How to prepare yourself for a mid-career transition

It is never too late to start again, providing you plan ahead and follow a few basic rules. Here are some tips to ease you through your mid-career transition provided by the career experts at Bayt.com, the Middle East’s leading job site:

Identify what you’ve always wanted to do.

For some, the decision to switch careers is based on some lifelong desire to do a particular job, say jewelry design or fabric painting. For others, old jobs have become tedious and unfulfilling but the future course is unclear. According to the Bayt.com‘Career Reinvention and the MENA Workplace’ poll, 82.4 percent of professionals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region desire a career change. Before you decide to carry on this new career project, identify what it is that you truly want to do.

Take the time to examine your priorities.

Ask how important the financial element is versus the geographic or creative or intellectual or interpersonal element. If you don’t know what you want to do next, narrowing down your parameters of interest helps you focus. Consider setting up a small business of your own if you don’t want to be employed again. 73 percent of MENA professionals would prefer to have their own business, as per the Bayt.com ‘Millennials in the MENA’ survey, January 2014. You will be surprised at how many interesting opportunities are out there just waiting to be explored!

Utilize and package old skills.

Take your CV and start dissecting your skills and past experience to find all those elements that would apply to your new role. You will be surprised at how many skills are interchangeable and constant across careers and disciplines. Highlight those common skills and attributes. These typically include general computer skills, languages, leadership skills, quantitative, qualitative and problem-solving skills, and interpersonal skills. Also highlight your general ‘aptitude’ for learning. Indicate how you learnt certain aspects of your past job in the minimal amount of time, got promoted early or received praise for accomplishments. There are bound to be many skills and attributes from your past job that will translate very well in your new role. Your task is to find them and highlight them.

This may be the time to go back to college or vocational school to get that degree you’ve always wanted. Take this opportunity to study whatever it is that you’ve always been interested in. That new degree will make all the difference when it comes to competing with people already in the job market.

Retrain.

Network. Talk to everyone you know about the jobs they do as you look for a suitable direction to take.

Ask about pros, cons, pay, hours, and career satisfaction. Get as much advice as you can from people already doing the work. Your connections will come in very useful in helping you draft the perfect CV or secure the job of your dreams.

Perfect your marketing kit.

Your CV and cover letter should be geared to your new role. Emphasize past experience and skills that are adaptable to your desired position and future career. Elaborate on the relevant items and focus less on technical jargon and skills that are completely irrelevant in your new role. Run the CV and cover letter by friends in the new field to make sure they are in the best possible shape.