Chasing The Dream... Starting With You - CareerAlley

Chasing The Dream... Starting With You - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Weve all been there, in a job that merely pays the bills and nothing else. It doesnt entertain us, challenge us, or even feel like weve done anything at the end of the day, so you start daydreaming about what career you would love to do, but have you made that next step? For a lot of us, taking that leap of faith is incredibly difficult. After all, jumping ship on your career into the unknown is, well, scary. So the best approach to take is to make the necessary changes gradually, but what you can do is make some changes to yourself first Dont Keep It A Secret For many people, turning a dream into a reality means keeping it to yourself. If you really want to manifest that dream career, its time to start talking about it to others. And although it might sound very simple, it is verbalizing your aspirations, and it will inspire others to help you if they can. At least when your career choice is out in the open, you will have support coming from somewhere. Take Responsibility When were chasing the dream, we tend to opt for the approach where our efforts will be rewarded, rather than make our own path. Make sure to keep track of every accomplishment youve made and make it clear what you have to offer. Your resume is the main bit where all your achievements can be put down, and if you have an enticing resume to hand to your dream employer, they will look for the narrative in your journey, and not necessarily the experience. Making the narrative pop out at your employer can be difficult, and hiring a professional resume writer to make it clear can be your meal ticket. It can take a long time, but by tracking your progress that you are making, it works as motivation as well as taking responsibility for your life and what you really want to do. Always Network! If you dont have the skill, theres plenty of time to learn it, but you need to be aware that an opportunity can crop up at any time, and possibly when you least suspect it. But in professional circles, such as meetings, you can sharpen your skills by just talking to these people. It can be very intimidating at first because you will naturally overthink everything because you want to make a great impression, but this leaves you nervous and, even worse, not communicating your true self. To thine own self be true. You need to remember that you cant change your personality, so dont even try, stick to your own habits and what you normally do! Just be yourself, and the rest will follow. Begin Learning The Skills You Need To successfully manage a career change, you need to highlight the skills your new job requires that you have very little of. If you have no idea where to begin, spend some time asking people already in the industry, and its important to reach out on places like LinkedIn too. As a comprehensive guide, LinkedIn is proving to be a real game-changer for those who are researching ways to start a new career. The trick to starting a career youve dreamt of is to embody that role before youve even begun it. By doing your research and learning the skills that will be demanded of you in the role, then you will become the person that is ideal for the role. Because, dont forget, its not just the skills that will land you the job, its the type of person you are too. Break It All Down The key to accomplishing any task that is seemingly out of reach is to plan, and then break it down into manageable chunks. This works for two very good reasons. Firstly, by developing an action plan, you are taking every precaution necessary to get to your dream career in a carefully thought-out manner, and secondly, by breaking it down into small manageable chunks, you are making the task easier to accomplish. The sheer gravity of changing careers is usually enough to stop people in their tracks, or just look at the amount of work to put in and be put off. If you need new skills, look at the skills and then break them down into chunks, and break them down again, until they become one simple and attainable goal. If you needed to learn French for your dream job, it wouldnt do just to put down learn French on your list. How are you going to do this? And its this process that will serve you well. Changing careers isnt easy, but you can definitely do it. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+