Gauging That New Career Leap

More than 40% of American workers say they would like to change careers. That's a lot of unhappy campers. Jocelynn is one of them. She writes: "I'm a software salesperson by day. When I get home, I shift into my alter ego - a carpenter. I love to build things. I make cabinets, desks and tables, and have remodeled my kitchen and bathroom. I make good money selling software, but my passion is carpentry. What should I do to make a career change?"

People thinking about a career change should follow the D-E-A-L formula: D - Desire, E - Earnings, A - Ability, L - Long-term opportunity.

Desire

This isn't about what you think you'd like to do. It's about what you believe you must do -work that uses your natural strengths; work consistent with your personality, not your behavior. When work and personality match, the workday flies by - it's interesting, energizing, and fun. Knowing your personality type will help you determine what you need from your job.

If you want to take a short personality evaluation to start thinking about your possibilities, head for personalitytype.com. Click on the orange assessment button. The four-question quiz covers your internal energy, how you process information, how you make decisions and working conditions.

Earnings

There may be an economic price to pay when you change careers. What you make in your present job may be more, at least initially, than what you'll make at entry-level in your new career. This is particularly true for workers well established in a job. Financial changes will bring about lifestyle changes. Adjusting lifestyle can be stressful. Career changers must have a financial plan in place to address earnings gaps.

To gauge a new career's initial financial impact, do some research. Start at salary.com; its data show ranges for a wide variety of positions. You should also gather information from professional associations, look at job postings in the newspaper and major job websites and network with people in your new profession.

If the financial implications are too drastic, consider doing something outside of work to fill your fulfillment gap. I know quite a few people whose passions are their hobbies and whose day jobs pay for those hobbies. They're happy campers.

Ability

It takes more than passion to succeed. It takes talent and schooling. When it comes to a job well done, the world is filled with wannabes. If your career choice doesn't play your strengths, you'll have little chance of success. Also, it may take time to fully develop new employability skills.

When gauging your talent, look for and listen to outsiders' opinions. Talk with your closest friends and family about your strengths. Tap your network, too; you may find people who know about your prospective field, or they may know people who are successful in it. Successful people can tell you what it takes to make it in their profession.

Long-term opportunity

One cannot expect a career to last a lifetime. Professionals have ebbs and flows. There are many unemployed Web developers and programmers who were making Big Bucks a few years back. Nurses are in short supply today; 15 years ago, there was a surplus. Outsourcing jobs to cheaper labor markets will continue to affect jobs, too.

Think as long-term as possible.

Taken from commercialappeal.com  Written by Jim Pawlak