Searching for a new career can seem overwhelming.  For some individuals, the job-hunting process itself can appear to be a mountain to climb, especially when you are out of shape! See if any of these statements sound familiar:

• I don’t know where to start.
• I don’t know what I want to do anymore or what options I might enjoy.
• I haven’t updated my resume in years.
• The last time I searched for a job, I sent resumes through the mail!
• My family is relying on my current job.

Alleviate the Fear of Career Change

The overwhelming feeling that comes from ‘not knowing’ is enough to keep many people in their current job, especially with the pressure of needing a steady income. Fear sets in when you don’t know what types of careers are out there for you or when you aren’t sure how to search for a job.

What can you do to alleviate these fears? Here are some simple but powerful steps that can help:

• Inventory what you know. Write down specifically what tasks you are looking to accomplish (i.e. companies you would like to work for, update my resume, understand the power of networking, learn new job search strategies).

• Research the tasks above. What resources, articles, blogs, etc. can you use to answer your questions?  Some examples are Glassdoor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Wolfgang Blogs, LinkedIn articles, Forbes, etc.

• Take it day-by-day. Are you overwhelmed looking at your list and realizing how much has to be done to accomplish all those goals? Start by dreaming up where you want to be.  Now, ask yourself what can you do this month, this week, today.  Dreams take time, small steps towards a new direction can help empower you for change and become ready when the right opportunity presents itself.  Projecting too far into the future, can keep you from just taking the next small step.

Start with Smaller Tasks

Taking larger tasks and separating them into smaller ones can make it much easier to get started. A task like, ‘update my resume’ may by intimidating. If you break it up into several steps, you will be better motivated and should accomplish it faster. For example:

• Locate my most recent resume
• List what is missing and list what needs updating
• Add my current position to the resume

Approaching each task like this will make your goal more manageable. You can tackle one or two of those tasks each day and make steady progress rather than trying to tackle the entire change in one shot.  A career coach can be your accountability partner and help you take those small steps forward. So, what is holding you back from trying to find a new career? If you have other methods for overcoming the fear of a career change, please comment below.

Think.Inspire.Change.Grow.