GARIDO Business News

Career change is one of the most important decision and the most important step in ones life. This career change can alter ones life completely and change it for ever. People change careers because they find their current careers boring, monotonies, and unchallenging. There are people who change their careers because they want to try out something new. There are many career changing options available. The industries have become more flexible and are welcoming multi tasking individuals. There are many examples of people who have changed their careers and have been successful at it.

A few important things that one should consider before changing one career are that The fore most thing is to identify the correct reason for which you are changing your a career. There can be many things like friend’s influence, monotonous job, lack of growth opportunities, lack of passion, lack of incentives, etc. Once you understand the basic reason why you want to change your career then you will be in a position to think of the new career options.

The second most important thing is to choose a new career. The choice of the new career should be made according to the job opportunities, the growth option, and the pay packages and last but not the least your passion for the new career. There is no point in changing ones career just for the sake of changing it. One should have a strong enough to change his or her career and then also should be confident of doing well in the new career. Then one should also check out the courses that are on offer for the new career. Taking these courses will help you get a better job in that field and will also be helpful for your growth.

There are many part time courses that are available and can help you change your profession. For, example if an IT professional undergoes a part time course for fashion designing and if he is good at it, then he can change is career and become a fashion designer. If there is commerce graduate and he undertakes computer language courses then he can turn into an IT professional. There are no limitations on which course you can undertake or which sector you can work in, each and every career has some pros and cons. There are also career options like modeling, acting singing, drawing, carpentry, sports, business, stock brokers, etc.

While making a career change decision, you must ensure that you have some financial back up, in case you have to wait for a while before you land the new job. This financial savings back up will also allow you some time to deliberate over the various options and will not force you into making a decision in a hurry. After all, your first career choice may have been influenced by peer pressure, parental insistence or simply something random you thought you would like to try. A career change may be a way to correct some such mistakes or simply a way to experience something new.

Over the last few years through my work in adult education I have met more and more peole who have decided on a radical career change. And far from the cliché of the mid-life crisis, we find that people are making this decision for many different reasons and may be aged anywhere between 25 and 60 years of age, or older.

People may decide to change careers because:

- they are becoming disillusioned with their current profession or career

- they have lost interest in their current role

- they feel they have gone as far as they are able in their current role

- they are seeking a better life-work balance

- they would like to earn a living out of something they love doing, perhaps currently a hobby.

Today, career change is becoming the norm rather than the exception, with many studies showing that the average person will change careers (not just jobs) several times over the course of their working life.

If you are considering a career change, you may find the following steps useful as you navigate your way through the process.

Step 1: Take some time to rediscover yourself. If your main reason for considering a career change is dissatisfaction with your current situation, it’s important to step back and assess your situation objectively. What it is about the situation that is really causing the problem – the job, the boss, the company, the profession itself? Are there any aspects of your current role that you still enjoy? These can give you a clue about which direction to take next. It may be that factors outside work are causing the problem – perhaps you don’t have enough time with your family, or to follow your other interests. Sometimes when you have completed this step you will realise that a drastic career change is not the answer. Switching to flexible or part-time working may give you the freedom you need to create a better work-life balance. Shifting to a different area of your profession may reinvigorate your interest and enthusiasm.

Step 2: Explore alternatives. If you decide that a career change really is what you need, the next stage is to explore your interests and enthusiasms in more depth. What really gets you firing on all cylinders? Explore possible careers around your interests. You can find useful career information on the Learndirect website – this is an independent, government funded website offering a range of resources, including career advice and over 700 job profiles. It also includes advice on the training required for each career.

Step 3: Assess your current skills and experience. Even if you are planning to move into a very different career area, you may be surprised at how many of your current skills and experiences are relevant. Make the most of these as they can provide a strong foundation for your career change. Sometimes current skills can provide a stepping stone into a new career area. Louise worked in a big marketing agency and had decided to change careers completely, building on her keen interest in gardening, she planned to start her own landscaping company. She realised that retraining was essential. Her first step was a new job as marketing officer of a large landscaping and design company. This gave her the opportunity to learn more about the industry while completing her horticultural training on a part-time basis.

Step 4: Obtain further training. Often career change will require some retraining or updating of current skills. It may be possible to obtain funding for some of your training from your current employer, especially if your current career shares some similarities with the new one. There are many options available that allow you to train and work full-time as well. These include distance learning courses as well as part-time college or university courses. Introductory courses are a good way to test the water and ensure you really have made the right career choice. Sometimes a subject that you love as a hobby can lose it’s lustre when it becomes a career and you have to earn living from it.

Step 5: Work experience. Another way of finding out more about your chosen career is to obtain a part-time job or volunteer in your new area. This is a good way of learning more about the industry and making contacts, as well as helping to confirm that this really is the right choice for you.

Step 6: Be open-minded. Flexibility is important. Starting in a new career often means starting from the bottom of the ladder again. You will almost certainly need to take a salary cut as well as a cut in your status at work. You may also need to relocate. Set clear goals and be prepared for the odd setback. Think of it this way, if you were having a new kitchen fitted you would expect a bit of mess and disruption, it’s an inevitable part of the process, and the same is true when making life changes too. But however well-prepared you are, such drastic change can be tough at times. It’s important to have support network in place – whether a mentor in your new workplace or supportive friends or loved ones. Also keep in mind a clear vision of your long-term goals, it will help you to stay focused through the difficult spells.

Don’t panic if you can’t decide on a major before you begin your first year of college. It’s not a big deal if you seem to be unable to choose your college major before you begin school.

Remember that a lot of students change their majors several times during the course of their college

education and in most cases it does not seem to affect their lives in any great way. They even seem to finish college around the same time as students who determined their major at the beginning and stuck to it throughout.

There are, however, some steps you can take to discover the ideal career path for you which will help you in choosing your college major. Think about it for a while before you rush into a decision. Your goal is not decisively finalizing a particular major; it is to narrow your interests to a few areas that can be explored more fully.

-Examine and assess your areas of interest. What excites you? What jobs or careers might hold appeal? Many college career centers have a range of tests that can help you decide some of these things.

-Examine your abilities. Determine what your strengths are, your weaknesses, and your skills. As a sort of roadmap, you can use your high school courses. Think of which subjects you were really good at, which extracurricular activities you preferred to participate in, and which things you learned from a part-time or summer job.

-Examine your work values. Do you want to do something that helps society? Are you ok with working under pressure? Do you prefer a group oriented job? Is stability a major issue? How important is status?

-Explore career options. Look at general lists of occupations, find specific occupations, and look for information and resources related to them. You can learn a lot about various occupations from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook.

-Honestly evaluate your options. Look at what is realistically possible for you. You may be really interested in being a doctor, but unless you have the necessary science skills, it is an exercise in pointlessness. If you are thinking of a career path that is likely to need an advanced degree, make sure you have no future commitments to stop you from pursuing graduate study. It is important to consider the realities and face the obstacles to decide if you can get done what you intend to start.

-Narrow your choices down to a few and then focus on choosing your college major. By the time you have reached this last step, you probably have a much better idea of the majors you are definitely not interested in and have figured out a few that are of interest to you.

In your journey towards choosing your college major, use all the resources you can access:

-College course catalogs have a range of information from required courses to specialized majors.

-Professors and academic advisers have usually worked in the fields they teach and can guide you with careers and opportunities.

-Classmates and seniors at college who already pursuing their Major can be a great help.

-College alumni are people in the prime of their careers who can give you the input from the real job market.

-Family and friends can also be of great help regarding majors and career paths.

-The college career center also has a wealth of information and resources for choosing your college major as well as a career, an internship, job placement, and so on.

There are several ways to make money in college. Yet, you would not find anything that I will be suggesting on any college job board; that is for sure!

Most of the college jobs are the usual positions that no one really wants to do part-time. Working fast food, waiting on tables at a restaurant will always be waiting for you if you can’t find anything better to pay the bills working at.

I have noticed a lot of individuals who attend college taking on part-time Internet positions doing a lot of “survey” programs. Also, I have noticed on some of the forums, a few college students are trying to make some extra cash answering email ads. Nothing is wrong with either of these methods. I applaud anyone trying to be resourceful enough to work online. It beats waiting tables for a few bucks.

Now, here is something to consider. If you are going to work online doing something, why not do something that has some real potential? Something you can sink your teeth into? Affiliate marketing can do more than pay a few bills.

Once upon a time, about five years ago, there were these two guys named Kyle and Carson. They were college students trying to find ways to make money in college, in order to buy books and pay tuition. They had this crazy, insane idea about online marketing.

Both Kyle and Carson got into affiliated marketing without any real start up cash and made a few million dollars, never looking back except to pay it forward. Today, these two ex-college students are helping out a lot of college students, teaching them how to affiliate market.

Wealthy Affiliates University is Kyle and Carson’s way of giving back to others. Wealthy Affiliates has been operational for several years and is the only affiliate university online. Their alumni have gone on to gain more wealth than most full time career graduates.

Affiliate marketing is not hard to do or difficult to learn the techniques and methods to apply. Essentially, affiliate marketing is marketing other companies products for a commission on the Internet. Thousands of people are affiliate marketers. Many have died in their attempts to be affiliates for one simple reason. They did not know the ropes, made mistakes and kept making more.

Wealthy Affiliates University has step by step lessons that are interactive and actually teaches you the whole concept and practice to affiliate market correctly. Done correctly, you make good money. WA also has the most in-house programs to make money with that are solid, proven programs to market.

One of the best things about Wealthy Affiliates is the WA forum. It is the busiest forum for affiliates on the Internet. All members are helping each other succeed. This model should be used in real life outside the Internet. Wealthy Affiliates is more than a learning center, it is a community that gives back to it’s members.

There are many more bonuses to Wealthy Affiliates that any college student, looking to make money will appreciate. The one thing WA will do is give you a skill-set to make money as an affiliate marketer that is worth more than money. This would be, ways to make money in college, whenever you wanted too. That is priceless!

With the economy in turmoil and so many more students graduating with degrees every year, it is getting harder and harder to distinguish oneself from the crowd. Previously, simply having a degree from college would have been enough to make one stand out in a potential employer’s eyes. Now, however, almost every job applicant has a degree. This why, for graduates looking for the best jobs for college grads, college jobs are a large part of the answer.

What are college jobs? College jobs are any job that you hold while you are still in college, such as working as a receptionist in one of your school buildings or spending part of your time serving as a lab assistant. There are a multitude of jobs available in every college, if only you know where to look.

The reason why colleges choose to offer college jobs is due to several reasons. The first is that there are vital jobs that need to be done that students are able to fill. In fact, some students might even be more qualified for such jobs than any applicant the college would receive from the public workforce. The job of a lab assistant, for example, is not very rewarding. It simply involves cleaning up after students in the science labs and preparing equipment and chemicals for use in lessons. Most external applicants for such jobs would not have experience in this area.

So students are allowed to work part-time college jobs on their college campus, earning some money and also gaining a valuable reference to insert into their resumes.

How does this help students obtain jobs for college grads? The reason is quite simple. With the sheer amount of competition that students face today in finding a jobs for college grads right out of college, they need every edge they can get in order to stand out among all the applicants a potential employer would receive.

If you are able to put certain college jobs down on your resume, then you employer is more likely to sit up and take notice of it. This is because employers are always impressed by students who can achieve stellar grades while holding down part-time college jobs as well. These are students who are more likely to secure those coveted jobs for college grads than students who do not have such experiences to put on their resumes.

So if you are worried about not being able to secure any jobs for college grads when you graduate from college, you should definitely take a look at the college jobs that your college has to offer. Not only will you gain a valuable entry to use in your resume, you will also be able to earn some extra cash on the side – something that no college student is likely to say no to.

Of course, you must remember that your studies must come first and you should only take on a college job if you are certain that you will be able to handle the double workload of schoolwork and real work.