Managing your Career Transition

At a fork in the road of your career? Federica Ambrogi shares keys to a successful career change.

Federica Ambrogi is a certified Co-Active® Coach who specializes in working with senior professionals who are looking for a major career change. She creates strong and trusted relationships by helping her clients identify and consolidate their passions and motivations, enabling a better understanding on how to use these driving forces to create a new phase in their career.

Federica is passionate about supporting her clients to recognize their potential, enabling them to channel their talents and strengths into achieving their own version of success. A deeper understanding of what drives us and the exploring of new perspectives about who we are and what we do is at the core of Federica's coaching.
 

When you are considering a career transition – start with your passions

 You might be asking yourself "Where do I start when considering changing careers?" Think about: What do you enjoy, where are you successful, what drives you, what gives you energy.  Knowing the answers to these questions will help guide you in the right direction to what is next in your career and life.  In this episode of The Career Cue, Danna and her guest, Federica (Fede) describe more ways to explore your interests as you start to think about a career transition or career change.

Stepping stones before a career transition

Updating your CV or resume and refreshing your LinkedIn profile are important steps to take in the career change planning process.  Start mapping out what companies or profession or types of roles are most interesting to you.  Start making connections with people and work your network.  If you haven't maintained a strong a network of colleagues, now is a great time to revive those connections in an authentic way.  Starting early (and often) on keeping connected to your network will make any career transition go more smoothly.  Learn from Danna and Fede in this episode as they discuss how to engage with your network during all phases of a career change - especially during the exploration phase.  

Career changes can be "big" changes or changes to your current role

To help determine if you are looking for the "Big Change" or just a change in current role consider the following questions: Do you feel fulfilled?, Are you contributing to society? What is your life mission and are you living it?   Remember that a career transition can happen in your role or same job – can you change the way you do your job, add different responsibilities, swap out one responsibility for another - that will add provide more career satisfaction.  If you are considering a big career switch can you do a trial run or test it out – for example, if you currently work in an office and you think you want to open a restaurant, consider working part time in a restaurant.  Then if the trial works – go for it and take the risk.  Be sure to listen in to this episode of The Career Cuefor more advice on how to determine whether making a change into an entirely new field or making changes to your current role would bring you that job satisfaction you are looking for.

3 approaches to career transition - Which type are you? 

    1. Planner – has a planned path
    2. Opportunistic – reacts to environment for career change
    3. Passive – wait and see and grab what is offered

Career transition best practices

    • Know what you are passionate about
    • What are your values
    • Be sure you are talking about your passions/plans so others can mirror them back to you for validation
    • Create a safety net
    • The new opportunity doesn't have to be a 100% match to your criteria – if it meets 80% go for it!
    • Take the risk
    • Have the right attitude – be positive  when making the change and keep that perspective

Find out other ways to manage your career transition in this great episode and learn why Fede recommends that we define success as "Are you following your passions or living your values?"