When you think about making significant career changes, it can often seem like it may take a long time to change for the better. You may feel like you don’t know where to start, and time is passing too quickly while you’re still stuck in the same career situation.
What helps to get you started on making important changes is to set yourself a time period or a deadline that you’d like to make achievements by. A year is a good amount of time to start making significant changes, and with the New Year coming up, it might be just the right time to set yourself your yearly goals for your career.
Set Your Goals
Goals become easier to achieve when you actively make a note of them and plan them out. Planning out your career goals for the year means that you can fully understand what you need to do and by what point in time.
You could either set yearly goals that you want to achieve by the end of the twelve months, or you could even set goals to achieve month by month to keep you moving forward with your career plans.
This could be anything that is going to help move things along, such as applying for at least three new jobs by next month.
Take Time Off
If you want to get as much achieved as possible within 12 months, in regard to any new career you’d like to make for yourself, then you’re going to need as much free time as possible to get organized.
Taking advantage of time off throughout the year means you have extra time to set your goals, search for jobs, attend any interviews or even undertake training or voluntary work. If you’re serious about changing your career in a year, it may mean that you have to sacrifice vacation time and use your holidays to aid your career search, but it’s always worth it if it means less stress trying to fit everything in.
Take Advantage of Accelerated Learning
If your career change requires you to undergo a new qualification and become a student, there are lots of ways you can achieve this in as little time as possible. One of these is using an Accelerated Bachelor’s Degree opportunity, which can be great if you’re working within an industry you’d still like to work in but want to switch to a new role, such as with nursing and healthcare. This means that you can achieve your qualification in a year and be ready and qualified for a new role.
Undertake a Placement
There may be opportunities for you to take part in a placement for a new career. This could be after you’ve successfully applied and you want to get your foot in the door with first-hand experience. You may even be able to get a year’s placement within a new role so that by the end of it, you’re fully prepared to undertake the role full-time, or at least know how you feel about the role before you take your next step.
Save Up as Much as You Can
The more savings you have, the more likely it will be for you to make easier decisions when it comes to a new career. It may even mean that you can actually hand in your notice and use your savings to get by while you spend all hours of the day planning for your new career instead. Savings will also give you more flexibility in what you can and can’t do in regard to your new career decisions.
You can save a lot of money in a year if you are very strict, and you can save a good amount even if you aren’t too strict.
Some of the best ways to actively save up for a year are:
- Forgo any vacation plans in order to save the money instead. This can be difficult, but when you know it’s only for one year, and for a good reason (your career), it can be easy to put this chunk of money away.
- Limit your nights out. Find cheaper or free ways to socialize instead, such as a night in at home.
- Be more mindful about your eating habits. Money can easily be wasted on groceries and takeouts if you’re not too aware about what you’re eating. Be more organized with your meals, and cost-cut wherever possible.
Take Away
It’s always possible to make a significant change within a set period of time if you’re serious about it and if you put your mind to it. Career changes can happen, as long as you’re dedicated enough to make them happen.
