Many people who are thinking about changing careers think that it is not possible to move to a completely different sector or start doing something new, something which is not connected with your career path. That’s not true.
You don’t have to stay with the same company for 20 years as our parents did. You can change your career direction.
And if you are an expat, you know that reinventing yourself, reinventing your career is essential to create a happy life abroad. Sometimes you need to adapt to the culture of the country you are living in, explore the market, identify what skills organisations are looking for. Maybe start your own business and finally work at what you love.
I have never imagined being my own boss, running my own coaching practice. But through my international career, I learnt how to be self-disciplined, organised things, take risks, develop contacts. Now I am implementing all those skills into my current career.
How can you identify your transferable skills?
Here are some steps which can help you.
1. Get clear what you want to do next. Write down your career vision. Take some time to reflect. It is an important change in your life. You don’t want to end up in another job you hate.
2. Research the sector, the organisation you want to work for. What kind of jobs are available? What is the organisation’s culture? What are the organisation’s values?
If you are thinking about starting your own business, test your idea first, research the market.
Those are the most important steps to take first. Go and do your homework before taking any further actions!
3. What kind of skills are employers looking for? More and more organisations are looking at not who you have been working for but what skills you have developed in your career path. What is your professional experience?
Go through the job positions you are interested in, identify the required skills and then check if you have those skills. I am more than sure that you will have them.
In my past career, I wanted to move from sales and customer service to marketing. I didn’t have any official marketing experience. Of course, working in recruitment or customer service I learnt how to market a product or a job position. I also had a vast volunteer experience when I was developing contacts with the local charities and securing the development of some marketing materials for free. But on my CV you couldn’t see the Marketing Advisor or Marketing Manager at…
What I did is to describe during a job interview when I used marketing, sales, communication skills and what was the result of my actions. Your future employer wants to see what kind of value you can bring into the company.
4. Identify your skills. What are you good at? What skills do you enjoy using? Here is a blog post which can help you with that: 9 Places To Discover Your Skills, Gifts And Interests
And if you want more help you can download Free Skills Inventory.
5. Think about the situations you used your skills. Write them down. What kind of problem did you manage to resolve? How did you help the organisation to grow?
This is what I do with my clients. We meet together and we get clear about your life and career vision. We identify your skills and how you can apply and use them in your new career and then we map out the plan to create a career you love!
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Currently, she is enjoying a laptop lifestyle while travelling across Europe.
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