Planning A New Career After a Lay off

Planning A New Career After a Lay off : This is a good opportunity to start agoina and map out whether you were happy in the career you just left, or if you are working and worried about a job loss, begin thinking now about whether you ar ein the right career. When planning a new career it is a good idea to write down what you want. Similar to a business plan a strong career plan can help create exactly what you want. It is something you can go back to, update and rearrange as necessary.

One of the first steps when you are looking for a new career plan is to sit down with a pad of paper and begin to take notes. Start brainstorming about what you think you might want to do. Make a list of your skills and then circle those that are the most interesting to you. There are a variety of skills that people have but they do not like to use all of them. Because of this it makes good sense to know ahead of time what skills you want to emphasize and those you do not.

Once you make this list, here are some things to do with the list:

* Make a list of the things you like and dislike about your current career. When you are choosing a new career it is important to identify how you see the current career. Perhaps it was boring or you didn’t like some of the duties on the job. Make the list so you can look towards other things.

* Look for transferable skills. What skills do you have that you can use in other fields? As an example, most fields will need someone who is a great communicator, one who pays attention to detail and someone who has supervised people.

* If you have these, they are skills that are transferable to other jobs. Check job postings in different fields and look for the skills that you have now. Also, check into specific career fields and see what skills are required.

* Write down any training you need. If you find a really interesting field that you want to pursue for your new career check into the types of training you may need to acquire. Perhaps you have some of what you need and just need to do a little more.

* Get some experience in your new career field. There are a lot of ways to get experience in any field. You can volunteer or get a part-time job in the new field. This is a good way to make sure you want to change to a new career or it is a quick way to make another change.

* Find someone to mentor you. Perhaps there is someone who is already in your new career who would be able to mentor you to help you find out the steps you need to take to move into your new career. This could be a very helpful way to start building a network.

* Learn to be flexible. If you are working towards your new career you may find that you have to be more flexible than in your current field. Understand that when you are starting a new career it can be difficult in the beginning. However, with a little perseverance you can make a smooth transition.