personal development

Top 7 Tips for Successfully Switching Careers

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It's a simple fact that people change. Sometimes you're in the middle of your career when you realize you're no longer the person who chose that lifestyle. Changing careers jobs is one thing, but switching careers mid-stride presents conflicts in both the short- and long-term. You don't necessarily have to start over at an entry level position if you approach a career change conscientiously.

Do you want to transition into a similar career or a new field altogether? Do your existing skill sets transfer smoothly? Do you have enough experience and field knowledge for what you want to pursue, or should you take a class or entry level position to prepare? That's not to mention the more practical concerns regarding financial stability: can you earn a living wage in your desired career? Do you have enough savings to hold you over while you transition?

Here are the top 7 tips from financial advisers and employers for a successful career change:

1.Good Timing

Boredom and frustration are inevitable in every job, but that's not the same as feeling stagnated. The midpoint of a career is about 10 years. If you've acclimated and committed to your job that long and still feel unfulfilled, it's time to consider if you want to make a permanent change.

2. Realistic Goals

Maybe demand for your current career is shrinking or just undergoing a massive change. That could be the source of your unease and a good sign that you shouldn't expect a similar field to offer expansive opportunities. Be realistic about your current skills sets. Maybe take an aptitude test or pursue career counseling.

3. Expand your Network

Perhaps your current employer has connections to other fields that you could transition to. Expression respectful interest could alert the people familiar with your work that you're expanding and open doors for a new position. But your network of friends, college classmates, and even acquaintances is a valuable resource, as well. Make your interest known and ask questions about their fields, particularly if they're expanding.

4. Job Shadow or Volunteer

Depending on what your career goal is, some companies allow interested individuals to volunteer at their workplace. Some professionals allow people to job shadow them at the office. Additionally, many colleges maintain an alumni network of professionals who are open to be contacted.

5. Take a Class

Update your knowledge of the field you're targeting. Do research online and consider if enrolling in an evening course or online seminar could bring you up to speed. You could even reach out to professionals in the field to inquire what skill sets are most promising and desired right now

6. Refresh Your Skills

If you can't take a class, you can also sharpen your skill sets by taking on extra tasks at your current job or beginning your own independent project. Many organizations, including college alumni groups and employers, offer professional training. Depending on your skill set, you can also freelance to contract extra work on the side before you completely jump fields.

7. Update Your Resume and Cover Letters

You'll need to re-package yourself and your work experience to impress prospective employers. This is especially crucial if you're new to that field. Make sure your cover letters focus on your existing skills that qualify you for the job; don't dwell too long on your on work experience that's unrelated to the job you're applying for. Be sure to re-design your summary statement or objective section to convey your new interests, goals, and qualifications.

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What to Look for in an Internship

Even though we're led to believe that internships are the key to successful careers, we're also wary of companies that take advantage of the free labor, relegating interns to coffee runs or leftover tasks that don't enhance professional development. Students, new graduates, or even professionals looking to change careers and gain experience in an unfamiliar field can avoid being taken advantage of if they know their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). For example, unpaid internships are legal under federal law, but only if it meets specific criteria, and too often companies play fast and loose with the details of an internship in attempts to qualify. Here's the best advice from employers and labor activists about what to look for in a company's internship program.

1. Be clear if the position is paid or unpaid

The FLSA requires employers to pay employees for their work, but what defines an "employee" from an "intern?" Officially, courts impose the "primary beneficiary test," which is a loose set of criteria that only defines the difference in terms of how the employer and the intern understand the position. Namely, if the internship provides more benefits to the employer in terms of labor, cost, and company services, then the intern must be regarded as an employee. Conversely, if the position provides professional training comparable to an educational environment, enhances (rather than inhibits) the intern's coursework, and both the employer and intern clearly understand that no paid job is promised at the end of the program, then (and only then) is it legal to not pay an intern. Additionally, if the company is a non-profit, then they're granted an exception and may count unpaid interns as volunteers

2. Look for positions relevant to your field

The point of an internship is to gain professional experience and training. Look for opportunities that have built-in support systems to provide hands-on experience in the field of your choice. Be clear about what duties will be expected of you in the position.

3. Ask about mentors

In addition to gaining experience, the goals of an internship include meeting mentors who are invested in your progress. Particularly strong programs allow interns to access higher level executives. This will not only help you network in your professional future, it will enhance your understanding of the field.

4. Be aware of time commitment and living costs

Since unpaid internships can't guarantee a paid position at the end of the program, pay attention to how long the internship lasts and if the time investment will be worth it. Be careful to consider if your lifestyle can be maintained for that duration of time. Even if the position is a paid opportunity of your dreams, like the Disney College Program, be clear if the internship is limited to one-semester or longer. For example, the Disney internship is only available to enrolled students, lasts one-semester, and requires an application fee as well as a housing fee.

5. Relocation

The last point is especially crucial if an internship requires relocation. Ideal opportunities are worth the sacrifices of time and even creature comforts, but they need to be feasible. If you're required to relocate, don't jump to apply unless you're reasonably certain you have the means and willingness to change your environment. Does the internship offer housing? Is there's a fee, how much is it? Does the program compensate transportation costs? Be certain you know the answers before you apply.

Internships are strong enhancements on resumes and can introduce you to a network of professionals to begin your new career. However, legalities and logistics are vital to work out before you apply to a program that could take advantage of your time, energy, and skills.

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The 3 Most Useful Self-Help Books Ever Written

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The self-help section of the bookstore gets a bad rap.

Nobody wants to admit they need a little guidance, but considering the $11 billion Americans spend on personal development annually, many of us do. Over the past four decades, self-help has gone from a niche genre to an integral part of our culture. From carving out your dream career to finding love and changing the way you think, self-help authors have cornered the market on promises, and sold millions of books in the process. In 2019 alone, there are a host of new titles hitting the shelves—from Jen Sincero's latest self-esteem booster, You Are aBadassEveryDay, to tech guru Reshma Saujani's business empowerment journey Brave, NotPerfect and happiness proponent Gretchen Rubin's OuterOrder, InnerCalm.

If you're a fan of the genre, this year promises to deliver more inspiration, wisdom and Instagram quotes than ever before. But sometimes too many choices can be overwhelming, and with self-help making up nearly 6 percent of all book sales, it's hard to decide what to buy, especially if indecisiveness is one of those annoying habits you're looking to change.

While there are literally hundreds of books designed to make you a boss in your professional and personal life, there are a few that have stood the test of time. We're talking about books that have changed the self-help genre, and altered the lives of their readers. We can't promise they'll change yours, but they might just set you up on the right track.

If You're Looking To Find Your Purpose

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

Since it was first published in 1992, Cameron's creativity workbook has sold over 4 million copies and spawned "Artist Way" meetup groups around the country. Everyone from The Four Hour Work Week's Tim Ferriss to Eat Pray Love's Elizabeth Gilbert have followed Cameron's guidance. The former journalist founded her "path to higher creativity" after her divorce from director Martin Scorsese and a long battle with addiction. In creating a template for resetting her life's course and finding her own creative path, she ended up helping countless others do the same.

Cameron's book is less about bombarding you with advice than about ushering out the internal voice you may have been drowning out. While reading her book, you're required to write morning pages—essentially, stream-of-conscious journaling each morning—and to take yourself out on weekly artist dates designed to inspire your creativity. The "12-week course" is filled with opportunities to answer questions about your interests, your memories and what drives you. The goal is to unblock you from whatever fears are holding you back from pursuing your creative passions.

If you're the kind of person who needs one-size-fits-all concrete answers, this isn't going to give you that—on the surface—but after a few weeks of Cameron's workbook, you might just discover you've had the answers inside you all along, you just weren't listening to yourself. It may sound hokey, but it does work for a lot people. "When I teach, it's like watching the lights come on," Cameron said in a recent interview with the NewYorkTimes. "My students don't get lectured to. I think they feel safe. Rather than try and fix themselves, they learn to accept themselves. I think my work makes people autonomous. I feel like people fall in love with themselves."

If You Want to Be a Better Leader

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

One of the top-selling self help books of all time with over 25 million copies sold, 7Habits was first published in 1989. Less than a decade later, TimeMagazine named the businessman and public speaker one of the most influential figures in America. Covey's insights into self-improvement and leadership are founded on breaking those perpetual habits that get in our way—procrastination, self-criticism and impatience, to name a few. Part of his philosophy is rooted in retraining the mind to put off immediate gratification in favor of long-term goals. "Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually." Through this overriding principle, Covey provides a kind of map to leadership, providing tools for readers to take control of their financial, professional and interpersonal destinies.

If You Want to Build a Better Life Outside Your Work

Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into The Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippett

As the host of NPR's long-running interview series, OnBeing, Tippett has spent her career gleaning wisdom from philosophers, poets, scientists and spiritual leaders. In her 2016 book, she compiles what she's learned into a meditation on self-worth, hope and, most notably, love. Unlike other romance-centric self-help books, Tippett's view of love isn't prescriptive, heteronormative or tactical. Instead, she ruminates on the many incarnations of love and its ability to impact the lives around us as well as our own. "What is love?" she asks. "Answer the question through the story of your life." From here, she takes the reader on an introspective journey that challenges each of us to reconsider our stagnant notions of romantic love and embrace a wider understanding of the word, refuting the idealized notions that perpetuate self-doubt, impatience and unfulfilled desires. "Love doesn't always work as we want it to, or look like something intimate and beautiful," Tippett writes. "There are times and places in human existence when love means life on the line, but most of us need not live that way most of the time. . . . Sometimes love, in public as in private, means stepping back." Whether you're stuck in a romantic rut or questioning the path to self-love, Tippett's book is a holistic journey that will make you rethink all those "rules," and remind you that there is only one: love.

Of course, we're just scratching the surface of the self-help genre. There are seemingly endless amounts of options—but if you're looking for an entry point into changing your life over the course of a few hundred pages, these three books are the best places to start.

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How to take classes from the Ivy League for free with Coursera

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The internet has opened the doors to communication and education for many across the globe. Just by going online, you can learn a language or find out how to fix a simple problem with your car. You can even enroll in online courses to earn a degree from anywhere. Unfortunately, these programs still come with tuition costs — a barrier for many. However, there are now plenty of Massive Open Online Courses (or MOOCs) that you can participate in free of charge. One of these platforms is Coursera.

Coursera hosts thousands of courses across various disciplines. They partner with universities around the world — including the Ivy League. They also partner with companies like Google and IBM for more technical courses. You can take as many classes as you want through Coursera at no charge. Want to study Constitutional Law with Yale? Or algorithms with Stanford? You can watch lectures, take notes, and chat with fellow students all for free and at your own pace. You can also access the entire course on any device you choose, making it easy to study anytime, anywhere.

Classes are structured mostly like a traditional college course. You'll have reading and possibly homework assignments each week as well as lectures to watch. Coursera operates on a sessions schedule, which allows students to communicate and discuss the course material more easily. There are weekly deadlines to keep students on track, but you have no deadline to complete the course. If you don't finish the class within one session, you can always re-enroll until you complete it.

However, unless you pay for a specific course or specialization, you won't be able to earn an official certificate that proves you took the course. Some courses won't allow you to get grading feedback unless you pay for it either. If you just want to learn something new on your own spare time, this won't be an issue. If you want to take the course to advance your career, you'll definitely need proof. To help with the funding gap, Coursera provides financial aid. If you're approved for aid, you'll have 180 days to complete the course. If you do not complete the course within that time period, you can re-apply.

If you want to go further than just one course at a time, you can also enroll in professional certificate programs or even earn a full degree. Coursera currently offers two kinds of certificate programs and four Master's degree programs. These tracks are mostly focused in business, management, accounting and computer science. These are offered in partnership with specific universities, making your degree just as valuable as those of students who enrolled on campus.

Coursera is a great resource to learn more anywhere you want. However, its course catalog can be limited in some fields. If you're looking for more classes in a specific subject area, take a look at MOOC-list.com. This website lets you search across various MOOC platforms by subject to find the classes you are most interested in.

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