Career Change   Tweet

Career change is challenging and exciting, but can be difficult in the present economic climate.  Jobs are on longer for life and it has been estimated that today's young people will have to retrain seven times.

And that means retraining for a completely new career, not just moving to a slightly different job. And of course, as the population gets older and there are less younger workers available, the number of years we can expect to spend in work is increasing. Instead of looking forward to an early retirement at 50 or 55, many people will have to work until they are 70 or 75. So you could well find yourself contemplating a career change in your 60s or 70s!

With the prospect of all that extra work, it is more important than ever that we enjoy what we do for a living. To find out how you can maximize your chances of moving to a career which you really enjoy, sign up for our free newsletter.

If you are facing unemployment or redundancy or simply can't manage on your current salary, we'll introduce you to the concept of portfolio careers and show you how to set up a small business on a limited budget.

What Do You Want from Your Career?

Whatever age you are now, let's start by considering how you feel about your present job. Do you leap out of bed enthusiastically on Monday morning, excited by the prospect of another week at work? Or do you crawl back under the duvet and long for oblivion? If you want to find your dream job or just get more out of work -

• more fun

• more money

• more job satisfaction

This site will get you started on the right track.

Regardless of whether your idea of the perfect job is working at home, having several part-time jobs or turning you passion for sport or travel into a new career, there is something you could do today to take you closer to your ideal.

Whatever your dream job, the problem is often: "How do I get from where I am now to where I want to be?" And within that question are many more, such as: Do I need career training before I can make a career change? Should I get a temp job? I'd like to become my own boss, but what could I do? The aim of this site is to help you find the answers, whatever your current situation.

Finding a new career is a big task and so you need to spend time researching your options.

So, if you feel trapped in a job, long to set up your own business, are desperate to make money, or need a change but have no idea what you really want to do, stay with us and we'll help you find a way forward.

One of the great myths of our society is that human beings know what they want to do when they grow up. With a very few exceptions, this just isn't true. How can you know what a job is like until you try it? And then it's often too late, or feels that way, if you've spent years and thousands of pounds studying or training.

Although some people may get the job title right, the dream job turns out to be a nightmare.They would love the work, if only they were doing what they were trained to do.

There are countless examples: teachers spending more time discipling pupils and doing admin than teaching; GPs with only a couple of minutes per patient; and jobs in caring and advice-related fields, which are driven by targets, rather than meaningful outcomes.

Often we just drift into a job, under pressure from parents or teachers to "do something sensible" or "get a real job", in the absence of any real careers advice, or we take anything we can find just to pay the bills and before we know it, we've been there for 20 years. And after so long in a boring job, making a career change can be a scary prospect, even though we really want to do it.

On the other hand, many people start out in a career which challenges and inspires them, but have a change of heart in midlife because they wish to create a better work life balance. The desire for career change can also be the result of outgrowing your original passion. After all, you probably don't wear the same type of clothes your wore in your 20s once you reach your 40s or 50s. So your taste in careers could well have changed as well.

Career Change Ideas

Change is possible, whatever age you are!

Before considering the alternatives open to you, you need to take a close look at your present situation and do your own mini career assessment, by asking yourself:

• How did I get here? 

• What has kept me in this job? 

So grab a coffee, pen and paper 

• Starting from when you left school , make a list of the steps that led to your present job and note why you took them. 

Be honest - no-one else is going to read this. So don't kid yourself with "it was a great opportunity to learn new skills" if the truth is "I needed the money!".

Don't beat yourself up if you have taken jobs just because you needed money and then lived to regret your decision. Simply notice the fact that you did it. (Of course, the job may well have been presented as a great opportunity, but turned out to be a huge disappointment.) If you want to make the right career change, you have to start out by being honest to yourself.

On this site, we'll help you to identify the right kind of work to bring you job satisfaction and help you find the route to take you there. We'll look at setting up a home business, making money online, flexible ways of working and different fields of employment.

The way in which we approach careers themselves is also undergoing change, in fact, career change is now so common that it is expected rather than frowned upon as it might have been in the past.

Ok, so you know you want a career change - what's the next step? Go to the Navigation Bar on the right and make yoru choice:

• Click Dream Job, for career change at any age, this will give you helpful tips to enable you to decide what you want to do. 

• Or if you'd like some ideas, try New Careers. 

• Alternative options which might appeal to you are Telecommuting Careers, which allow you to remain employed, but to work at home and Self-Employment where you set up your own small business, working either at home or in your own commercial premises.

• And click this link Home Business Ideas if you need some inspiration.

• If you want a ready made plan, try our 6 steps to Midlife Career Change. 

We also offer a free Career Change Report, which you can download at our Facebook Page, http://facebook.com/CareerChangeIdeas under Free Report

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