Career Change in a Changing World

It is important to note that career change and job change are not the same thing.

You may want to change your job but remain in the same career. Or you may want to change to a totally new career.

The Difference between a Career, an Occupation, and a Job

Your career is the total of all your work activities. It includes all your work activities whether at home, on the job or in the community.

Your occupation is a specific category of work and consists of the group of similar jobs. You can have a number of different jobs within the same occupation. Examples of occupations are, engineer, teacher, carpenter, etc.

Your job relates to the specific duties that you do within your occupation.

Career Change Considerations

Give some thought as to why you want a change...

Are you enjoying what you do in your job? Or are you in the job just for the money?

Research has shown that the majority of people are not happy in their jobs. Yet many people would spend more time planning their vacation than they would spend on their career planning.

It's okay to change careers. We change, our interests change, and our circumstances change. So why can't our careers change as well? Sometimes we are fortunate enough to make career changes because we wish to do so and can afford to do so.

However there are times when we may have to make a career change for reasons beyond our control.

In today's rapidly changing society new innovations create new opportunities and new challenges. However they can also cause some jobs to become obsolete.

You no longer need to feel "stuck in your career".

Multiple Careers

It's also okay to have multiple careers. It is not uncommon in today's modern society for some individuals, by choice, to have more than one career, or as Robert Allen describes in his books "having multiple streams of income".

These multiple careers could be closely related to each other (example, a professor at business school who also serves as a consultant to businesses).

Or they can be unrelated (for example, I like the ad with John Travolta in which he states "my profession is pilot and my career is actor").

Yes you can enjoy multiple careers at the same time. In fact it has become a trend among many successful professionals to have more than one professional career. Being successful and fulfilled in one career, they now seek additional career challenges.

You don't always need to give up one career for another, just add another career to your existing career. And you can be successful in both.

Changing Careers

One of the best steps to take before choosing a change of career is to do a career assessment test or a career aptitude test to determine which careers would best match your interests and/or personality.

Then as a dedicated career builder you would work on the four stage cycle of career building. Successful career builders have made their best decisions when they:

• have had a thorough understanding of their personality, their interests, their dreams and their resources;
• spent some time in research and gathered accurate, up-to-date, information about their career options;
• chosen a career direction that's in line with their interests and goals;
• have set goals and taken action to achieve their career goals.

Through proper career planning and focusing on your career building, you can reap the rewards of a career that is enjoyable as well as financially rewarding.