If you have recently been laid off or are perhaps desperately unhappy in your current career, then yes the time is probably right for a career change. On the other hand, if you’re doing well financially in your current career and can find some satisfaction in it, then you probably should sit tight right now given the current economic climate.

For those that do find the time to be right for a career change, there are definitely smart and not-so-smart ways to go about finding the right career path. First you should decide what resources you can marshal up to help – the best and most effective being your personal and professional network. Who do you know that can help you land a job or introduce you to someone else that can? Are you on LinkedIn or Plaxo? If you aren’t, you need to be. These sites offer tremendous networking opportunities for you when considering a career transition. They help you get in touch with past colleagues and meet new ones.

Another resource you can enlist is a career coach. While money may be tight if you are out of work during this process, sometimes a small investment can pay huge dividends in the long run. Plus, some career coaching professionals and career guidance tools aren’t that expensive. Some coaches offer a career test of sorts to help you determine what you are best at doing and perhaps what you should have been doing all along in your career. The career test will ferret out for you those innate or highly honed and marketable skills and attributes you possess and find ways or career paths to capitalize on those.

Whatever means, resources or career path you choose, just make sure they lead you down a road that will make you happy and fulfilled. Life is too short to be stuck in a dead-end job even if it pays the bills and then some. There is a lot to be said for mental happiness as a counterpart to financial wellbeing.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 10:14 am and is filed under General, Life First!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.