4 Ways to Validate Your New Career Move

Let’s say you’re working a regular 9-to-5 job, but you daydream about having your own business and establishing your own terms. Most will deem this as a risky career move, but you are the only one who can tell for sure.

Now a career move doesn’t necessarily mean you want to become an entrepreneur; it can mean you’re just looking to switch companies, or you want to change the field. Regardless, the tips we listed below apply in any situation, so make sure to check them out.

1. Discuss the move with a career coach

As their job suggests, career coaches are trained to guide people who don’t have a clear view of their professional path. Their job is to help you identify your strongest skills and point you in the direction of the best job or startup idea for you.

A quick tip: if you’re not ready to talk to a career coach about your future as an entrepreneur, the guys at Foundr have some pretty interesting insight.

They’re also knowledgeable on the type of opportunities that can be found at a local or national level. Furthermore, you may get useful information about the type of payment you should be entitled to, perks, and so on.

Still, to make sure you choose the right career coach, do a bit of research. Look for someone with several years of experience in the industry in which you’re interested, and/or ask local employment agencies for recommendations. Also, run a search online and see if you can find any reviews.

2. Use the MVP method

When preparing to launch a new product, IT companies use the Minimum Viable Product method. In short, they first create a product that has enough features to be interesting for early adopters who also become the testers.

If the MVP is successful, they continue to add features and launch the full product. Otherwise, the product goes back into development without causing the company any damages in reputation or major financial losses.

But how does this apply to your career change? 

It’s quite simple: you just need to devise a method that lets you test the career move before actually making it. F

or instance, if you want to start a business, don’t quit your regular job just yet. Keep the startup as a side job and see how things go. It may be a bit more difficult to maintain a full-time job and a business, but you are covered if things don’t work out.

The same goes when you’re interested in changing companies. Don’t quit before you’ve signed a contract with a new company and don’t burn your bridges with the old company. This way, you have a safety net if things don’t go as planned.

3. Do you have what It takes?

Now we all dream of quitting our jobs and becoming nomad entrepreneurs someday. But, if you’ve finally reached a decision, don’t quit before running a thorough analysis of your current skills.

Also, as a side note, being a nomad entrepreneur is not as fun as it seems.

To validate the career move you want to make simply try to match your skills with the industry. Do you have the professional training to take over on this new adventure? Are you prepared to face the new challenges?

It also helps to compare the new career path to the old one. Are the skills transferable? Can you use your experience to start from a place of confidence?

These aspects will let you know if the new career move is a good idea and will help you identify any gaps you may have. As such, if you don’t feel prepared at the moment, you can still benefit from this exercise and start learning the skills you need.

4. Speak to someone in the position you want

If you want to become an entrepreneur, talk with a successful businessman or woman and pick their brain. If you want to move to a different company, talk to one of their employees who has done a similar career move.

The idea is to find someone who has already taken the path you want to take and learn from their experience. Of course, no one will provide a step-by-step recipe for success, but it helps you see the situation from a different perspective.

In fact, you don’t even need to know these people personally. Due to social media, nowadays you can reach out to people you admire and let them know about your intentions. Sure, some will not reply to your messages, but others will. So, don’t be afraid to ask questions and look people up.

Wrap Up

A career change can (and is) scary, especially if it’s not a promotion. However, you should not be pinned down by fear! As long as you do your research and know what you’re getting into, nothing should stop you from achieving your dreams!

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Tags: Career tips , Guest Post