You finally found your “WHAT” and have decided to be a (insert job title here). Now all you need to do is tailor your resume and LinkedIn profile to find transition success, right?
Not so fast! There are two CRITICAL questions people often skip in their exuberance at finally narrowing down what they want to do:
1) Are you qualified to do it?
2) Does that job exist in sufficient quantity where you want to live?
If you can’t get affirmation from external sources (professionals in that field) that both align for you, you need to adjust your career desire and/or your location.
Let me break this down further:
1) A professional already in that field needs to speak with you, review your qualifications and tell you that you are competitive in that field/job/level right now.
2) You need to search for that position on job boards to determine if there are enough vacancies where you want to live. If you can only find 3-5 vacancies in that field that interest you, you might need to reconsider.
This is why I advocate so strongly for being active on LinkedIn. You need HONEST feedback on your career plans…because you really don’t know what you don’t know.