Does Your Dream Mean a Career Change?

Are you content in your career? Have you been successful, but just not happy? Or have you not yet achieved the successes that you know are available to you? Have you spent years becoming qualified to climb the wrong ladder? Do you feel like you're too far into your current career to change and find the job you'll truly love?

Along the path to the dream, these questions have been asked by millions of people. While working hard to attain success, it's easy to wonder if you've made the right choices along the way. To help you out, the following are some important things to consider about making positive career changes.

- No matter what your job, you have transferable skills. These are skills that will not only benefit you in your current career track, but somewhere else, as well. Identify these transferable skills, no matter how specialized they may seem, and explore the ways in which these skills can be used elsewhere in a place that you will enjoy. Make sure that you're seeing the big picture. Pipe fitting may be your main skill, but you may also have abilities in establishing rapport with a client, analyzing situations, seeing the big picture, meeting deadlines, managing a team, communicating accurately and clearly, finding the best solution, etc.

- Think about who you really want to be. This doesn't just mean what you want to do, but who you want to be, and how you can express that desire.

- Identify your obstacles. What hurdles do you face in order to make those changes? Is it the fear of the unknown? Is it money problems? Do you feel that it took you too long to get where you are to "start over"? How can you reduce these risks?

- How do you want to feel about your life? Are you feeling that way where you are at your job? Is what you do fulfilling and satisfying? If you were doing some other meaningful work, using your talents, skills, and aspirations, how do you think you would feel? How is that different from how you feel now?

- Open your mind to your possibilities. What would you really be happy doing? Over the next couple of weeks, look at the job ads every day, including in the newspaper and websites, and think about any of the jobs that appeal to you. Write down anything that attracts you, and look for patterns in the jobs that you liked at the end of the two weeks.

The next step is simply to do your research and see what you find!