What to consider when making a career change

After an unpre­dictable and tur­bu­lent year, many work­ers will find them­selves mov­ing into unchart­ed ter­ri­to­ry. Research under­tak­en by Avi­va in April found that 60 per cent of UK work­ers were plan­ning to make a change to their careers, while 9 per cent intend­ed to fol­low a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent career path and around 12 per cent want to turn their hob­by into a part-time or full-time career. 

All rep­re­sent­ed increas­es over the lev­els revealed in its 2020 sur­vey, indi­cat­ing that the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic has prompt­ed many to reassess their careers. Wide­spread redun­dan­cies too have left many work­ers pon­der­ing what their next move should be.  

For those con­tem­plat­ing a career change there is help avail­able. The pub­licly fund­ed Nation­al  Careers Ser­vice pro­vides free pro­fes­sion­al careers infor­ma­tion and advice in Eng­land for all adults  and young peo­ple. The sortyourfuture.com web­site helps peo­ple iden­ti­fy good career options. Then there are career guid­ance pro­fes­sion­als, like mem­bers of the Career Devel­op­ment Insti­tute (CDI), who  pro­vide bespoke advice on a pri­vate basis.  

Var­i­ous fac­tors can prompt a career change from a desire for more flex­i­ble work­ing, greater job sat­is­fac­tion or an increase in salary. Accord­ing to Dave Con­dle, pres­i­dent of the CDI, a lack of ful­fil­ment at work is the biggest trig­ger for career change. “Once there was a per­vad­ing atti­tude that work wasn’t sup­posed to be fun. We’re not in that mind­set now and usu­al­ly peo­ple want to find some­thing they’ll real­ly enjoy and which will  sup­port their lifestyle,” he says.  

Finding the right job for you

Those unsure of how to approach a change in career should start by analysing their inter­ests, val­ues and skills. Con­dle advis­es: “Once you do that your ide­al job and what will be appro­pri­ate for you will become much clear­er.” He urges peo­ple to do some­thing that tru­ly inter­ests them. “Even if you’re good at some­thing, you may not want to make it the focus of your career,” he says. “Many peo­ple also define them­selves by their exist­ing job title and under­es­ti­mate what their trans­fer­able skills may be.”  

Time usu­al­ly needs to be invest­ed in inves­ti­gat­ing what a pos­si­ble career entails and what  oppor­tu­ni­ties it may offer. Pro­fes­sion­al and trade asso­ci­a­tions can pro­vide help­ful infor­ma­tion, includ­ing what qual­i­fi­ca­tions may be need­ed for a par­tic­u­lar career, but per­son­al net­work­ing can be vital.

“You may have friends or con­tacts involved in or with links to the career you’re con­sid­er­ing,” says Con­dle. “Don’t be afraid to ask for some of their time to help you deter­mine if it would be a good fit for you and what the routes into this career may be.” CVs must be care­ful­ly craft­ed before you enter the job-hunt­ing fray, he advis­es. “Focus on your skills, val­ues and achieve­ments, not on your past job titles and roles,” he adds. 

Shad­ow­ing some­one in the career you have in mind or work­ing in it for a short time is par­tic­u­lar­ly  help­ful, as Peter Jer­rom dis­cov­ered. A maths grad­u­ate, Jer­rom worked in for­eign-exchange trad­ing in the City of Lon­don, but long work­ing days and inter­na­tion­al trav­el left him lit­tle time for his wife and chil­dren.  

Hear­ing Now Teach co-founder Lucy Kell­away speak on the radio sparked his inter­est in teach­ing as a new career. Now Teach helped Jer­rom be an observ­er in sev­er­al schools. “That helped me see if teach­ing was what I real­ly want­ed, and could, do,” he says. “Deal­ing with a class of young peo­ple is dif­fer­ent from being with your own chil­dren and needs anoth­er mind­set.”

With the help of Now Teach, Jer­rom found a place­ment at Oasis Acad­e­my Shirley Park, Croy­don, as an unqual­i­fied teacher until he  gained his teacher’s qual­i­fi­ca­tion in 2017. He now heads its year 12. “You must ask your­self if you have, or can acquire, the skills required for the poten­tial job. Maths, time man­age­ment and data were skills I could trans­fer, but I need­ed to devel­op more empa­thy,” he says. “I learnt, for exam­ple, that a  trou­ble­some child may have dif­fi­cul­ties at home.

“Teach­ing is still a high-pres­sure job, but I’m excit­ed by it and have more time for my fam­i­ly and good hol­i­days.’  

Stick to what you know

Find­ing a new role with­in the indus­try in which you’re already work­ing may be the answer. The Char­tered Insti­tute of Per­son­nel and Devel­op­ment reports that teach­ers fre­quent­ly move into learn­ing and devel­op­ment posi­tions in a range of  organ­i­sa­tions. Oth­ers may want to start their own busi­ness. 

Hele­na Win­ter-Brown head­ed an events team for a high street bank at London’s Canary Wharf, which she enjoyed but the long com­mute from her home in Hert­ford­shire left lit­tle time for her fam­i­ly. She want­ed to run her own busi­ness and one that would help oth­er women who want­ed to work flex­i­bly. 

Spot­ting an after­noon tea tent at an event gave her the idea to estab­lish Dot­tie About Cake in 2017. The busi­ness now deliv­ers after­noon teas local­ly, sup­plies them for pri­vate func­tions like wed­dings, sells after­noon tea ham­pers and hires out vin­tage chi­na.  

Win­ter-Brown works with ten local women who bake for the busi­ness and sup­port its events across  Hert­ford­shire, Bed­ford­shire and Buck­ing­hamshire. She also has a tea room in Pot­ten End, Hert­ford­shire. “I still work long hours, but going to work each day is pure joy,” she says, urg­ing peo­ple  to find a career that is mean­ing­ful for them. “My career change wasn’t just about a busi­ness idea. I had some­thing else I want­ed to do too,” says Win­ter-Brown. Her advice to oth­ers who want to switch careers: “Just do it.”