Tips To Change Your Job Successfully

To successfully change your job create the right conditions for success.

The days of staying in the same job for most of your work life are long gone for most people. Having the ability and confidence to change your job successfully has become an important life skill. There are four inter-related core areas to address

1. developing a mind set for success based in a strong self support belief system
2. building the confidence to go for what you want
3. developing the practical skills to change your job successfully
4. having a clear goal and a well developed plan to achieve this goal

Building the mind set for success involves believing in yourself and your abilities and self worth.

The fact is that there are lots of people who have been able to change their job successfully. So the question to ask is “what stops me from doing that too?”

Start by identifying the beliefs and expectations that limit you. These could be beliefs that feed fear of change like “No one will hire me because…..” (finish this sentence!) or “I won’t get another job”. What beliefs are you carrying around that feed a lack of confidence in yourself? Do you tell yourself you are not capable, or not smart enough or not good enough?  Maybe you have limiting beliefs about new possibilities or the job market such as “I don’t have enough skills” or “there’s too much competition.”

Building the confidence to change your job successfully  comes from  strong self esteem and belief in yourself as well as knowing what you want. Begin with writing out a description of  your ideal job. Add as much detail as possible. Consider the following aspects as a guide to get started:

• do you prefer being a leader or a follower
• do you prefer generating ideas or implementing someone else’s ideas
• do you prefer working in a busy or quiet environment
• do you prefer working alone or in a team
• do you prefer working with your head or hands on activities
• what kind of income do you want
• are opportunities for promotion important
• do you thrive on variety or prefer a fixed routine
• do you prefer flexible or fixed hours

Having a clear and specific goal is essential for success. Once you have a specific goal you then need to know not just what to do to be successful you also need to know exactly how to go about it. 

Make Changing Jobs a Project

Make changing jobs a focused goal. Success comes from developing a plan and committing to doing what it takes to be successful.

1.  Take an inventory of your skills, abilities, competencies and interests
2.  Consider your deal breakers – what you definitely don’t want in another job
3.  Work on confidence and resolving your fears and concerns about changing your job or your career
4. Get clear and be specific about the type of job you would really enjoy
5. Consider expanding your skills and competencies and research training options
6. Set up a plan with individual steps and a timeframe for each step as well as a flexible end goal date i.e. ideally the date by which you will have successfully secured another job.
7. Research other help and resources. There are many companies which focus on resume services and interview preparation, recruitment and job search and placement. As a starting place you could check out www.careerone.com.au for tips.

Counselling is a powerful way to get clear about what you want, to build self esteem and confidence by changing beliefs and expectations and to develop an effective goal, plan and strategies for success.

You can read more here about changing jobs and careers.