Planning a career change in your 30s

Here are some tips as to how you can find your ultimate career

If you have hit your 30s and feel as though you are in the wrong career, it is not too late to change. Here are some tips as to how you can find your ultimate career.

Focus on your strengths

Initially, you may have felt as though your job was cutting-edge; however, as the tides change, you may have started to feel differently. Rather than focusing on your weaknesses, which is something the British do very well, you should focus on your strengths and a career that will support and enhance these. Don’t try to be good at everything; instead, try to be the master of one thing.

Prepare yourself for a portfolio career

People are living longer; therefore, changing jobs will become even more commonplace in the future. As healthcare becomes more effective, we will probably find people living for over 100 years and this will impact our working lives and education.

It is highly unlikely that someone will remain in the same job for life and those letters after our names will become even less significant; instead, what will be important is our ability to work with other people, our emotional quotient (EQ) and our transferable skills. This is why preparing for a portfolio career in which you have performed different roles in entirely different industries is a must.

Push early retirement to the back of your mind

People will have to work even longer than they have to today – with final salary pensions ending, there will be fewer people jetting off to live a life of luxury at 50. The government continues to urge us to think about our pensions and invest wisely; however, this can often be a scary thought – where are you supposed to start? This places an emphasis on the importance of our careers as we prepare for the future and try to create a lifestyle for ourselves and put contingency plans in place in the event that we become ill.

Be flexible in your roles

As technology advances, different careers are created and old ones become redundant. As computers take over the roles of humans in many different ways, it is important that you are able to adapt to the changing environment to avoid being made redundant by a computer. Adapting to what is going on around you and preparing your skills for the change will enable you to move fluidly through ever-changing roles.

Talk to someone who has been there

One of the best ways of working out what you are going to do with your career is to find someone who has already been there. Talk to people close to you who will give you honest advice and perhaps be able to identify factors that you have overlooked. These people may be able to help you to plan your career path and identify where it will lead.

Finally, try not to panic. Whilst it can be scary trying to work out which career is best for you, take your time and focus on the next step rather than the bigger picture. As you start to develop your career and move forwards, the bigger picture will start to click into place.

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