How to Switch Careers & Potentially Transform Your Life

Some advice from personal experience

Since you’re here, I’m assuming that you’ve at least had thoughts about making a career change. By the end of this article, I’m hoping that I will have given you some actionable advice on how to switch careers. But first, I’m just going to talk a little about my own experience.

Interestingly, my educational life is a bit backward from the usual story. You usually hear about how kids stuck doing something academic or a trade skill go through life wishing they had picked up an instrument and become a pop or rock star. Or, you know, at least had a go at it.

I, on the other hand, spent my early life right up until I was about 21 focusing on music. I was in a few bands, even performed at a music festival. I also went to college and university studying music composition with the idea that one day I might write music for films and video games.

But after I left my undergraduate degree, I had a realisation. I was still in music because that’s what I felt like I had to do after years of tutoring, but it didn’t interest me. It felt like a real chore to practice and make music.

I wasn’t happy with the direction my life was going. Despite it being a dream for many, music wasn’t my calling.

So, I had some time to think. I worked in a call centre for an energy company for a year, dabbling in projects here and there, before I decided to take a left turn and go back to university — this time to study a Master’s Degree in Marketing. Much to the surprise of the people around me.

Marketing has a slight hand in music production, so that’s how I was able to get into the program. Still, my interest in it was initially to get into the marketing industry, then eventually become a freelance consultant.

Though, in reality, the grand psychological and sociological theories that underpin it swept me away and now I find myself on the path of becoming an academic on the subject instead. Changing direction in this way is fulfilling me in a way music was never able to.

So that’s my career switching story, in summary.

Technically there were three shifts in direction in my case. Though, from my experience, I can gather some tips on how you can go about making a change for yourself too.

First of all, you need to assess.

Evaluate your current position in life, your job, and the level of satisfaction you’re getting from that job.

However, this is also the time to determine if a career change is what you need. It may be the case that your boss sucks or your work environment isn’t helping you to do the best you can in your job.

If so, see if there are changes you can make in your current situation that could help you become happier before making a more drastic decision.

What does interest you?

I found that a helpful way of figuring this out for myself was to ask myself “if money was no object, would I still be interested in the thing?” Asking this helped steer me away from career choices that were purely money motivated and had my real interests at heart.

Another tactic you could use to help you refine is by looking at personal projects you might have enjoyed doing. Or you could look at aspects of your job that you do like and specialising in that instead.

For me, I’m on a never-ending quest for knowledge, despite what work I am doing for money (which right now is being a pensions consultant). So going into academia seems like the right choice, which is why I’m entering a PhD program this year.

Consider the career or job options.

Heck, you don’t necessarily need a full-blown career these days. It’s quite rare (at least in my country) that a company will reward you for your loyalty in this day and age. Gone are the days of “cradle to the grave” careers.

You can try to get a job in something that interests you enough to keep you satisfied while pursuing hobbies that light your fire. Despite what some say, I don’t believe that you should monetise your hobbies just because they can be.

However, if you are long term career-minded, consider what options there are in the field that interest you. Whether or not you need to completely retrain or if there’s a way to make your current skills transferrable.

On that note, try before you buy.

Don’t over-analyse the situation to death in a way that will paralyse you from doing anything at all. See if there are ways of getting some work experience in the field, like volunteering or shadowing. If it’s something a little more practical, try making an “Ultralearning” project out of it, which is a method of personal project planning devised by Scott H. Young.

In my case, I took on a project by building a marketing plan and taking over social media for a startup company. While that was a neat learning experiment, it helped me realise that my passions lay more in the lofty theoretical space than the practical side of marketing.

If it’s all a bit too risky for you, consider a different position instead.

It might be that you do love the field of work you’re in like I mentioned earlier, but you hate the current position that you’re working. In that case, see if there are any positions available within the same industry, but different enough to spark a flame of interest inside.

For example, you might be working as a call agent in the insurance industry, and you like the aspect of investigating cases. You could potentially up-skill and become a specialised fraud investigator.

Making a career change really can transform your life. Not just in a literal sense in changing the work you do but also emotionally too.

According to thebalancecareers.com:

People who switch careers do so for better work-life balance, job satisfaction, and overall happiness, as well as a better alignment between personal values and work priorities.

There may be some downsides if you switch careers or jobs too often, like the next employer thinking that you’re going to run away at the first opportunity and therefore won’t hire you in the first place.

However, judging from my experience, changing directions can be the best decision you ever make.

Alexander Boswell has a Master’s Degree in Marketing that specialised in Consumer Behaviour but writes about a range of topics with personal perspectives.