Discover your potential with the Jobscan Career Change Tool
Although geography, culture, and age play a role in career decisions, many people worldwide are moving away from the job-for-life mentality. We’re embracing gig economies and, in many cases, developing new skills in order to change careers.
In Britain, 46% of workers quit their jobs in order to retrain and embark on new career paths at some point. In the U.S., Baby Boomers will work an average of 12.3 jobs in their lives. And for Millennials, that number is bound to be much higher. One survey showed that young workers are comfortable job hopping and even believe changing jobs often advances their careers.
All these statistics point to one thing: changing jobs, and even career paths, is normal. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily easy. Many factors play a role in how difficult transitioning careers will be. Some variables to consider are:
People change careers for many reasons, including financial opportunity, work-life balance, and changing economies. Your reasons for making a career change could influence how you approach your search. Here we’ve listed some of the most common reasons people change careers.
Evaluating your personal reasons for changing careers is important and will inform your job search.
If you’ve evaluated your reasons for changing careers, you may have a good idea of which jobs you want to pursue. You may, however, only have a vague idea of which direction you’re headed. Consider the three questions below when beginning your search.
On your journey to finding the best career for you, you must consider your personality type, preferred working environment, and interests. At this point in your professional life, you may now understand yourself and your ideal working environment much better than you did when you were younger. Let this knowledge guide your search. If you’re unsure about your nature and how it affects your working style, you can take a career assessment online.
This question will take you back to the above section, where you evaluated your reasons for transitioning careers. Now that you know what your needs are, you’ll have to find out which careers match up. Consider reserving time to research different careers and industries and talk to people already in those careers, whether they’re friends or someone you connect with at a networking event or on LinkedIn.
Here’s where the Jobscan Career Change Tool (above) can really help in your search. Some people may want to completely restart their careers from scratch, but most people will want to find jobs that match their existing skillset. The tool above will help you see which alternative careers are good matches for you and your resume.
Applying for any job requires well thought out materials. Right now, you have an advantage over your younger self because you have accrued skills and experience. However, you may feel at a disadvantage among other candidates whose work histories and resumes are more relevant.
The key to getting a recruiter’s attention is effectively showing how the skills on your resume can transfer to the role and highlighting the ways in which your unique skills make you a standout candidate. You can accomplish this in both your resume and cover letter.
The Jobscan Career Change tool (at the top of the page) can show you which jobs are best matches based on your current resume. Paste your resume into the tool and find out which careers match up. This tool is great for understanding how your resume presents to applicant tracking systems and recruiters, as well inspiring career change ideas.
The core Jobscan resume optimization tool can be even more beneficial as you progress in your search and begin applying for jobs. You can scan your resume against any job description and see how well your skills and experience line up.