Ten Steps to a Successful Career Change

1. Evaluate your current job satisfaction. Keep a journal of your daily reactions to your job situation and look for recurring themes. Which aspects of your current job do you like/dislike? Are your dissatisfactions related to the content of your work your company culture or the people with whom you work?

2. Assess your interests, values and skills through self help resources like the exercises in What Color is Your Parachute. Review past successful roles, volunteer work, projects and jobs to identify preferred activities and skills. Determine whether your core values and skills are addressed through your current career.

3. Brainstorm ideas for career alternatives by discussing your core values/skills with friends, family, networking contacts and counselors. Visit career libraries and use online resources like those found in the Career Advice section of the Job Search website.

4. Conduct a preliminary comparative evaluation of several fields to identify a few targets for in depth research.

5. Read as much as you can about those fields and reach out to personal contacts in those arenas for informational interviews.

6. Shadow professionals in fields of primary interest to observe work first hand. Spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days job shadowing people who have jobs that interest you. Your college Career Office is a good place to find alumni volunteers who are willing to host job shadowers.

7. Identify volunteer and freelance activities related to your target field to test your interest e.g. if you are thinking of publishing as a career, try editing the PTA newsletter. If you're interested in working with animals, volunteer at your local shelter.

8. Investigate educational opportunities that would bridge your background to your new field. Consider taking an evening course at a local college. Spend some time at one day or weekend seminars. Contact professional groups in your target field for suggestions.

9. Look or ways to develop new skills in your current job which would pave the way for a change e.g. offer to write a grant proposal if grant writing is valued in your new field. If your company offers in-house training, sign up for as many classes as you can.

10. Consider alternative roles within your current industry which would utilize the industry knowledge you already have e.g. If you are a store manger for a large retail chain and have grown tired of the evening and weekend hours consider a move to corporate recruiting within the retail industry. Or if you are a programmer who doesn't want to program, consider technical sales or project management.

Are You Really Committed To Your Career Goals?

Are you working on your career goals or just going through the motions? Are you "in" one day and "out" the next? Are you waiting for your goals to inspire and motivate you, and then you will jump in completely?

Many of us want a guarantee before we fully commit to our goals. If only we knew it would work out, then we would not question our choice or the direction of our future. Guess what? Your career will not give you the guarantee you are seeking. What you will get is a strong feeling inside guiding you in the right direction. Then, you listen to your gut, follow what you hear, and work on your goals everyday. That's when momentum takes over. That's when you get inspired. That's when you reach your goals.

The miracles in your career happen when you throw yourself fully into what you want to achieve. Will there be bad days and good ones? Yes. Will you question your future sometimes? Yes. There is a difference between being "in" versus planning for a time when you are ready to go "in." What happens if you are never ready? How are you ever going to reach your goals then?

So, How Do You Fully Commit To Your Career Goals? Follow These Four Steps Below:

1. Decide To Commit to Your Goals
Decisions are the turning point for real change and transformation. If you are unhappy in your job, decide that you will do something about it. If you want a career change, decide that you will have one. If you want to move up in your present position, decide that this will happen.

Decide that today is that start of something brand new. For many of my clients, deciding is the hard part. Once the decision has been made, the rest is implementation.

2. Act on Your Goals
Get ready to reach your goals by arming yourself with the tools you need to be successful.
Is your resume and cover letter ready to go?
Do you have a list of schools to investigate so you can gain new skills if that's what is necessary to get ahead? Do you have your list of contacts in front of you for networking purposes?
Have you researched what your skills are worth in the marketplace so you could use this information to make more money?

Make a list of action steps to move your career forward. Then, work on one action step every day.
3. Let go of what's holding you back
Let go of your fears, disappointments, and the mistakes you have made. They are a part of your past, and not your future. Let these things go because they are keeping you from having an extraordinary career. A scary thought? You bet. Some people do not know who they would be without their past to define them. But with big leaps, come big rewards. What you are really releasing is the negative aspects of your past that are holding you back. These aspects are keeping you from being fully committed to your goals. Once you tell yourself that you will not fail, your chances of success increase substantially.

4. Celebrate
Committing to your goals is a big deal. Once you have committed, it is time to celebrate. You are free to go after what you want. You can create the future you have been thinking about and wishing for. You have more power than you think to change the direction of your career. Use that power to take your career to great heights. Then, congratulate yourself for doing so.

So what do you say, you only have one life to live so it might as well be a life you love!