In 2013, the University of Phoenix, in conjunction with Harris Interactive conducted a poll among 1,600 working adults.  55% of those surveyed were interested in changing careers with only 14% declaring that they are in their dream jobs.

 

The results among younger workers are even more troubling – a full 78% of workers in their 20’s and 64% of workers in their 30’s are interested in a career change.

 

If you find yourself among the majority of Americans who are interested in finding a new line of work, read on for six strategies to jump start your job search.

 

 1.  Define Success within Your New Career

 

Too often, people jump into a new role within their current company, change employers, or exit the corporate world and open a new business only to find that they continue to face the same issues and problems that they experienced in their previous job.  If you don’t want to be one of them, think through both what you want your work day to look and feel like as well as how your new career fits in with the work life balance you’d like to achieve.

 

If you have made this mistake in the past or want to avoid this with a move you are considering, read Four Tips to Make the Most of a Career Change for advice on how to define success.

 

 2.  Read About Career Change

 

Back in the 1990’s when Stacy was working in her second corporate job and realizing that it wasn’t leading to the balanced, happy life that she wanted for herself, she read What Color is Your Parachute by Richard N. Bolles.  This book has remained enormously popular among potential career changers and is a great place to get ideas for potential directions to take your career.

 

3.  Talk to People in Your Network

 

Once you have one or several new career paths in mind, leverage your networks!  Dig through your Linked In account and see who among either your contacts or your contacts’ contacts is working in a related job or in the field in which you are interested.

 

Also, talk to people at parties and social gatherings.  Assuming your boss isn’t in attendance, talk about the new job you are considering.  You’ll be amazed at the new connections you can make and information you can learn to help you with your career change decision.

 

 4.  Save Some Money

 

Sometimes you can be taking all of the right actions to make a positive change but fear may hold you back.  Not surprising, in the University of Phoenix study listed above, the number one reason (cited by 57% of respondents) that people stated as a barrier to career change is a lack of financial security.

 

Start taking this fear off the table by opening a separate “Career Change” bank account and saving money in it each month.  This money can be used to give you options such as paying to go back to school, seed money to start up a new business, or simply savings that you’ll draw from while your new income catches up to your old income.

 

There is nothing like a pool of money that you know you can draw from to give you the confidence to take the leap into a new career.

 

 5.  Take a Class

 

If you’ve read about it and talked about it and are saving for it and still remain unsure about which direction to take your career, try a career experiment.  Sign up for a class either online or at a local community college in an area that you think you might be interested in.

 

If you love it, great!  Sign up for a second class.  And if you don’t love it, scratch that career path off your list and try something else.

 

 6.  Try it Out

 

If you can’t find a class related to your new career or aren’t looking forward to stepping back into a classroom, find another way to try out your new career interest. Volunteer, find an unpaid internship, or take a part-time job that will give you a real-life taste of the career move you are considering.

 

You’ll definitely learn something new, you’ll probably have fun in the process, and you may even hit upon the perfect new career to jump into with both feet.

 

Your Assignment

 

Get out a pad of paper and pencil and carve out a half hour to:

• Define success in your new career.
• Map out two or three concrete steps you’ll take to learn more about areas of interest. This can be reading a book, talking to friends or business contacts, opening that new savings account or grabbing a course catalog from an online or local college.

 

Then share your thoughts on this process and what you learn along the way with the Custom Built Life™ community by commenting on this article below or on Facebook!