What’s stopping you? Now is the time for a career change.
Have you found yourself wanting more from your career recently? Is your current job leaving you feeling flat and unmotivated? Have you been considering a career change for a while? Well, I have good news. The biggest opportunity of your career is here, within reach, offering you the perfect time to make a change.
There are over 1 million job vacancies in the UK right now just waiting to be filled (according to statista.com).
That’s 1 million opportunities for a career change!
Post-pandemic, “the number of ‘retired’ under-65s is up by 70,000” according to the Sunday Telegraph’s Tim Wallace and Tom Rees. There should be plenty of people to fill the surge in demand, yet many are taking ‘early retirement’ or not actively looking for a job. It’s no surprise then that employers are reporting a huge skills shortage. They have jobs to fill, but no ‘perfect’ candidates to fill them. Newsflash, it’s time for employers to start thinking outside the box! But what does this mean for you, the job seeker? It’s the perfect opportunity if you are considering a career change. Why?
Employers are finally opening their eyes to more than just their ‘usual’ candidates.
It’s time to show off what you’ve got, in a world of work where there has never been so much flexibility in terms of who, where and how the roles might be done!
Just because you’ve always worked as a data analyst, that doesn’t mean that’s what you are destined to be. Your hard skills and years of experience make you a good candidate in other industries too.
The 1 million vacancies aren’t just for the roles you would expect (the growing demand for logistics, medical and more that we have seen as a result of the pandemic over the past two years). There’s a new pool of never seen or dreamed of jobs available – with thousands of roles being created every day that no-one has done before. One that jumped out at me is a Chief Metaverse Officer – a hybrid role combining marketing, business strategy, fashion and more…
And then there are new roles being created to support our changing workplace and remote ways of working as a result of COVID. According to Indeed, they saw a 600% increase in job adverts for ’relocation assistants’ over the past four years!
“I don’t have the skills to do that job” or “I’m not experienced enough”. These are two phrases I have heard often throughout my years as a Career Management Coach. But those are not valid excuses when it comes to these new and emerging roles because no one has a prescribed set of skills or years of experience. This means it’s a level playing field.
What is the secret to successfully getting noticed?
It all starts with you knowing what you have to offer and what you want to experience next!
Rather than matching up to the ‘required’ list of hard skills, you need to highlight the transferable skills you have. These skills are useful across roles and industries and allow you to adapt and learn how to succeed in any role. (Not sure what transferable skills are, and if you have any? Read more on the blog here.)
Some of the most desirable transferable skills right now are adaptability, curiosity, problem solving, collaboration and the drive to develop and learn new skills. If you have those, you could take on any role your heart desires!
A little word of warning when considering a career change.
Job descriptions can often be off putting. Employers are often still failing to write adequate job adverts that will appeal to the people they truly want to apply (and who are most likely to thrive in the role). Many job descriptions still only list technical skills, instead of the transferable ones that are so important.
Don’t let their lack of writing skills and imagination put you off. You need to look further than the advert, and read between the lines! Next time you’re reading a job description, try and match each technical skill to a transferable skill that could help you to meet that need.
Each time you find a potential blocker in an advert, research what the technical skill is. How would you achieve the result they want, the way you do it?
I recently coached a Project Manager who has successfully rolled out multiple projects against some very tight deadlines. She admitted to having a confidence crisis, as she had been invited to an interview where the job advert stated they wanted a PRINCE2 qualification! I asked her to tell me how she went about running a project from the start to the end. As she spoke she came alive, was brimming with confidence and was so credible. I stopped her and asked – what would the PRINCE2 qualification enable you to do better? “Nothing!” she said. And guess what… she walked into that interview and was hired on the spot.
Your time to shine is NOW. Take the plunge and apply for that role that you might have thought was out of reach.
After all, there are 1 million out there, at least one has your name on it!
If you’re not feeling confident in your ability to identify which roles you might be able to adapt to, or which might suit your skills (both hard and soft), I would love to help. I work with my clients to help them feel confident about career change. We start by assessing how your transferable skills can be repurposed. Helping you to understand yourself, and the market, better.
Drop me an email if you would like to book a no pressure chat – I would love to hear from you.