New Year, new career: How to change jobs in 2024

As we ring in the New Year, many Americans are also looking for a new career.

Whether your interests have changed or you’re looking to make more money, a career change may be the perfect solution.

"It's not going to be the easiest thing, but it's going to make you feel so great when you have something that you really love to do and you're passionate about it," said Trevor Bogan, regional director at Top Employer Institute.

So you’ve decided to change careers. Now what?

It can be intimidating knowing where to start, so let’s break it down into three simple steps:

"The first thing is you have to have some self-awareness, right?" Bogan said. "Ask yourself some good, realistic, honest questions."

He said you can ask yourself the following questions to get the ball rolling:

"What gets you up and gets you inspired to do the work every single day?" he said.

After you figure out the answers to these questions, you should have a better idea of what industry you'd like to pursue.

"Once you identify that, then you can move on to the next step," Bogan said. "So the first step is a self-awareness. Then after that, you have to think about the industries that you would like to work in."

Now that you have a better idea of what you'd like to do, it's time to narrow it down.

Once you've figured out which industry you're interested in, Bogan said to look for specific roles that align with your skill set.

He said this will lessen the stress of finding jobs to apply for, and you’ll have more success finding an opportunity.

If you've been working in IT but want to make the switch to marketing, you could try to find agencies that work exclusively with IT companies. If you're good at writing, you could look for roles like copywriter. If you're good at coding, you could look for roles like webpage designer.

Now that you know what job you want, it's time to take action and land your dream job.

First, you want to update your resume and LinkedIn.

"Highlight the skills [and] the experience that you have that would align with the new career you're looking into,” Bogan said.

If you don’t have a lot of experience in that industry or role, Bogan said it’s important to highlight your transferrable skills. For example, interpersonal skills and tech skills can translate across different industries.

Take a look at the job descriptions of the roles you'd be interested in, and see if you have any skills that match up. Add those skills and any education, training or experience you have that aligns with the role.

Bogan said it’s also extremely important to update your LinkedIn profile.

"Tons of people in the recruiting, talent acquisitions, they're always looking at your LinkedIn," he said.

If you don't where to start, take it step-by-step.

"First what you want to do is you want to have a good professional profile picture," Bogan said. "That’s huge."

He said it’s the first thing people see when they look at your profile, so you want to make sure it's the best possible quality.

He said you can even hire someone to take professional headshots for you. If you can’t afford a professional photographer, he suggested finding a friend or student photographer who can take them for you at a discounted price.

Next, you want to update the rest of your profile.

Bogan said you should highlight any education, training, skills or experience that aligns with the role you’re looking for.

"It makes it easy for recruiters and people to find you," he said.

Next you want to find a mentor.

"Mentors are super critical," Bogan said.

He said you want to find someone who has achieved success in the industry or role that you would like to step into. Bogan said LinkedIn is a great resource to use.

Once you find a potential mentor, reach out to them.

If you're virtual, Bogan said you can schedule a Teams or Zoom call. If you’re in the same area, he suggested scheduling a coffee meeting. This is a great way to learn more about that specific industry or role you're interested in, and it's a great way to network.

You can ask the following questions when meeting with a potential mentor:

Probably the most effective way to make a career change: Connect with people.

Ask your mentor to connect you with people who can help you find a job. Or connect with people on platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook.

"LinkedIn is a great tool to be able to network with people," Bogan said.

It may be intimidating to reach out to complete strangers, but what have you got to lose? The worst thing they can say is no.

"People love connectivity," he said. "Don't feel afraid to reach out to those people and just connect with them and say, 'Hey, I'm really interested in working for your company in this particular role. Let's connect.'"

Share your resume and give them a little bit of your background. Ask them if they have any advice for you and just make the effort to connect.

"People love to help people," Bogan said. "And so the big thing is you just have to get out of your way and ask. Because if you don't ask, then you won't get anything."

Overall, the most important thing you can do is try. Take action and make the effort to connect with others who can help you succeed. Changing careers can be scary, but don't let that fear stop you from finding a career that makes you happy.

"Just do it," he said. "And don't be afraid to reach out to people."