Busting the #1 Myth of Career Change: It’s NOT lack of know-how that is holding you back.

Busy? Perfect. Reading this article is going to save you a lot of time in your career change.

Here’s why. Have you spent hours (or days) searching to find out ‘how career change works’? Trying to figure out the ‘process’? Searching online for ‘inside knowledge’ about what to do? Great. That’s a good starting point.

Now stop. Before the next 6 months of your life disappear in a Google maze of career based search terms, you should know that even with all the ‘right’ knowledge, thousands of people fail to make career changes each year.

The #1 way to fail in a career change is to pretend it is all about the knowledge: that ‘when I understand how this career change process works I’ll do it’. Yes, knowing how to present yourself, your brand, your CV, and knowing where to look makes a difference. But alone this is not enough.

If you’re unsure about how career change ‘works’ there are a lot of fantastic resources out there (for example the CareerShifters workshops www.careershifters.org/workshops, some great blogs and books, or the articles on this site). If you’re an intelligent, resourceful person, you can attend the workshops, read the info and put together all the knowledge you need.

So if you have done all of the above, why are you still here, reading this? What happens when you’ve done it all – you’ve read all the tips, you’ve gone to the workshops, you know your stuff, but you still feel like  something is holding you back from changing career?

Ask yourself:

• What would happen if you put into action all the knowledge that you have gained?
• What if you started researching your options, talking to people, creating a killer personal brand, taking actually taking action to get closer to your goal?

Sound overwhelming? In that case there is DEFINITELY something other than lack of knowledge holding you back. Odds are that ‘something’ is a fear or limiting belief.

Do any of these sound familiar?:

1. Money (“I can’t afford a change… at least, I don’t think so. I mean I can’t possibly take a drop in income… well, I mean, I don’t feel all that comfortable with a lower income…”). These are what I call ‘maybe-possibly’ excuses. Where you say you can’t do something before you’ve figured out exactly what that thing is (ie: how much money you can/want to have and whether you in fact need to take a drop in income). Maybe-possibly excuses are not logical arguments. They are fears
2. Confidence. (“I could do this, but I’m not good enough. I know I’ll give up halfway though. I don’t believe in my ability to do something different”). This is definitely not about career change knowledge. It is about you.
3. Failure (“What if I get it wrong? What if I fail in the new career? What if I make the wrong choice?”). This again is not about career change knowledge. This is about your perception of yourself, your beliefs about what you ‘should’ do, and what success looks like.
4. Competition (“Everyone else wants to do the same thing… others are more qualified… I know I’ll never stand a chance anyway”).

Trust me, no ‘system’, no nugget of career-change information, and to be blunt, not even the perfect career opportunity dancing outside your window will help you get over these fears and beliefs. And until you do get over your personal barrier (whether it is one of the above or not), then all that great career change knowledge will go to waste. I personally guarantee that you won’t use it.

The biggest difference for almost all my successful career change clients comes when they change their thinking. Be that change a result of:

1. Understanding yourself better. What are your values, what are your strengths, what is your personal roadmap to being somewhere that you will still love in 10 years' time? If you don't know this, it's time to finally take the time to confront what does and doesn’t work for you.
2. Honestly facing what is holding you back. (ie: through honest and open sessions where you confront the fact that perhaps your confidence, fear of failure, knee-jerk responses, self perception, social expectations etc are in fact having a big part to play in why you are here and not in your dream career).
3. Creating and taking action. (ie: mapping out all the small steps to and having the support to keep on track towards your new career).

Each career change is unique, and that means that you have to start with you. Here’s a piece of knowledge: others have changed careers in the same, or more difficult, circumstances. If you’re not doing it now, it’s time to figure out why and what you can do about it.

Ask yourself: With everything you know already, why are you not changing careers right now? One thing’s for sure: the answer probably isn’t going to be found by your next Google search.

Marianne helps mid-career professionals (who feel 'stuck' in jobs that are wrong for them) to discover the career that will get them jumping out of bed on Monday mornings. And which will still get them excited in 10 years' time.

Marianne is happy to speak personally to readers of Career Shifters to suggest ways she can help them move forward. To arrange a call, email marianne@careerrevolution.co.uk .

Marianne runs career move coaching organisation Career Revolution (www.careerrevolution.co.uk) and writes popular career blog Free Range Humans (www.free-range-humans.com).