Changing Careers

Career Change at 30: 5 steps to get into a new industry

November 18, 2020

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Want to make a career change in your 30s (or beyond)?

If there’s something I’ve learnt over the past years, it’s that making a successful career change isn’t down to luck.

It’s also not down to having a ton of money, or having the right connections.

What I’ve discovered is this

There’s an ACTUAL science behind it, meaning that there are proven steps to find out what else to do with your career, and move into a completely new industry.

And I so badly wish that more people knew this.

Because I’ve seen with my own eyes that these steps WORK.

In this week’s video over on my YouTube channel, I’ve distilled the science behind making a (successful) career change down to 5 ACTIONABLE steps that you can start following today.

I’ve seen, over and over again, that following these steps give clarity, open doors, and create opportunities – even during the tough economic climate that we’re currently in.

Curious? You can watch it below. Or if you prefer to read, simply scroll down for the transcript.

And if you know someone who’s been keen to make a change to their career, but has feeling stuck or unsure how to go about it, please share this video with them! It could be just what they nee to FINALLY make it happen!

Career Change at 30: 5 steps to get into a new industry (transcript)

Hey, it’s Iris helping you to find your passion and make it your work.

In this video, I’m going to be sharing the five steps to help you make a career change and get into a new industry. So if you know you’re ready for a big change to your career and you want to move into a new industry, then stay tuned because you’re going to like what I’m sharing with you today.

But as always, before I go there, please, if you like this video, leave a like. I know it might sound like such a futile thing to you, but know that it does make a huge difference to me because it tells YouTube that my videos are likeable and it helps me to grow my channel and reach more people. So thank you so much for that like. Let’s get to it.

So here’s a really cool thing I want you to know: here’s a real science behind making a career change.

That means that there are actual proven steps and strategies that you can take to say goodbye to the job that you no longer enjoy doing, to figure out what it is that you want to do, and to find a job in that field. Career change isn’t down to luck or having enough money or having the right connections. There’s a real science behind it.

In today’s video, I’m going to be talking about just that. I’m going to distill the science behind making a career change into five actionable steps that you can start following today. Are you ready for it?

Career Change at 30 – step #1: acknowledge

Step number one is : acknowledge.

This step is about committing to making a change. It’s about saying “enough is enough”.

So I see a lot of people who say, “I want to make a change. I want to do something else.”, but they don’t do anything with it. They just talk.

So this step is about saying to yourself: “I don’t know what else there is, but I’m going to find out. I’m no longer willing to accept the situation that I’m in, and I’m willing to do whatever is necessary to make this change work. Because you know what? This is so important to me and I’m willing to make some sacrifices.”

In essence, it’s you telling yourself, “I’m done. I’m tired of making excuses and I’m going to do whatever is necessary. I’m willing to do the uncomfortable thing.”

So, step one is about acknowledging that you are ready to make that change, acknowledging that things currently aren’t working for you, and that you’re willing to do the uncomfortable thing, because in the end, making a career change (sorry to be the bearer of bad news!) is challenging.

It is hard.

It is uncomfortable and it’s uncertain and it takes a lot of guts to go there.

You’re doing something that a lot of people would like to do, but somehow don’t.

It’s much easier to stick with what you’ve been doing for the past years, or maybe even decade.

Research has shown this. Research has shown that most people rather stick that what they know, even when that’s no longer working for them.

So, it takes a lot of guts, but there’s something that you can do to help yourself. You can ask yourself the following questions:

  • How is my career affecting me physically, mentally, and emotionally? Does it affect my health and wellbeing in a bad way?

  • How’s it affecting my relationships? Does it affect the relationships I have with my family and my friends in a way that I’m not happy with?

  • How is it affecting me spiritually? Does it leave me feeling out of touch with myself and the world around me? Does it make me feel agitated instead of feeling a sense of peace and connectedness?

So, realising what your current career or your job is costing you mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually can be hugely helpful to draw that line in the sand and say enough is enough.

Career Change at 30 – step #2: identify alternatives

Okay. Moving on to step number two: identify alternatives.

This step is about figuring out what interests you and what you truly care about. Now, I’ve done a whole video on just this step so go check that out. You can watch it here.

Career Change at 30 – step #3: make new connections

Moving on to step number three: make new connections.

So once you’ve identified some alternatives, that best thing you can do is start speaking with people who work in the field or fields that you’re interested in.

Why?

Because there’s a good chance that you have a lot of blind spots about these fields of interest. Meaning that you might not know what a career in that field or those fields could look like, or the types of roles that might be available, or how people typically get into that industry. You might not know a lot about that field of work or area of work in general.

So you’re probably making a lot of assumptions and guesses about these things.

It’s really important to speak with people and learn more about that industry or area of interest field of work, so you can make more informed decisions instead of relying on assumption and best guesses.

Now, the conversations that you’re having at this point up purely informational. So you don’t need to pitch yourself or try to land a job.

You’re simply aiming to learn as much as you can about that industry or area of interest, field of interest.

I’ve done a whole step-by-step tutorial on how to set up these kinds of conversations, which are called informational interviews in this video.

Career Change at 30 – step #4: experiment

All right, moving on to step number four: experiment.

So a new type of role or a new industry might sound amazing in your head, but how do you know if it’s as good in real life as you’ve made it out to be?

You don’t.

The best way to figure out if you’re going to like something is to try it out, and you can do this without compromising your day job.

So, think about setting up a short side project or a short passion project, or getting some other type of extracurricular venture that can give you real life firsthand experience that will tell you whether or not this is something that you are actually interested in, and that does indeed feel as good in real life as it sounds in your head or as it sounds on paper, looks on paper.

Think about offering your time, experience or knowledge to an organisation you admire. Help them out in a way that’s mutually beneficial. Don’t break things off just because they’re unpaid. As long as there’s some kind of value exchange, then it’s definitely worth considering.

Career Change at 30 – step #5: create a story

All right, moving on to the final step, step number five, create a story.

This that is all about making sense of what you’re doing. It’s about making public declarations about who you are, what you’re seeking, whom you’re becoming and why you want to make a change.

So, as you are starting to make new connections, starting to experiment, you will be forced to share your story, or at least forced to share who you are. So the first time you are forced to share that new story, that new narrative, you might say something like, “Hey, I’m Iris. Yadidadida.” Afterwards you realised, hmm, that actually didn’t feel quite right.

This step is all about fine tuning and tweaking that message, who you are, what you’re seeking, whom you’re becoming and why you’re making a change.

Play with it, try out different stories. See what feels right. See what doesn’t feel right and keep on going until you have a story that feels good, that feels natural.

Now, this might take some time and that’s okay, because this is such an important step of the process. So don’t feel embarrassed to try out different things.

Because here’s the thing, you don’t need to have this figured out when you start on your career change journey. Don’t put pressure on yourself thinking that you do.

All right, these were the five steps to make a career change and get into a new industry. I hope this has been helpful.

It’s been bit of a longer video than normal. But if you watched it up until here, then it must’ve meant that you liked it, that you found it valuable. So please leave that like.

If you want to get notifications as soon as I post new videos, then hop on over to my website, irissmyth.com and subscribe to my email list. You’ll get a notification from me as soon as I post new videos.

Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you again next week.

Bye!

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