How to make a successful career change

According to career change statistics, an average person will change careers five to seven times during their working life. “With an ever-increasing number of different career choices on offer, approximately 30 per cent of the total workforce will now change jobs every 12 months,” the statistics show.

It is therefore only normal that you may want to have a change of career. The difference between changing a career and changing a job is that whereas a job change is moving from one job to another either vertically or horizontally in the same career, a career change is a far bigger step where one moves from one career or profession to a totally different career path that may not necessarily be related to their former career, Noeline Muhumuza, a career guidance counsellor explains. She notes that a successful career change calls for a well thought out process by the person intending to make it.

Grace Muzira, cofounder of Infinite Consults, a sales and marketing company studied and practiced Human Resource Management at former Nakumatt for a period of three years before the supermarkets’ closure. However, over the years, it became obvious to her that she needed a change.

Why change
Muzira notes that for her, it was never about having her employer. “Growing up, I used to hear people say that I was good at talking people into buying things. I did not know what that meant. However, I sold anything and everything you gave me to,” she shares. But when it came to joining university, Muzira was offered a course in HR at Makerere Business School, which she did and eventually worked in the HR department of Nakumatt supermarkets.
For her, it was to follow her passion. “At first, work was exciting, but after a few months it became a burden, but I remained working. After forcing myself to do this for over two years of feeling no motivation or progress in my career, I read an article online on ‘Why you hate your job’,” she narrates.

From that, she learned that there was a possibility of someone to change their career.
“This is what I needed. I, however, did not know what else I could do and, in the meantime, I needed this salary. So, for a career change, you have to be clear and give yourself time to assess if you just need a new job or a new career. Most importantly, you need to think about your life, your passion and your income when thinking about a change of career,” Muzira cautions.

Timing
Think about what you are giving up, what you are moving into, whether this is necessary and if this is the right time for you to do that. “Sometimes, timing can be very important. Timing in terms of the opportunities at your disposal that favour the career change, a time in your old career when you obviously just need a new career path, and timing in terms of geographical location that may need you to assume a new career other than keeping the old. This includes travelling into another country or location. So, look at the aspect of timing and grab the opportunities it brings,” Muhumuza advises.

Build networks
After your mind is made up to make that big step and having identified a new career path you would like to take, start building your competences around the new field. After careful consideration and discovering that her passion was in sales, Muzira started building competences in this.
“It is dangerous to just drop your job simply because you are going on the streets to hunt for a new job in a new career. But taking baby steps into the new career helped me.

I started looking for people I knew who were into sales and asking them to evaluate me on whether they thought I could be a good candidate. Many of them said I could. So I started having more conversations with them about how I could penetrate the field. I once went with one when he was negotiating a deal, which he won. And I thought this is what I wanted,” Muzira explains.
Before she knew it, she was working with one of them to negotiate a deal where they needed a sponsor for an event.