Making A Career Change After 25 Years. Is It Possible?
Q. I’ve been looking for a position for just over a year. Many have recommended a career change, but I don’t know if that is even practical. What have you seen with regards to people making career changes? I have a lot of skills after 25 years in my current career.
Jumping into a career change is tough enough, but not knowing what skills you bring to the party and how you can leverage these skills will make the transition even tougher. Many candidates believe that just because they have a skill it makes them marketable. This is not necessarily true. You are only marketable if a need exists for that skill. You can’t assume that there is a market, and that the market is willing to pay what you are asking.
Also, others may have the same skills, and some additional experience using those skills, which makes them more desirable.
A suggestion would be to first conduct a skills assessment (download a free Skills Assessment at www.bradremillardcareercoach.com). I suggest that you complete this, but also have others complete it for you too. Those that know you the best will see your skills from a different perspective.
Next you will have to determine if there is a market for these skills, where the market is, and the value of these skills in the market. It will be important to leverage these skills on your resume and when you interview. You can’t forget that others have these same skills. If they have some additional or unique experiences that you don’t, then your market and value in that market is decreased.
To download the free chapter on Conducting an Effective Phone Interview from our book “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.
How effective is your job search? If you are not sure, download our free 8 Matrix Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.
I welcome your thoughts and comments.
Brad Remillard
Tags: Career Mistakes, Career Planning
Career Change | bradremillard April 24, 2012
About the Author
Brad Remillard is a founding Partner of IMPACT Hiring Solutions, co-author of "You're NOT the Person I Hired", and "This is NOT the Position I Accepted". Brad is an award-winning international speaker, retained executive recruiter, and expert on hiring and retaining top talent, and executive job search.
