Changing Careers? These 3 Fields Are Your Best Bet
Making a career change tends to go in one of two directions. You either planned ahead for the next field you want to pivot into, usually by going back to school or taking classes to refine skill sets. Or, you experienced the ever-popular situation where circumstances beyond your control left you with no choice but to make a career change.
According to the United States Department of Labor, 27% of individuals between the ages of 18 to 48 have worked 15 jobs or more. Once considered taboo to job hop, now it’s gradually becoming more encouraged within the workplace. Professionals seek positions and companies that best fit their skills and align with their values. Others also use this time to consider the jobs that got away, and pivot into a whole new role altogether.
Ready (or not) for your next career move? It’s not as nerve-wracking as it looks! Make the leap forward with confidence into one of these three thriving industries.
1. Consulting
Kanesha Baynard is a transition coach at Bold Living Today. She has noticed that many individuals tend to do well as consultants because the field welcomes a large variety of skills, experiences, and expertise. Many are able to step directly into consulting roles if they have a stellar portfolio and great connections.
What happens if you don’t have that portfolio or connections? Can you still make a career change into consulting? Personal branding strategist Marietta Gentles Crawford says it’s definitely worth pursuing if you have communication skills to back you up.
“The actual specifics of the consulting job in itself will vary, but the qualifications come down to soft skills,” Gentles Crawford explains. “Hiring managers are more concerned with seeing if you will be a good fit for the role based on your overall experience and personality.”
She notes that while there is a learning curve for training in any position, nobody can be trained to have a good personality.
“If you can master communicating your transferable skills, you’ll easily learn how to align your skills with the job description. This sets you apart from candidates that may match a role better on paper, but cannot sell their skills. And consultants value attributes like communication skills since they are skill-based professions.”
2. Wellness
How much is the wellness industry currently valued at? According to the Global Wellness Institute, that number is $4.2 trillion dollars. Wellness is one of the biggest industries in North America. If you pardon the pun, it’s an industry where a career change is genuinely good for you.
“There’s something for everyone in wellness,” says Chris Chancey, CEO of Amplio Recruiting. “You can go into yoga, aerobics, nutrition, health startups, or personal training.”
Chancey notes that some wellness niches may require certification, depending on your area of interest. It’s worth getting certified or receiving an advanced degree as necessary in your field. “If you’re passionate about health, wellness, and are motivated to inspire others on a one-on-one basis or in groups, a career in the well industry might be the right direction for you.”
3. Entrepreneurship
“Fine, don’t quit your job. Just cheat on it a little.” These are the opening sentences on salary replacement strategist Ina Coveney’s website. They sum up what she does well, too. Coveney started her own side hustle while she was on maternity leave and wound up making a significant mark in the online business coaching space. She works with full-time corporate workers to help them use their existing professional skills to create side businesses. These businesses allow them to replace their salary within one year, ultimately breaking out of life as an employee and entering entrepreneurship.
The corporate full-timers Coveney works with often experience a pattern in their career changes. They will pivot into a role not far from what they already do, or they choose to pursue their passion.
She recommends choosing the latter.
“People who chase their dreams report higher levels of satisfaction with their choice,” Coveney says, “Those that choose the familiar tend to believe life will be easier and that they will make more money. What they don’t realize is that they often fall into the same pitfalls they were running away from in their last job: the same hours and demands.”
Entrepreneurs, and solopreneurs, may be tasked with forming a business and addressing all of the responsibilities that come with operating one. After the initial first few years in business, however, it’s difficult to find an entrepreneur that regrets the decision made to follow their dreams and become the master of their own destiny. “When someone pursues a life they dream of, they have relentless discipline and resourcefulness to go for it,” Coveney says.
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