Planning a career change?

Contributed by Huxley Associates

We regularly work with people who are desperate for a career change, sometimes after many years of working in a completely different sector. Depending on the candidate’s background, and the role they are interested in, we will do what we can to facilitate their ambitions. However, there are occasions when we have to advise that such a bold move is either inadvisable or impossible.

If you are keen on working in a new industry then there are several things you need to consider before you decide to take the plunge.

Question your reasons
It is vital that you consider why you want to make the move in the first place. Just because you are unhappy in your current job doesn’t mean that the whole industry is like this. Perhaps another position in the same sector would be more rewarding?

Examine your qualifications and experience
Look carefully at your career path to date and ask yourself whether you would make an attractive candidate. Do you have the necessary experience and education? If you don’t, can you feasibly find the time or afford to start again to bridge the gap? It may be the case that you have to look at your planned career change as a long-term prospect rather than a short-term fix.

Planning and timing
Make sure you have clear goals of what you want to achieve and when. Before you get carried away you have to consider your additional training needs and whether your plan is financially viable.

Do your research
Learn everything you can about the role you are interested in and the industry. You can do this in many ways including reading industry journals, researching on the Internet, attending related conferences and investigating the current opportunities available on job boards.

Is your current resume relevant?
Learn about what your prospective employers are looking for and make the most of your previous skills. One way to do this is to look at adverts for jobs you are interested in to see what skills are required. If you can show that you developed the same or similar skills in former jobs then you should prioritise them accordingly and take out any information that does not add anything to your desirability.

Is your goal realistic?
There are occasions when regrettably our consultants have to have to suggest that candidates reconsider their plans, as sometimes no amount of related work experience, resume restructuring or training will realistically enable you to get the job you are looking for.

Kunjal Tanna, from our Manhattan office Global Markets team, said that she is regularly approached by people who have ambitions to work in quantitative trading roles because they have heard about the impressive six figure plus salaries that can be earned.

She said: “Its important that you question whether your goals are achievable from the outset. Many of the financial houses have an idea of exactly what they are looking for already and would not be interested in interviewing someone who has suddenly decided that they want to work as a quant trader purely for financial reasons.

“While it may be possible to go back to university and retrain for certain positions in the finance sector, in many others you will still find yourself competing against candidates with lots of directly relevant experience. Therefore, you must investigate whether your goal is achievable before spending the time and money in an attempt to realise it.”

Advice provided by Huxley Associates’ New York office. Huxley Associates is a recruitment consultancy that provides permanent and contract recruitment services to the Banking Technology, Engineering, Global Markets and IT sectors www.huxley.com.