Changing course — career switching tactics for busy people

Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash

Changing course — career switching tactics for busy people

If work leaves you feeling as stale as a bacon bap from the breakfast museum, it’s time for a change. But when you’ve got family commitments, trashing your desk and making a dramatic exit isn’t an option.

However, there are steps you can take to migrate gradually towards a more fulfilling vocation without leaving your current job immediately. And with a new goal in mind, your current daily grind might not seem quite so unbearable.

Let’s look at the job switching tactics that might let you set your career compass to a dynamic new direction.

Volunteering

If your current volunteering gig feels more rewarding than your 9-5 existence, paid team members may be able to offer you advice on joining their ranks as a salaried employee.

Alternatively, if you don’t volunteer now, but would like to give it a go, there are probably oodles of local worthwhile local projects where you’ll learn new skills, boost your CV and test your toes in the waters of a potential new career.

You can either match your current skillset to activities an organisation needs support with or turn your hand to something more unfamiliar. 

Volunteering with groups like the Baby Bank Networkcan be a real eye-opener, but with a little research, you’ll find something that feels like a good fit.

Committee membership

Becoming a member of a regulatory or conduct committee often involves helping make serious decisions that affect the wellbeing of vulnerable members of society or curb a worker’s right to perform their job.

Many panels include members with direct current or previous experience of the industry in question and lay members who lack relevant professional expertise but have a wealth of work and life experience which they bring to the table. 

Positions can be completely unpaid or rather well compensated through expenses and daily fees. But becoming a panel member with the likes of the Nursing & Midwifery Councilonly requires a commitment of a few days a year and might take your career down an entirely new path. And if you enjoy the work, you might even end up serving a few committees simultaneously. 

Online learning

You don’t need a degree to succeed in life, but if you want to change lanes to a completely different job sector, a formal higher education qualification can help. 

But with bills to pay, a partner in tow and kids to look after, putting your current commitments on the backburner for a full-time campus-based education might feel less realistic than negotiating a brilliant Brexit deal through the power of interpretive dance.

However, studying for an online degree with Anglia Ruskin Distance Learningallows you to earn while you learn and complete modules as and when it’s convenient. 

In a couple of years, you could have a new qualification that sets you up for a dream job in a new industry, so it’s worth mulling over.

These career change tactics should fuel your desire for fulfilling work and provide inspiration on carving a new path — life’s too short for mind-numbing work.

Have you changed career recently? Share your tips in the comments section.