It’s essential that you do your research before you jump in head first towards a new career path.  Once you have your list of possible jobs narrowed down, you’ll need to look at the requirements it takes to do the job.  Will you need more education or training?  Are there jobs in this field available in your area?  Can you support your family on what the expected wages are going to be?

You will also want to know what to expect when you are considering a career change to a different field than what you’re working in now.  This is where an informational interview can be very helpful.  The purpose of an informational interview is to get information about a field of work from someone who has some firsthand knowledge.

You can do an informational interview in a couple of different ways.  You could talk informally to someone you know who is doing similar work.  Ask friends, relatives, fellow students, your teachers, and neighbors if they know someone who works in your targeted field.  People love to talk about themselves and what they do, so you can find out some valuable information just by having lunch or dinner with someone who has your “dream job”.

You can also contact a company in the field you are considering and ask the human resources director if you could set an appointment with them to talk about the jobs available and what they entail.  This serves a dual purpose. 

First, you will be making contacts in the business you are interested in.  Once you get the necessary education and training and you are ready to ask for a job, chances are good that they will remember you and that will get you an “in”. 

Asking for an informational interview like this also shows that you are a thorough person who takes the time to do research and find out information about a specific career path.  People in the business field talk to each other all the time.  Networking is an important part of almost every job. 

The old saying “It’s who you know” is true and it can make a difference if filling a job comes down to you and another person.  It can get you the edge you need to get hired.

When you are doing a formal informational interview, you will want to go into it prepared.  There’s nothing worse than looking less than intelligent and unprepared when a human resources manager has agreed to take the time to talk with you.  You should have a list of questions ready when you walk through the door.  Here is a sampling of some things you might want to ask:

6     Describe a typical day at work.

7     How many hours do you normally work in a week?

8     What do you see as the potential for growth in this field?

9     What can I do now to help me find employment in this field?

10  Are there any educational requirements for this job such as a specific degree, etc.?

Whatever you do, DO NOT ask for a job when you are doing an informational interview.  When you called, you asked to speak with the human resources person, your purpose was to simply gather information for yourself and that is what they will be prepared for.  There’s plenty of time to submit your resume later.  This is just an educational mission, not a job interview.

Just as with a real job interview, it’s important to make a good impression – especially if you have aspirations toward working for that specific company.  Dress appropriately, arrive early, keep your questions short and concise, don’t take up too much of the person’s time, and remember the basic rules of etiquette.  Since they may be the one hiring you someday, you will want them to remember you in a positive light.

Because making a career change is so important and a very big step, it’s also important for you to have an action plan.  In the above chapter about things not to do when making a career change, we mentioned that you should have a plan as to how you will be going about this life-changing event.  It helps if you begin by setting some goals and then devising an action plan.

A goal is something that you want to achieve.  It is the end result of what might be a lot of hard work but that hard work will help you realize your dream of working in a job that you’ll love. 

There are two types of goals you need to set:  long-term and short-term.  Long term goals can take about three to five years to achieve.  Short term goals can be realized within a year or so.  It’s important to have goals because you need to have something to focus on – keeping your eye on the prize so to speak!  When you are setting goals, you need to keep in mind a few things.  Your goals should be:

1     conceivable: you must be able to put it into words;

2     achievable: you must have the attributes, energy, and time to accomplish it;

3     believable: you must believe you can reach it;

4     achievable within a certain time frame: you must be able to state how long it will take you to reach it;

5     clearly defined: you must know exactly what it is;

6     flexible: you must be willing to modify it as necessary;

Once you have your goals set, you can move on to making a career action plan. This will list all of your goals along with the steps you have to take to realize your goals.  Having all of this information written down will make it more real and motivate you to achieve those goals and realize success. 

A career action plan is a road map that takes you from choosing an occupation to becoming employed in that occupation to reaching your long-term career goals.  The career planning process is ongoing, and bi-directional, meaning you can move back to previous steps when you need to gather more information or clarify your choices. Once you have identified an occupation to pursue you should develop an action plan.

According to Individualized Career Plan Models – Eric Digest No. 71(ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Career and Vocational Education), “Personal plans of action — individualized career development plans — are becoming important instruments that counselors and others are using to help their students and/or clients (both youth and adults) meet their changing goals, interests and needs in this fast-paced, rapidly changing society.”

Though the ERIC Digest talks about individualized career plans being used by counselors and other professionals, you can develop a plan yourself. Even if you do work with a counselor, you will need to do some of the work yourself.

For example, a counselor can’t set your goals for you. He or she will just help you clarify your goals and help you find strategies to reach them. In addition, an action plan should be amended over time as your goals change, your priorities change, and your career grows. Let’s begin now to take a look at how to develop a career action plan step-by-step.

Begin your career action plan by writing down your educational background and employment history.  When you are listing previous jobs, start with the most recent one first and work your way back.  Include the location of the company, your job title, and the dates you worked at that job. When you put together your resume, having organized this information will prove very helpful.

Then you will want to outline your education and training.  Again, start with the most recent and work your way into the past.  List the schools you’ve attended, the dates you’ve attended them, and the credits, certificates, or degrees you’ve earned. Also list additional training and any professional licenses you hold. You should also list volunteer or other unpaid experience.

You may find that several of these activities are relevant to your occupational goals. By volunteering you may have developed skills that will play an important role in your future career. Again, this information can be used on your resume. It can also be used in job interviews, or when applying to college or graduate school.

If during the career planning process you met with a career development professional that used self assessment tools to help you gather information about yourself, this is where you can write down the results of those assessments.  If you took one of the online career assessment tests, this is where you want to put the results as well. 

You can then list the occupations that were suggested to you during that phase. You may even want to attach the information you gathered when you explored those occupations in case you want to refer to your notes later on.

Out of all the occupations you explored, at some point in the process you narrowed your choices down to one occupation. That is the one you plan to pursue. You may even have two occupations — one to pursue in the short term and one to pursue in the long term.

They should be related, the second being one that is a step up from the first. For example, you can say you want to first become a nurse’s aide, and then after you get some experience you will pursue a career as a registered nurse.

You should break your career plan down into goals you can reach in a year or less and goals you want to reach in five years or less. You can use increments of one or two years in this five year plan as well. This breakdown will make your plan easier for you to follow.

You should also include your goals for education and training. Your occupational goals and your educational goals should correspond to one another, since reaching your occupational goals will usually be dependent upon reaching your educational goals.

If your long term occupational goal is to be a lawyer, here’s what your short and long term plans might look like:

1     Year One: Complete my bachelor’s degree (12 credits left to go), apply to law school, get accepted to law school (a positive attitude is a good thing)

2     Year Two through Year Four: Enter law school, study hard and earn good grades, graduate from law school with many job offers

3     Year Five: Begin working in a law firm

You are likely to encounter barriers along the way to realizing your goals.  This is normal and to be expected.  You will have a better chance of overcoming those barriers and obstacles if you try to ascertain what they might be and then come up with a plan to defeat them if they do arise.

For example you may be the primary caregiver for your children or elderly parents. This may interfere with your ability to complete your degree. You can deal with this barrier by enlisting the help of your spouse or another relative. Perhaps you can arrange for child or adult daycare.

Some might say that going through so many steps just to choose a career is wasting time and doesn’t serve any purpose, but nothing could be further from the truth.  A well-thought-out career action plan will prove to be a very useful tool.

You’ve gone through the career planning process carefully choosing a suitable occupation. Setting goals and planning what you need to do to realize them will insure that you reach your career destination.

So you’ve got a career action plan and it’s time for you to quit your present job.  You’ll want to do this in the right way.