Making an informed career change

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.

- George Bernard Shaw

Today, the career mosaic is in a state of flux with even landscape is changing and so are the practices and methods that support a successful career change. Till a decade back, the very discernment of what implied a good career entailed pursuing professions and progressively moving up in a phased manner to become an expert in your concerned field. Even parents had to toil so that the academic activities of their children did not suffer and they joined professions like engineering, medicine, law and business management, etc. However, the world and everything in it is as also people aspirations as related to their work lives.

There are primarily three prime causes that brought about this change in career perception:

· Technical advancements that have changed our work routine in that it is now possible to work from almost and effectively any corner of the world.

· The death of the join-and-superannuate job in view of the changed environment on account of outsourcing and contractual assignments; and resultantly availability of reduced strength of manpower in establishments.

· A distinct change in outlooks and mind-sets wherein people are not bothered much about their prestige and social standing. Instead, the emphasis is on accomplishment, contentment, denotation and rationale.

In the light of the above, when you contemplate over making a career change, you need to introspect and query yourself on the following issues:

· Where do I want to be and how do I want to utilise your time? In essence, you should be able to discern what ought to be your aspired work and workplace – whether it is at an office or outdoors, in company or sans it. If at all possible, a career change should facilitate getting into a job that you would adore and delight in. If you apply your expertise in a field of work that happens to be your area of fascination or appeal, you will derive happiness and satisfaction. The degree of your fulfilment will rise if the overall work atmosphere is congenial, otherwise it will be a classic example of trying to combine two things that are neither compatible nor desirable. Therefore, it is essential that you research and investigate work atmospheres that go with you.

· What are the life and learning encounters that I am seeking?  It is necessary that you are cognizant of your approaches, outlooks and spirits related to your work; and how they need to be accorded precedence. More often than not, people designate whatever they seek to gain but miss out on the experience that they need to possess for the purpose. In fact, you should be able to enunciate where precisely you ought to be in about half a decade from now. A discernment of the experience that you should inescapably have about problems related to clarity of research and various actions to be initiated by you will facilitate gaining that experience. An insight of the experience considered good will result in an open mind and you will be able to evaluate various options that could possibly lead you to gaining it.  

· What is that actually concerns me? You should mull over how you can infuse zeal in others and bequeath something to others behind you. An urge to perform is great and serves as an impelling factor. Any work that you take pleasure in doing will invariably be close to your heart. Moreover, such work also seems right and appropriate; and in the bargain, you will get to identify and know the surplus of prospects and liberty at your disposal. You will be able acquit yourself confidently and generate a rationale for your life. In doing so, you will stay motivated too.

Remember that every single moment of the day provides you opportunities to make collective use of your urges for the benefit of others. There will be some pursuits that you simply cannot afford to miss; and they would necessarily entail some conduct on your part, which will by themselves be highly enriching, stimulating and inspiring. The happiness that you long for and the rationale that you want to come in your life will consequently be reinforced. You will emerge a stimulated individual and better geared to decide on the career change that you seek. 

It is important that you make no attempt to live your life backwards. Rather than trying to have more resources to possess what you seek, your maiden effort should be to become your true self and then move ahead to get whatever you seek.