Part 2: The Career Transition Series: 5 Practical Strategies for Preparing Yourself For Career Transitions

It takes so much work to change careers that it's hard to focus on what happens when you get promoted, get the new job, or step into a completely new career. Suddenly, it's your first day, and you feel like you know nothing, and someone will probably figure out it was a mistake to hire you.?

Our first article of this series defines career transition as the psychological shift we go through to feel comfortable and successful in a new position or career. Knowing this and understanding this process is your very first step to not feeling completely out of control in a new role.?

Knowing that the journey might be uncomfortable isn't always easy because when we are stressed or overwhelmed, our logical brain isn't working as well as when we are calm.?

So, how do we prepare to transition effectively and learn how to make the best career decisions during challenging and sometimes daunting moments in transition??

Here are five practical strategies to help you.?

Understand your long-term career plan.?

Your new position is part of your long-term career plan, and if it is not, you may want to spend some time thinking about what you want for your long-term career before stepping into a new role.

When you have a long-term view, navigating the short-term challenges is easier because you know you are working towards a bigger plan or that your current work fits into your bigger purpose.

What makes transitions hard or more challenging is not having a vision of the future, which leads to getting off track, focusing on projects that are not aligned or staying in roles for longer than you need to. Your long-term career vision will keep you grounded and focused during your transition and will help you make sense of your situation on the really tough days.?

Define Your Path?

If you know what your long-term career goals are, the next step before you transition is to define your path - what role or position will help you reach your long-term vision? There are a few ways to do this.

You can do research to get an idea of the role or industry you are interested in; the best research is finding opportunities to gain experience in the role and see what people do daily.?

The other option is completing assessments. Assessments are great tools to develop self-awareness and help you better understand yourself. But you can't just rely on assessments; you have to know yourself, know what you enjoy, and use assessments as part of your process.?

One of the best ways to explore and define your path is to use what you have.?

So if you work in a company and you are in HR but would love to get into IT, you can ask:

• To shadow someone in that team?
• To be part of a project in that area
• For a secondment to that division to get hands-on experience before you make a final decision.?
• To be mentored by someone in that specific job or specialised area.

Identify and Leverage Transferable Skills?

It is crucial to identify and leverage your transferable skills. Understanding what your skills are should be a regular practice, and it's something you should do before you transition.?

Once you've defined your path to get you to your long-term career vision, you can conduct your own skills assessment or analysis.??

There are two benefits to doing this that will help you transition effectively.?

The first is that you recognise what skills you have going into the new job or career - so during your transition, when you feel like you know nothing or imposter syndrome kicks in, you have your skills assessment to return to.?

The second benefit is knowing what your gaps are and defining what you still need to work on. So again, as you transition, you are aware of what skills and experience gaps you need to close.?It helps you to manage the pressure to perform and not to put unnecessary pressure on yourself to know everything off the bat.??

If you want a career planning template that includes a skills assessment, you can check out our?career development planning template.?

Create a Roadmap for Success

The first 90 days in a new role can feel like a never-ending roller coaster ride. There is so much to learn, especially if you join a new company - you have to understand their culture and language, get to know your team, the systems, and so much more. On top of this, you also have to manage and regulate yourself. So, to give yourself some space, define what success will look like at various intervals or milestones in your new career or job.?

This could look like?

• By the end of month one, I want to know one thing about each member of my team, define my KPIs and meet my immediate stakeholders.
• By the end of month two, I want to understand the various systems and processes and how my division operates.?
• By the end of month four, I want to get on top of my core tasks and deliverables and feel comfortable delivering on these.?

When you have these milestones, you create a path to success that you can follow. So when you tick off these actions at the end of month one, you get a confidence boost - because even though you don't know everyone in the marketing team, you know your team members.?

Close Your Skills Gaps?

Embracing the mindset of continuous learning is critical to your success. Knowing you have gaps and having a plan on how you will close these gaps will help you successfully navigate your career transition journey.

This approach is better than dwelling on how much you have to learn and not having a clear development plan. When you conduct your skills assessment, you will clearly understand your skills or experience gaps. This means you can create a plan to close these gaps before you start your new role or make sure you ask for opportunities in your new role to close these.?

There are three other factors that will help you succeed

• Being open to receiving feedback (from the right people),?
• Redefining challenges as opportunities for growth and?
• Remain agile and adjust your career strategy based on your evolving circumstances and opportunities.

We can't plan for every eventuality, but we can set ourselves up for success in the best way possible by remembering that preparation is vital and by implementing these strategies.?

My three non-negotiables for any transition are:

• Clarity, getting clear on my vision for the next step.
• Developing a solid strategy and?
• Creating a plan I can easily implement.?

Which strategies will you implement to prepare for your career transition journey? Let me know in the comments section below.?

Part three of the Career Transition Series will be available in two weeks; in the third instalment, we will discuss navigating uncertainty and fear during your career transition.?

Would you like additional guidance and support?

If you are in a growth season of your career and working hard - even over-performing, but still not seeing any progress in your career, I have a new offer to help you gain clear, actionable insights to design and align your career path and provide you with a solid plan for your next five years.

You can now instantly access our?Career Development Planning Template?and take charge of your career so you can eliminate uncertainty and intentionally shape your professional path.

The Career Development Planning Template includes;

• A career & life vision worksheet
• A career roadmap
• A skills assessment
• A gap analysis
• An action plan

This offer also includes a special bonus to help you keep your plan current.

Get Instant Access Now for $9