrow from that and wrap some of that language around your experience for your rewrite.” —Sarah Vermunt

7. Put together a portfolio to prove you can do the job

Having some great examples of past work on hand—and how it could translate to your new adventure—can help sell future employers on your ability to switch into a new role or industry. “Picture a tasteful PowerPoint with a few pictures that tells the story of context, what was the problem you were trying to solve, what actions did you take and what were the results,” Chelsea says. It took her about 50 drafts to perfect hers, but even that process was helpful in honing her selling points—and, she says, a useful artifact to pull out in an interview.

8. Nail your elevator pitch

Switching industries or roles really requires you to hone your elevator pitch, according to Chelsea: Time to master your 30-second “about me” story. “When you’re switching jobs, the part of it that’s on you is conveying to whoever is hiring exactly how all the experience you have in some unrelated field is actually relevant and enabled you to get to where you are today,” Chelsea says. For her, that was the story about how her experience in museums and art history had taught her about the importance of context and storytelling, which was super-relevant to a new career in service design. “Getting there took time, though,” she says. “You have to practise, practise, practise every chance you get.”

9. Lean on your support network as needed

Make sure your friends and family know you’re working toward career transition, so they can lend expertise if possible and give a little extra emotional support where necessary. “I was so blessed to have an incredible support system and so many people who love me and were rooting for me,” Kaarina says. “Without my partner and our families in my corner I would have struggled and might not have stuck it out until I found the job I have now.”

Expert advice: “Only ask for advice if you really want it. Most people actually have way more people weighing in on their career decision-making than is helpful or necessary. People will project their own fears and needs onto you. Decision-making is much easier if you don’t have a ton of people chirping their two cents at you.” —Sarah Vermunt

10. Apply for jobs, even if you’re missing a few requirements

Missing one or two application “must-haves”? Kaarina recommends applying anyway. “Focus on what you do know and have experience in,” she says. “Find connections between skills and experiences from your old career to connect to new jobs.” Don’t fall victim to the old stat that women are most likely to only apply for jobs where they meet 100 per cent of the requirements. Go for it, anyway, like a dude would!

11. Believe it’s never too late

It can be easy to make excuses when you’re scared of change (“I’m old,” “I don’t have enough savings,” “I have a family to take care of”), but that fear can also be a valuable weapon in your career-reset arsenal. Doreen suggests turning any excuses into your reason to actually do it, she says. You can reframe this as you’re old enough to figure out how to follow your passions and have the wisdom to make it happen. Or if you don’t have enough savings, a career pivot could yield more money for you and your family. “It’s never too late,” she says.

Expert advice: “The easiest thing you can do in life is nothing and maintain the status quo. Any change is hard, and a change of this magnitude can feel completely daunting. It is worth it, and it is worth it at any stage of your career. It is worth it to check in with yourself and ask yourself if you are feeling happy and fulfilled in what you are currently doing. Ask yourself how your job or career is negatively impacting other areas of your life: your mental health, your relationships, your finances. And then ask yourself: Is the price of staying better than the risk of putting yourself out there and making a change?” —Lydia Laughlin

12. Accept that there’s no one path to success

Doreen learned that there is no one straight path to making a job change. “You have to carve out your own [path] and make it work for you,” she says. Chelsea suggests potential pivoters reframe their thinking to make the transition a little less terrifying. “There were two moments that felt like jumping off a cliff. I quit my permanent job at Canada’s largest museum to go back to school full-time. It was a big decision, and I wasn’t entirely sure where it would land me. The second was when I decided I wanted to move into a new sector and a new type of role in service design—it just felt very unknown and I had no idea where to start,” Chelsea says. “So think about it as a series of stepping stones, and not just one big jump.”

Expert advice: “Don’t dismiss the value of a stepping-stone job. Depending on how big a pivot you’re making, you may not be able to do it one single step. A stepping stone job is something that helps you move in the direction you ultimately want, even if you’re not all the way there yet.” —Sarah Vermunt

*Last names withheld

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