Module 15 · Life transitions · Lesson 5 of 6

Changing careers

Most career changes are tried on before they are made.

8 min read · Free — no account needed to read

The idea

Career changes are among the biggest transitions in adult life, and they are increasingly common. People change careers for many reasons: the work no longer fits, a field shrinks, values shift, family needs change, or something else simply calls.

Research on career changers found that few made the change by first working out exactly what they wanted and then executing a plan. Most tried things out: side projects, short courses, conversations with people in the new field, temporary assignments. They learned their way into a new direction by doing, and their sense of who they were professionally changed along the way.

Practical questions also matter: money for the transition, how long retraining takes, which of your existing skills transfer. A career change planned with these in view — and tested in small ways first — is much less risky than one made in a single leap.

Why it matters

Treating a career change as a series of experiments makes it more achievable and less frightening, and reduces the chance of leaping into something that turns out not to fit.

See it happen

After twelve years in sales, Deepa wants to work in something more meaningful but does not know what.

The first read

She feels she needs to work out her true calling first, before taking any step, so she does not make another wrong choice.

With this idea

She tries things: she volunteers at a charity’s fundraising team, does a short online course in project management, and has coffee with five people in roles she is curious about. The charity work fits. She moves into a fundraising role, where her sales skills are exactly what is needed.

What changed

She learned her way into a new career through small experiments instead of waiting for certainty.

Easy to get wrong

• Believing you must know your perfect career before changing. Clarity often comes from trying.
• Undervaluing what transfers. Many skills from one career are exactly what another needs.

What this rests on

Well studied. Researchers have studied this a good deal. The core idea holds up, though details vary between people and settings.

• Herminia Ibarra — Working Identity (2003) — A study of people changing careers, finding they usually tried out new possibilities in small ways before committing, rather than planning first.

Try it: Test a direction

1. Write a career direction you are curious about.
2. Write three skills you already have that would transfer.
3. Write three small ways to test it — a conversation, a course, a small project.

Reflect

• What work would you try if it could be tried in a small way first?
• Which of your skills would matter most in a different field?

Use it in the coming days

Book one conversation this month with someone working in a direction you are curious about, and add it to your goals as a first step.

Where to do it: My Goals

A career change becomes manageable as a goal made of small test steps.