Examine your present level of work satisfaction.
Keep a diary of your everyday responses to your employment circumstances and keep an eye out for common themes. What do you like and hate about your present job? Are your grievances with the substance of your job, the culture of your organization, or the individuals with whom you work? While you're at it, there are certain things you can do at your present work to assist you prepare to leave when the time comes.
Examine your hobbies, values, and abilities.
Examine previous positions, volunteer work, projects, and employment to determine desired activities and talents. Determine if your present job addresses your fundamental beliefs and talents. There are free internet tools available to assist you evaluate job options.
Consider other professions.
Research job opportunities and share your key beliefs and talents with friends, family, and networking connections to generate suggestions for employment alternatives. Consider consulting with a career counselor for expert guidance if you're having trouble coming up with ideas.
Examine your employment choices.
Conduct a preliminary comparative analysis of different disciplines to suggest a few prospects for further investigation. Simply Googling the occupations that interest you will provide a plethora of information.
Make it personal.
Learn all you can about such disciplines and go out to personal connections in those industries for informative interviews. Your college alumni professional network is a wonderful source of connections for informative interviews. LinkedIn is another excellent site for connecting with people in certain professional sectors of interest.
Set up a work shadowing opportunity (or two).
To get firsthand experience, shadow specialists in sectors of key interest. Spend a few hours to a few days job shadowing individuals with occupations that interest you. Your college's career center is a fantastic location to look for alumni volunteers ready to host job shadowers. More information about job shadowing and how it works may be found here.
Test it out.
Identify volunteer and freelancing activities linked to your chosen area to evaluate your passion, for example, if you want to work in publishing, try editing the PTA newsletter. Volunteer at your local animal shelter if you want to work with animals.
Attend a class.
Investigate educational possibilities that will connect your previous experience to your new profession. Consider taking an evening course or an online course at a local institution. Spend time attending one-day or weekend workshops. For advice, contact professional organizations in your intended field.
Improve your abilities.
Look for methods to acquire new abilities in your present position that can help you get a better career, such as offering to write a grant proposal if grant writing is appreciated in your future profession. Sign up for as many courses as your firm offers if it provides in-house training. There are strategies to prepare yourself for a job transition without returning to school.
Consider taking a new job in the same field.
Consider alternate employment inside your present industry that might allow you to use your existing industry expertise, such as If you are a store manager for a big retail chain and are weary of working late nights and weekends, consider a career in corporate recruitment within the retail business. Consider technical sales or project management if you are a programmer who does not want to program.