10 Surefire Strategies to Reboot Your Career

10 Surefire Strategies to Reboot Your Career

by Bishwabandita Guru

There is no such term as a “job for life”.

When you join an organization, see yourself as a cultural fit, explore growth prospects and learning opportunities, you drive towards career progression. However, there may be some unanticipated transitions resulting from life-altering events like marriage and baby, lifestyle choice preference, relocation, lack of job satisfaction or job insecurity off late. Whatever may be the reason, you want to change career path – either within the organization or to a different one and try to reboot your career.

The prospect may seem challenging to begin with, but with right attitude and following through the below-mentioned strategies, you can nail on a job of your choice!

#1 WORK ON ROLES OF YOUR INTEREST

What you love about in your current or previous role? Which role impressed you the most? Which role do you feel you are good at? After a thorough reflection, filter opportunities for which the roles match your interest and you feel you can deliver well given a scope and then work on it.

#2 RE-ASSESS YOUR STRENGTHS AND SKILLS

As you know your present or previous job didn’t add much to the strength of your profile to display, it is time to evaluate your strengths and skills again. There are many online quiz platforms where you can reassess your skills and instantly check the results. If you lack anywhere, fix it. It will work as an added advantage to present yourself as a better version of you to recruiters.

#3 REMEMBER YOU ARE STARTING OVER

You may boss over many in your current or previous organization, but don’t forget that you are starting over when you are going for a reboot. It is never a pleasant experience for an experienced professional to start over. But if you are already laid off and want to change career path, you’ve hardly any option left with you. If you are working and trying a switch due to the obvious circumstances, the idea of starting over shouldn’t come as a shock to you. Starting over may sound intimidating, but with right attitude and diligence you can gain back the recognition you deserve at your new workplace.

#4 STAY POSITIVE

Finding a job especially when you are fired by your previous employer is no cakewalk. It requires persistent job search trials and timely follow ups. Stay positive throughout the journey. Practice positive thinking to keep yourself in the right frame of mind. Praise yourself for taking such a courageous stand to change your job which many people dread to take.

#5 NETWORK HARD

You can’t afford to ignore the power of networking if you want to change career path. Don’t shy away from calling your friends and colleagues for help and support. Call on your network and let them know that you are in the market for new opportunities. Expand your network on twitter, linkedin and other social media networks and use your own strategies to connect with prospective employers and recruitment consultants. If the power of social media unleashed to the extreme, you may even land your dream job.

#6 STAY REALISTIC, ADAPTABLE AND FLEXIBLE

You are in a new economic reality where adaptability is the name of the game. You broaden your chances to land a job when you stay adaptable and flexible. As you are in a career reboot mode, it is advisable not to have unrealistic expectations from your prospective employer.

#7 SELL YOURSELF

Impress Hiring Managers with your skill and competency. Be smart enough to drift their queries from general questions to your fitness for the job role. Sell yourself and show that you have the ability, energy, excitement and passion necessary for the job role. You’ll have to work a little smarter than your counterparts to show that you fit into the scene. So do homework on how you want to be perceived. Then it is all about executing it.

#8 LEARN AND STAY UPDATED

Knowledge is power. Join online courses that improve your understanding on your area of expertise. A huge array of online courses is designed especially for working professionals to help them keep abreast of the latest updates. If you make use of these opportunities you can have an edge over your counterparts in the interview process.

#9 CHOOSE YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY

While searching for a new job, always be prepared about what should be the response when the question comes on firing. Remarks like ‘differences of opinion’, ‘differences in work ethics’ or ‘downsizing’ can be explanatory. After all, getting fired is not a crime and you can always have a better and positive response ready with you.

#10 BECOME A STUDENT OF THE PROCESS

The most important thing job seekers that want to change career path need to do is to become students of the process. We must not forget that change is the only constant thing that happens in the universe and we live in a constant state of reboot. This is not a single event of its type. Come may more to face. So it is advisable to be brave enough to tackle the situation and drive it in a positive direction. Broadly there are two ways to deal with. Either you let your fear swallow you or let your hope ride on you. Job search is a fulltime job if you do it right. Also it may be time consuming. Just frustration, humiliation or depression during the process shouldn’t let you down.

By implementing creative job search best practices, proper networking and listening to experts you can get back on your feet and land a job of your choice. But if at all you don’t get any, there are still plenty of opportunities to reboot your career. You can become a consultant, start your own business and create your own opportunities. Never let your hope die.