Looking To Change Careers? Try Perfecting This 1 Technique

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Over 85% of jobs are gotten via referral.

Which emphasizes the importance of networking.

That becomes 10X more critical when you want to change careers.

Why?

Due to the automation of the hiring process, career changers get their resumes tossed more frequently because your skills don't automatically match the pre-programmed requirements for consideration. This means your only real chance of getting in to a new industry or line of work is by using connections.

This 1 Networking Tip Helps You Change Careers Faster…

Focus your networking on professionals outside your current industry and skill set.

This is one of the best things you can do for your career. Not only will this provide you with a greater understanding of different careers, but it will also expand the reach of your network. 

Connecting with someone in a different industry or skill set can open doors you didn't know existed. Your connections may have friends, family, or significant others in the career you aspire to transition into.

You may feel putting yourself out there to complete strangers is out of your comfort zone, and it should be! You need to push yourself outside your comfort level to connect with people you don’t know in order to be truly successful at networking.

You might try to use the current need to stay at home as an excuse, but...

Yes, You Can Successfully Network Even In The Era Of Social Distancing.

Traditional forms of networking include volunteering on a non-profit board or attending local business events. While these may not be viable options for many of us right now, you can and should continue to build your remote networking strategy.

Here are 5 unique and efficient ways to network remotely during a crisis:

1. Promote the work of companies on your “interview bucket list.” An interview bucket list is the 10-20 companies you’d most like to work for in addition to admiring and respecting what they do. Share an article or something they did recently that speaks to you. By doing this, you’re making your entire network aware of what companies you admire, and what products and services you respect. Knowing this and your skillset, if any of them hear about an opportunity at your dream company, it’s likely they’ll be more than willing to refer you!
2. Build & distribute a resource list. This is a really fun one! Think about your desired career path, what's a resource list potential connections in this career could use? A great example of this is what my team over at Work It Daily does. We've created a list of relevant LinkedIn hashtags that we send to our members on a monthly basis. This list is updated to include the changing follower count and any new hashtags gaining traction. How can you make a list to better help your desired industry and community? Make sure it’s something ongoing so you have a valid reason to reach out to them again!
3. Put together a “influencers” group. Create a virtual list of 5 people in the career you admire and invite them a virtual meet-up. Choose a topic to discuss and tell them you want to seek their perspectives. If you wanted to take it one step further, write an article on LinkedIn and quote each of them as subject-matter experts to give them more visibility, this will give you all a reason to network together!
4. Do a “next-level” reference. Go through your LinkedIn connections and find someone you really admire and if possible find or take a picture of the two of you. Post this picture on your LinkedIn along with a long-form post. This post should include why you admire them so much, what they’ve taught you as a professional, how they’ve made you a better professional or person, and you can also include a funny story in this. The importance of this is to tell the journey of your relationship and put them on a pedestal. Not only is this a touching gesture for the person who receives this, but it also will say a lot about you as a person to anyone reading it. 
5. Start a daily trivia challenge. Every industry and profession has some data points around it that you could pull together. Have fun with this one! Post a question every day and see who can answer it first or who can answer it right. Not only is this fun, but it’s also a great and memorable way to get your peers engaged on a subject related to the career you wish to get into. You'll also be educating other professionals who are not in your industry on the topics as well!

If you dread the thought of doing any of these, you might not be ready for a career change. 

While networking with strangers can certainly be intimidating, you have to think about how badly you want to change careers. Failing to grow your network just because you’re afraid is a clear sign you’re not ready to take your career to the next level. It's your career - only you can make the change happen!

P.S. - Be sure to use the hashtags #JTTalkJobs & #CareerChange so we can all join in the conversation.

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P.S.S. If you don't think a membership to my company's career coaching service is for you (yet).

At Work It Daily, we put together the following free career growth tools for you:

• Guide to changing careers

CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD the pdf file.

• Laid Off And Looking. How to Bounce Back After You've Been Let Go

CLICK HERE for the FREE Training & to DOWNLOAD the pdf file.

• A complete job search checklist.

CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD the pdf file.

• Free cover letter samples.

CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD the pdf file.