Looking to Careers beyond Consulting

What new opportunities are on my horizon?

Sweeping Career Changes

For some people, a career change will look like a completely new experience that lands them in a career that is completely new. There are plenty of people who will say that it is possible to find a perfect job that utilizes a person’s strengths and passions.

How do we find those opportunities? There are dozens of books and assessments to help people identify what those opportunities look. In the end, it often lands people in a completely new direction where he/she may not have had prior experience.

One point to make here is that there is no right or wrong way to search for a new career. There are choices that you can make that feel right for you. For people who are accustomed to making decisions based upon data and experience, it may feel unsubstantial to make decisions based upon intuition. However another perspective is to utilize intuition as simply another data input into the overall decision-making process.

I know people who made sweeping career changes with great success (former auditor who is now an FBI agent). There is no formula that guarantees success. However, when talking with these individuals, it is clear within their voice and their words that they eagerly are pursuing these opportunities and they have done a substantial amount of research.

Incremental Career Changes

For others, a career change may not be a systemic change. There may be incremental changes or pieces that happen in stages. For example, I know of people who move to a new locale first, then select a job based upon that geography. This allows a person to acclimate to an area. This can be done prior to the next decision based upon the new information that is assimilated.

Typical factors that may affect a person’s career choice:

• Flexible hours (e.g. can start late and work late if desired)
• Reduced travel requirements
• Telecommuting opportunities
• Opportunity to learn specific new skills (growth opportunity)
• Opportunity to build industry contacts

This is another approach which allows people to "sequence" their career planning efforts. In this way, it allows the individual to continue building his/her portfolio of experience and skills over an extended period of time.